Stupid Japanese Education

‘Japanese education’, now that is a funny term. Okay so I can only talk about my brief experience and hearsay but isn’t that what these webshites are about?

They are well behind Brighton in terms of their specialist subject. Without making my head any bigger I can truly say I have more technical and conceptualising ability than probably all but one of my class (he’s 100% geek). Not justifying my argument at all but, the other overseas students are saying exactly the same thing about a multitude of subjects. I find the relationship between student and teacher incredibly unproductive: The sensei/tutor/master is always seen as superior and is always right. No-one seems to question his judgement at all and they do not speak to him freely and give their opinions.

Note: this post is not to address ‘cultural differences’ (…per se).

The lessons, concerning tutorage, take the words ‘pointless’ and ‘useless’ to hitherto unfounded height. He asks us only for one or two ideas in a week and then encourages, in my opinion (of course), the wrong type of thinking. That ‘wrong-think’ is the promotion of style over substance, my sensei’s appear to actively support it. It also seems if you don’t present your ideas, hang on, your IDEA’S, correctly (i.e. printed on an A4 piece of paper), then he doesn’t really want to see you. One of my projects is to make my name, ‘Shaun Morrison’, into a brand. I have to consider what I stand for and all that stuff, and then project this into a typographic composition of my name on a A3 piece of paper. I decided that Shaun Morrison is for ‘understanding’ (ha), ‘international communication’, ‘simplicity’, ‘directness’, and ‘subtlety’. I created something meeting my personal criteria and I was told ‘not designed enough’, they understood my point but they thought that just because it was ‘simple’ it was actually simple. My other project is to design a graph illustrating the price differences in five different countries, between thirty-one different products. As the graph was about international relationships I thought it would be apt if the graph could be understood in all five of those countries, so I tried to use minimal writing and maximise the use of pictures or icons. BUT NO, pictures are for children, not for adults. I tried to argue that the icon based graph helped to remove linguistic discrimination. He had none of it and said it was for elementary school.

Ah so this post is really just about my inability as a designer? My failure to come out of my comfort zone has led me to become hyper-defensive? Well yes. Prepare for me to contradict all of the above paragraphs.

If I am so about ‘understanding’, then I have sure done a crap job of it. You see I should not complain about the class dynamic because maybe, perhaps even probably, this is more what Japan is like. The rigid hierarchy, the strict path of thought, and the ‘stupid’ idea’s, are all something, if I am to be a successful designer have to understand, and even master. I am going to have to adapt or be shunned, just like what I imagine that harsh real world I am too-nearly going to face is going to be like. If I am about ‘subtlety’/being a smart arse, then I have to change my tact and become subtle in the way ‘they’, ‘the client’ want.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, maybe perhaps.