School

In chapter 4, White said that there were a lot of differences between American teens and Japanese teens in their school. Especially I am interested in the difference of the way to define the self with others. I think that defining the self with others may relate to the matter of bullying. She mentioned that there was the distinction between private values on the one hand and correct social performance on the other. American teen was aware of this distinction and they were disillusioned about it, because they considered that this correct social performance was one of social code which was created and demanded by adults. American teens try to find their place along their mind. While Japanese teens were aware of this distinction in their peers and they considered that they could not ignore it. Japanese teens realized that there was a distinction between public and private, ideal and real, inside and outside, and that this distinction was one of the products of adult hypocrisy. Japanese teens try to find their place in their peer and they make an effort to become someone that surrounding people request them to be. In my case, I had same experience. I remember that sometime I was distressed with the distinction, but I could manage to accept it. However there were some classmates who could not accept it. They could not be careful in their choice of performances according to circumstances. Their performance was always same between public and private, they could not behave right with each situation. Then they were isolated from friends, and they were bullied by classmates. Now I think that they were just honest because they did not change the way of behaving with each situations and they just tried to define the self by their own. However Japanese teens tend to dislike their friends behaving differently with them. I think that this situation is not good, and they have to define the self in their view, not in friends or adults view. School should focus their concentration on this point that Japanese teens try to respect each other’s the way of thinking.