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NEWS: Barefoot Gen Manga to Be Used as School Material




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crazychild



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:18 pm Reply with quote
Man, can you imagine what would happen if they tried to teach a 'Peace Education Program' in American schools?
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LaFreccia



Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 324
PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:26 pm Reply with quote
crazychild wrote:
Man, can you imagine what would happen if they tried to teach a 'Peace Education Program' in American schools?


They would be arrested for subversive behavior.

Coincidentally I just received my copy of the movie version of Barefoot Gen in the mail earlier this week. I'm planning to watch it this weekend :braces self:
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BSzabo45



Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:40 pm Reply with quote
crazychild wrote:
Man, can you imagine what would happen if they tried to teach a 'Peace Education Program' in American schools?


We already are. All our kids are all ordered to fit in, to get along with people even if they don't like them. And if you happen to get into a fight, both parties are severely punished no matter what. This causes kids to bottle up their natural urge to vent frustration. And because we're all supposed to get along in one big happy Facebook world where everyone is a "Friend", no kid dares to be different, lest they lose all those "Friends".

If a kid can't get along with someone, he needs to just punch him across the face and be done with it. Hell, they'd probably become friends afterwards. Same goes for the international world. We're not the Borg, we're all unique, and conflict is the price we pay for that individuality. Without war, there would be no peace. They should teach that instead.
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StudioToledo



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 847
Location: Toledo, U.S.A.
PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:12 pm Reply with quote
LaFreccia wrote:
crazychild wrote:
Man, can you imagine what would happen if they tried to teach a 'Peace Education Program' in American schools?


They would be arrested for subversive behavior.

See how pathetic our country is?

BSzabo45 wrote:
We already are. All our kids are all ordered to fit in, to get along with people even if they don't like them. And if you happen to get into a fight, both parties are severely punished no matter what. This causes kids to bottle up their natural urge to vent frustration. And because we're all supposed to get along in one big happy Facebook world where everyone is a "Friend", no kid dares to be different, lest they lose all those "Friends".

Well thanks for summing up my Gen-X life.

Quote:
If a kid can't get along with someone, he needs to just punch him across the face and be done with it. Hell, they'd probably become friends afterwards. Same goes for the international world. We're not the Borg, we're all unique, and conflict is the price we pay for that individuality. Without war, there would be no peace. They should teach that instead.

Funny really...
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shukero



Joined: 13 Feb 2012
Posts: 493
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:11 pm Reply with quote
Love teachers that can think out of the box! This is a great example where history can be exciting, fun, and educational all at the same time.
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Fazz89x



Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 49
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:44 am Reply with quote
I watched it in highschool actually about 10 years ago.
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dewlwieldthedarpachief



Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 751
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:36 pm Reply with quote
I've heard great things about the manga, and the film is pretty brutal, so I suppose this is a valuable addition to the curriculum. Not that Japanese are about to forget. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see the schoolchildren of Hiroshima in any danger of overlooking the single most devastating time in the city's history. The attack on Pearl Harbour wasn't even half as deadly as this event, and yet it is still something Americans still talk about. Likewise, it doesn't matter if they're from the Hokkaido countryside or Tokyo, Hiroshima is bound to come up in WWII conversations with Japanese. There was even a kerfuffel in the media a while back when the British variety show Quite Interesting caught flack for a question about one man's remarkable experience surviving both nuclear attacks(!), to which the Japanese embassy in London barked up their tree, and the story got spun in the Japanese media as some kind of sadistic exploitation. All because the story of this man's ordeal wasn't handled with hazmat suits.

It's understandable, at least before we get on the topic of Japanese atrocities. Of the many regrettable things about the occupation, it's a great shame Japan did not get the inoculative measures assigned to post-war Germany. Then again, I'm not sure Allied atrocities get even a footnote on average in our countries. Edjamakashun.
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jsc315



Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:20 pm Reply with quote
I've only read the 1st three volumes and it's very depressing and sad story but also an amazing one at that too. From what I read so far it shows a side of the war that rarely is ever talked about anymore.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14889
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:28 am Reply with quote
dewlwieldthedarpachief wrote:
Likewise, it doesn't matter if they're from the Hokkaido countryside or Tokyo, Hiroshima is bound to come up in WWII conversations with Japanese.


That's because it's like that's all they know about it. Laughing

Young students in Japan are hardly taught about how WW2 started, about Hitler (Japan's ally), or about how the Pacific War against the US started with Pearl Harbor. If one asks them, pretty much WW2 = atomic bomb, Hiroshima, Nagasaki; not much about what led to that. Many don't even know that Japan's sneak attack started the Pacific War, only what happened to them in the end.


dewlwieldthedarpachief wrote:

Of the many regrettable things about the occupation, it's a great shame Japan did not get the inoculative measures assigned to post-war Germany.


That's because Japan did/does not atone to the degree that Germany did. (For instance, the issues regarding the Yasukuni Shrine, the German government wouldn't stand for that.) As far as the West is concerned, Japan has already atoned enough. It's Japan's neighbors who aren't letting Japan to get away with it.
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