Opinion Today: What it looks like to teach resilience to kids

What a school performance shows us about Japanese education.

View in browser|nytimes.com November 30, 2024 By Ema Ryan Yamazaki Ms. Yamazaki is a documentary filmmaker. As I witnessed 7-year-old Ayame shed tears after not being selected as the drummer for a musical performance at her Tokyo public school, I remembered my own time as an elementary student in Osaka, Japan. As a young girl, I was timid and didn't quite fit in. In the Japanese public school system, I regularly faced challenges I was expected to overcome. Eventually, I became addicted to the satisfaction of accomplishment — whether it was through music performances or sports. I learned what it meant to be responsible and do my part for my community and a greater group, sometimes through empathetic support and other times through peer pressure. When I came to New York City to attend university and start my career, colleagues would frequently compliment me on my work ethic and teamwork skills. But I couldn't help but think that this was nothing special; it came naturally from my childhood in the Japanese elementary school system. That inspired my decade-long effort to share with the world what might be Japan's best-kept secret. My short documentary for Op-Docs, "Instruments of a Beating Heart," follows Ayame and her peers as they are tasked with a challenge at the end of the school year: to form an orchestra and perform "Ode to Joy" for the incoming class of first graders. On the last day of filming, we captured a remarkably profound conversation among Ayame and her peers. "What are we? Part of a beating heart?" she asks, moments before their big performance, which they have trained rigorously for. "We're each a piece of a heart. If one of us is unbalanced," a classmate answers, "we are no longer a heart." Ayame replies, "What unforgiving instruments we are." In that, we see the beauty and pressures of what this experience has taught them and, perhaps, a clue into why Japanese society is the way it is. WATCH THE OP-DOC HERE What a School Performance Shows Us About Japanese Education A look into the Japanese educational system's delicate balancing of teamwork, discipline and personal growth. By Ema Ryan Yamazaki THE WEEK IN BIG IDEAS via Sarah Wildman Guest Essay If My Dying Daughter Could Face Her Mortality, Why Couldn't the Rest of Us? A bereaved mother's case against our grief-phobic culture. By Sarah Wildman Cecilia Erlich Guest Essay As a Couples Therapist, I See the Same Destructive Patterns in Our Political Discourse We're in a national moment of great fear and suspicion. But the principles of psychoanalysis that can help feuding couples can also help us reconcile our differences. By Orna Guralnik Lindley Warren Mickunas Guest Essay What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Motherhood The uncertainty before making a decision about having kids is the hardest part. By Daniela J. Lamas Is Creativity Dead? Or is the algorithm just hiding it from you? By Kirby Ferguson We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Games Here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here. Forward this newsletter to friends to share ideas and perspectives that will help inform their lives. They can sign up here. Do you have feedback? Email us at opiniontoday@nytimes.com. If you have questions about your Times account, delivery problems or other issues, visit our Help Page or contact The Times. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Opinion Today newsletter from The New York Times. To stop receiving Opinion Today, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018