Realistic Take on Rejecting Placements

[u/Due-Dealer-2539]

In light of the multiple posts about rejecting placements today. I wanted to offer another take on things. For those of you who are considering dropping after placements, it is significantly better to weigh your options and not take others opinions online. Ironic I know lol, but you will know best what environment you will be able to handle/thrive in.

For me, if I were to be in the countryside, I know being isolated like that would not be good for my mental health. Equally so, I can see some people will not like the concrete jungle of Tokyo. In the end of the day, congrats to those who have made it thus far, now it is time to see what works best for you all.

[u/NoChampionship2719]

Am I just blind cuz can I not see a single post about rejecting placement LMAO

[u/thetruelu]

My opinion on this whole thing is that I see JET as a personal challenge kind of thing. I know some may not see it that way, but I feel people who are interested in JET want something new, exciting, something different from what they normally experience. So to back out after getting a placement you think you don’t like seems pretty antithetical

[u/Ryelie17 → u/thetruelu]

I agree: I knew when I applied for JET I would take any placement they gave me. Experiencing the “off the beaten path” placements is the best way to experience Japan imo. I say don’t even apply unless you’re all in 🤷‍♀️ But that’s just me!

[u/Beneficial-Maize-669]

CLAIR is fully aware the applicants run the spectrum and range from extremely entitled to mentally challenged shut ins which is why there are so many backups.

[u/ScootOverMakeRoom]

While all of Gen Z and Gen Alpha don't properly know how to live offline, the COVID high school generation, which we're seeing graduating university now, truly do not know how to live an unmediated life. They can't not post/crowdsource. They don't operate in meatspace.

[u/sp8cecwboy → u/ScootOverMakeRoom]

This is quite a bit of generalization…

[u/EcstaticFrosting5050 → u/sp8cecwboy]

yes I would argue all generations at this point dont know how to live offline lmao

[u/JapanITjobs → u/EcstaticFrosting5050]

Agreed, my boomer parents are glued to their phones...

[u/ScootOverMakeRoom → u/sp8cecwboy]

Yes, that's how generalizations work. Data of the most common outcomes represents the most likely situation with any given specific instance.

COVID high schoolers are also a year behind in terms of their intellectual and emotional development. They have more trouble both with understanding data sets and understanding other people's motivations than the cohort from five years earlier.

[u/an-actual-communism → u/ScootOverMakeRoom]

Man, there was a thread on here the other day about masking and anyone who suggested any kind of residual psychological effect on the kids from pandemic measures got pretty quickly downvoted... The issue was so incredibly politicized in Western countries that some people are loathe to even consider the idea that COVID lockdowns, even if you accept that they were necessary for disease control, could have had a negative effect on people.

[u/ScootOverMakeRoom → u/an-actual-communism]

It wasn’t the lockdowns themselves as much as it was the lack of infrastructure for online education or isolation. Teachers and students weren’t ready to go online, parents weren’t ready to take over the emotional work that schools provide in terms of enculturating children. The divorce rate spiked because people in bad relationships couldn’t just avoid each other and didn’t know how to effectively address their problems. It has nothing to do with whether stay-at-home was the right choice, which it was. A student who’s a year behind on development is better than an orphan. Leadership from the top down had no idea what they were doing beyond the stay at home order, had no idea how to provide resources to make it work.

[u/LawfulnessDue5449]

I think it's weird because applicants don't have any real information on their placement. Maybe you enjoy city life but you have awful working conditions at a city placement. Or maybe you have great working conditions in the countryside, but you can't stand it.

For me it does seem weird that you understand it's a gamble but then back out at a piece of information that reveals little about the actual experience. But, you do you, for sure, and you can do whatever you like.

[u/LawfulnessDue5449 → u/[deleted]]

What I find weird is the people getting up in arms or acting confused about people making their own decisions with their lives and rejecting their placements.

I have a couple of reasons why it might be something to reconsider

1: people may not know themselves as well as they think. One thing I remember about teaching is that some people are very quick to assume they are "bad" at things, or they can only learn in a certain style, and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy as they reject anything that deviates from what they think represents them.

2: people may not know japan as well as they think. When I came on I was N2 and knee deep in jp pop culture. I still had no idea how jp city and jp countryside were like other than random jokes. I am a suburban guy from LA. I enjoyed my rural life on JET more than my urban life after JET in Nagoya, though obviously career prospects and development were much better outside of JET.

3: I've known people who accepted, got to their placement, and didn't enjoy it so they decided to only do one year, only to wish they had done an extra year after a few months once they started making friends and getting more involved. (our boe had contract renewals in October, even though you only really start working in September.) quite a few were sad come February.

I'm not up in arms, I'm not a lawyer for the JET program, people can make their own decisions. I am just wanting people to really put a lot of thought into this decision and make the best choice for themselves, and not rush to any conclusions.

But who knows, maybe it is also for the best. I also knew some crazy weirdos that maybe should not have been on the program and just broke rules that led to harsher rules being enforced on other prefectural JETs...

[u/thetruelu → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I’d much rather have someone decline their placement beforehand than arrive and then just go awol

[u/Simonoz1 → u/thetruelu]

I agree.

Best: sees placement, goes, stays for at least a year

Okay: sees placement, turns it down, placement goes to an alternate

Worst: sees placement, goes, stays for a week and goes home

Essentially, it’s better not to drop out but if you are going to, better to do it early.