@Poet: I think you have some great ideas on how a cooking program could be run that's educational, practical, and accommodating to various beliefs. But I still doubt it would work in practice. These days, anything that parents complain about (sometimes with good reason, other times not) will cause schools to avoid them. There are so many legal hurdles schools have to jump through.

@Seridano: Yeah, I think most Home Ec classes have been phased out at my old school district and what I experienced was just the tail end of it. It's a real shame.

Well, cleaning in Japanese schools is assigned to groups who are responsible for a specific area rather than one set task. A teacher supervises and/or checks off their work when they're done. That would probably make it harder for the bullying/non-cleaning issues to occur. Plus, I think cleaning would be resisted less in US schools if it was consistent all throughout their school lives. Start from first graders and go up to high school. A maintenance worker at every school can handle the big/dangerous stuff and they can call in people to wax the floors once a year or so. But really, most of the cleaning is just sweeping, dusting, picking up trash, and wiping down surfaces which kids can easily do.

There are also "moral education" classes at Japanese schools once a week. That would never fly in the US though. I haven't observed a lesson, but I hear it's mostly encouraging you to think about other people's feelings and be a better person.

(Note: I'm only talking about the positive stuff I've observed from the most part. There are plenty of big problems with Japanese schools and, in fact, I'm really nervous about potentially raising a child here. But I have to admit there are a lot of things done well.)

--------

re:JET Program/English teaching - My degree is just a BA in East Asian Studies, with minors in TESOL and Japanese. I have TESOL certification through my minor program. But I could have gotten the job with any major as the only real requirement is a BA to qualify for Japan's working visa. But since your BA is in English, that would probably help you find a job. What sort of jobs were you looking at? The bar is high for people seeking employment in private schools or universities, but it's pretty low for eikaiwa (English conversation schools) or ALTs (assistant language teachers), such as JET.

I came through JET since it's the most reputable ALT program with a lot of benefits and decent pay. But I can't give you an accurate impression of what the job is like since every situation is different (ESID). You'll see ESID used a lot when people ask questions on the JET program message boards. Your role in the classroom significantly varies by school and by teacher.

Since I have teaching experience and have proven myself capable, I'm allowed to teach elementary lessons by myself, but the Japanese teacher is legally required to be in the room since I don't have a Japanese teaching license. It's a bit more balanced at JHS, where I teach part of the lesson and make some activities, but the Japanese teacher is usually the one leading the class. Some teachers give me a fairly limited role and I respect their decisions. Usually I earn more responsibility the longer we work together.

An ALT job isn't necessarily difficult. You can do the bare minimum, spend all day on the internet, and probably still keep your job. Conversely, you really can't be a "super teacher" either. If you want to throw the textbook out the window and teach kids "real" English, never use Japanese, and lead all of the lessons yourself, well... good luck. That's possible in a private school, but not as an ALT. Doing things the "Japanese way" is much more effective at making meaningful changes gradually over time without pissing everyone off. Your relationship with your JTEs (Japanese teachers of English) is paramount. If you want to teach things your way all the time, then an ALT job will be torture for you.