This is one of my memorable experiences in teaching at a local juku (cram school for students).
I studied several kinds of English textbooks used at junior high schools in Mito, and used to tell my students how to prepare for their term exams.
Test results at their schools are very important, because they are used as applicants’ information materials in high school entrance exams.
One day, it was at the end of May, one of my 8th-grade students did a fabulous job in his English test.
He followed my tough lessons and practiced the past form of verbs so hard. I was really glad to see the result, which scored three times as high as the one on the 7th grade’s term-end test.
“I’m glad your English has improved a lot,” I said to him.
But he replied in a glum voice, “I was just lucky this time. Next time I will get a worse score than this time, since I’m basically poor at English.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic! Your efforts will sure pay, so keep up your good work,” I encouraged him, but after that his test results on English dropped again.
I changed my workplace in May so I’m not teaching him now.
But I can’t forget his words, which showed a typical attitude of those who don’t like English and think it not neccesary for their daily lives.
It seems to me that they are not willing to improve themselves.
My daughters don’t like studying in general, and take a similar attitude like him.
“I’m satisfied with my current poor results, because I only have to do my school assignments.”
This is such a miserable thing…
School subjects, especially in junior high and high school, seem not useful when young, but that’s not true.
Studying every subject hard helps create inclusive attitude toward people and tasks, which is very important to succeed in business or in family.
If I had found this point in my schooldays, I would have studied math and science harder and my life would be quite different.