Elementary school in America- Rules, Regulations and Safety

Japanese Elementary School Classroom

Having grown up in the states myself, now raising our kids going to Japanese public schools, I never realized until now how completely different the two systems really are.
Yesterday was registration day and setting our kid up with his supplies in his classroom. It was a fun, albeit hectic, day of running around looking for all the supplies on the list. A bit like a treasure hunt, but without prizes or competition amongst the parents- in fact we shared a lot of sympathetic looks and discussions over what the heck the difference between a "portfolio" and a "manila folder" is.

Paperwork
When doing paperwork for Japanese schools, you have to give a lot of detailed personal information, but at American schools there are a lot of questions about race/ethnicity (so many interesting categories and then only one box for "white" made me giggle), homelessness (if without a domicile, where does your family reside- in park, beaches, shelters, etc... There were also sections for runaways and migrant kids), security (in case of terrorist attack or emergency...) and safety concerns are on a whole new level: no guns or weapons allowed in school. Then there are whole sections on the criminality of vandalism. Many of my university students in Japan would be in big trouble for drawing on their desks.

US classroom via usa.yongsan (@creative commons)

Then there is another rules sheet listing what kind of trouble kids can get in with the police if they do certain behaviors as school, it makes you wonder how much more severe the junior high school level paperwork must be. To be honest, if I weren't sat around in a very friendly environment and had just met the wonderful teachers and staff working at the school, I would have second thoughts about leaving my kid there as the paperwork can really freak you out- it brought up a lot of scenarios I had never considered would be an issue for elementary aged kids.

Now the health information is also illuminating into the American diet as the paperwork advises parents that: "a healthy snack has less than 200 calories," so if your child has a birthday and you want to share cake with classmates- it wouldn't be allowed unless you find a healthier version. This is because, "most baked goods are unacceptable".
Actually, it is nice to see schools tackling the obesity problems at a young age. Our child won't be eating cafeteria food as he is vegetarian- we have been asked to provide his lunches and snacks (a better option). However, I hope he will at least notice what the other kids are eating, I am quite curious to find out what school lunches consist of these days.

Positive differences
Some cool things at the US school is the amount of information available online for parents and the teacher asked to keep in touch with my by e-mail so she can send updates or we can relay concerns or other information to each other- great use of modern technology to enhance the parent-teacher relationship. I wish the schools in Japan would have more information online so I could ask my friend Google translate for help from time to time with the piles of confusing paperwork that needs to be done. It is also really positive that they are so open to all kids no matter their family or living situation- the focus is on the rights of the kids to an education, regardless of their problems at home.

In reference to the race and ethnicity distinctions, it makes me wonder if in the next 5 years, Japanese schools will also start to add a section on it's entrance forms for families to write about race, cultural and religious background as well as any other languages the child speaks. There are going to be more and more non-Japanese students in schools in Japan in future as the population decrease is supported by more immigrant labor.

In terms of safety, there may also be a section (or form) added at Japanese schools asking parents permission to evacuate students to nearest safe zone in case of natural disaster or terrorist attack (missiles from North Korea have been fired toward Japan).

But does more paperwork and paranoia help prepare kids and families for violence, emergencies or general difficulties- is more information and permission from parents the better method?
Or does it feed into the fear and paranoia that many parents already have to their child's safety? If there were a crazed lunatic that god-forbid attacked the school someday with a weapon, would it make anyone feel better that they had signed a form about that possibility? Should we have security guards and metal detectors at the front of every school?

These are questions that often come up whenever I am back in the states for a visit, the harsh reality of modern American culture. There are a lot of statistics that show violence in schools has been increasing and the "gun and weapon-free school" rule seemed to have originated from a study in 2000 that showed 10% of all incidences of students bringing guns or weapons to school was in elementary school. So, do rules against bringing weapons and guns to school help? I guess we cannot depend on common sense in child rearing - everything must be spelled out.