This Year’s NYAF

We were fortunate to be among the latter-first in line to see the premiere of Soul Eater. We weren’t the first but we weren’t the last. We were just enough bodies away from the front of the line to not be among the first and just enough bodies ahead where we weren’t among the last.

We waited patiently for 45 minutes. Not a long time but noticeably long enough. When the doors opened, we filed in behind those who were among the first and in front of those who were among the last. We were sat in seats that were far enough away from being too far to see but not close enough to say we got great seats.

We saw the opening title sequence. It whet my appetite for more. We saw the cosplay. He laughed and clapped. Then, as they are about to start the movie, he turns to me and says, “Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom.”

Pained, I take his hand and we leave.

The drama above typified my experience at this year’s New York Anime Festival (NYAF). This was my second NYAF. Both my kids came with me to last year’s event. It was a first for all of us. We caught a few screenings but spent most of our time by the stage and in the exhibit hall feeling our way around the event.

This year I came with an agenda. I was going to attend some panels to legitimize my professional presence at this year’s event. It was my decision to bring my eldest despite my agenda (I would have brought my youngest too if he weren’t sick), so I couldn’t get upset when his stamina gave out on him.

Overall he did pretty well. Pacified with Bugdom and Cartoon Wars on my iPod Touch, he sat through the “How to Become Famous on the Internet” (Friday), Tokyo Pop (Friday), and “Steampunk in Anime” (Saturday) panels.

We missed Soul Eater but saw old episodes of Gundam and Sgt Frog (which he really enjoyed). We also saw AKB48, Reni (who was really nice, we met her before during Eureka 7 day at Kinokuniya), and Maids hijinx on stage (including a chicken-riding Spider-man and a dancing Predator).

I am not otaku but am a fan of anime and manga. I have fond memories of watching Captain Harlock and Cyborg 009 on UHF with my sister. The imaginative hybridization of future technology with old timey look and feel and the “real life” complexities of being alive that drew my sister and me in decades ago still draw us in today.

Professionally, I count myself among a growing number of educators who believe anime and manga are excellent tools for forging pathways to literacy and encouraging greater interest in subjects like social studies and science for those not immediately enthused by the subjects.

Series like Code Geass, where the main character possesses the power to hypnotize and manipulate people, asks the question: How far is too far in the pursuit of a just cause? Death Note presents a similar storyline and moral dilemma. The complex themes of just causes and collateral damages occur throughout world history and literature making classroom connections easy.

Regardless of the current educational environment, as educators our passions are directed at inspiring inquisitive minds and critical thinkers, who will eventually become civic participants.  The “test culture” being fostered by Arne Duncan and his constituents makes it challenging to engage students in school but not impossible. Creative use of pop culture artifacts like anime and manga is one method of keeping students engaged.

The next NYAF occurs in conjunction with the New York Comic Con (NYCC), October 8-10, 2010. At the last NYCC, I attended a panel on the inclusion of manga in library collections and the use of comic books and graphic novels as literacy tools.

========

BTW – The Funimation blog has a video of the premiere Mother Nature called my eldest at.

Singa-Score

When I think about Singapore, I think of the curious accents of its citizens (speaking Cantonese and English). I think of school children in white button-down short sleeve shirts with starched collars because it is perpetually summer. But I can only imagine it being perpetually summer. I have never been there.

As a teacher and parent, I know Singapore as a math program which has yielded some of the highest scores on the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), a math test given every four years to measure the mathematic performance of students across the globe.

Singapore is  clear clean-cut corners and caning.

It is also pressure.

As a parent and teacher, two of my favorite movies since my children were born are Jack Neo’s I Not Stupid and its sequel, I Not Stupid Too. I like these movies because they remind me the extreme pressure for our children to succeed is not just outward (parents and teachers) pushing up, but also inner (the children themselves pushing out).

I’ve mentioned these films in past posts about what I’ve read and heard about the Singapore educational system and the concept of “appreciation education.” These films mirror to some degree my own remembrances of middle school in the US (as unclear and probably increasingly inaccurate as they are). The drills and quizzes. Sitting face front, pencil out. And the chaos of puberty.

What appeals to me about Jack Neo’s films is that they go deep enough to engage the audience but never too deep to threaten or make the audience uncomfortable. His skillful use of familiar daily occurrences to make his points about human nature and society remind me of sitcoms with their ability to draw humor from some of life’s incongruities.

The ends of both I Not Stupid movies are happy ones. The desire to work harder is enough for the protagonists enjoy the rewards of assimilating into the current culture. Those who fail to do so end up in Royston Tan’s 15: The Movie.

Royston Tan’s 15 is the antithesis of Neo’s I Not Stupid world. In 15, the kids don’t remain in the world of white button-down shirts. And where the parents in Neo’s world can see the error of their ways and acknowledge the efforts of their children, in Tan’s world parents do not exist outside of being spoken about. (There is a scene where one of the teens is being punished by his father but his father is on screen as just a booming voice and a thick hand.)

I enjoyed 15 because it is the antithesis of I Not Stupid. Estranged from common society and without direction, the protagonists in Tan’s film drift from day to day, situation to situation.  Unscripted for the most part like the lives of the protagonists it’s portraying, 15 tells the story of two pairs of friends. Connected by Shaun, a heavily tattooed boy with piercings, Melvin and Vynn (the first pair) spend their days hiding out in Vynn’s apartment making music videos. They also cope with Shaun leaving them for new friends. Shaun is now close friends with Erick (forming the second pair).

DYI style music videos help express the need the boys crave to be connected and empowered. These videos are sidebars breaking up lengthy dialogue while providing additional information about the story. 15 is visually clever and intense. By using  “video game like” titling and music video segments, and other present day visual conventions, Tan attempts to present the world as physically perceived from the eyes of emergent adolescents. The effect is intense.

When educators and parents admire the seemingly disciplined and diligent students of Asia, they have to consider the collateral damages. While the hard and fast Asian  “sink or swim” model of education has produced high test scores, it has also produced a subculture of disenfranchised teens.

This is not a condemnation of Asia educational policies. Unfortunately, I think there will always be those who just don’t quite fit in. I like the thinking behind Singapore Math. It makes sense to me to study fewer concepts, more deeply over the course of a semester than to study multiple concepts superficially. I like the idea of extending an activity beyond just the solution by asking: What else does the problem tell us?

However, a rigid “sink or swim” educational system has its victims – those who were unable to swim with the current drowned. 15 presents a few days in the lives of four drowning victims through a somewhat romanticized lens (but they are victims of the educational system nonetheless).

For some the 2009-2010 academic year has started. To help schools Arne Duncan and the US Department of Education has made “Race to the Top” grants available. In order to qualify for a grant states must make data on “student achievement” (i.e. test scores) available to use in principal and teacher evaluations. I have already written about the abuses this will spawn.

Arne Duncan believes that increased testing and greater attention to testing will make better schools and better students. I believe testing is necessary to assess knowledge and identify areas needing improvement. However, I also believe funding and merit should not be based on high test scores but on the strategies employed to serve those with low test scores.

Mr. Duncan’s unflinching focus on testing will eventually (though painfully) garner higher test scores. As the saying goes: “Practice makes perfect.” The more tests a student takes the better at testing he or she will become. Do strong test taking skills signify content knowledge? 21st Century Skills and global competitiveness require critical thinking and creative problem solving skills. How does an increased battery of tests provide for this?

A question to the Secretary:

Mr. Duncan, in your gluttonous appetite for test scores, who are getting caught in your teeth? Who are simply being spit out? And what’s going to happen for them? How are you going to reach the American Melvins, Shauns, Vynns, and Ericks?