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The story
A thread titled “I’m a high school teacher, ask me anything” popped up on Niyusoku VIP, with a current teacher fielding questions as far as they felt comfortable answering. Under Japan’s teaching license system, a single science license covers physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science together, so in years when staff are short, one teacher can end up handling all four subjects solo. Meanwhile, the claim “I got my teaching license without writing a graduation thesis” drew skepticism — “what idiot school was that?” — and sparked a back-and-forth after others pointed out that some science departments at elite former Imperial Universities don’t require a thesis at all. The thread also touched on a colleague who resigned over a sex crime, and the teacher’s plans to stay at the school until retirement.
What people said
Do science teachers really handle physics, chemistry, biology, AND earth science — all of it?
It's been so long I forget.
License-wise, it's possible.
In years when we're short-staffed, that actually happens.
I didn't have a thesis.
What idiot university lets you get a teaching license with no thesis?
I think the base requirement for a Type 1 license is just graduating from a 4-year degree program.
A graduation thesis wasn't actually part of the requirement, I believe.
It's been a while though, so some of this might be off.
At science departments in the old Imperial Universities, having no thesis is pretty common.
As long as I don't cause a scandal, I plan to stay until retirement.
At public schools, teachers get transferred around a lot, so even alumni don't feel much "alma mater" attachment.
Re: #30
Sorry,
never played one.
Try "Suki Suki Daisuki" (a visual novel series) — it's got a great sense of unreality to it.
There are.
Obviously there's a whole range of looks.
Some kids have surprisingly sharp features.
Re: #34
I'll just say it was an "F-rank" school (bottom-tier university).
Re: #36
Whenever I'm interacting with students, including in class, I've got a clear purpose in mind, so I don't really have spare attention for noticing other things.
Someone sharper than me could probably multitask and notice stuff even while zoning out.
Seriously, truly none at all.
Just having a job that puts me in frequent contact with the opposite sex during their formative years already carries a lot of risk.
I'm pretty careful about that.
Re: #39
This job really wears your mental health down, so hobbies matter.
I'll give it a try if I get the chance.
Re: #40
My read is that ranking people by hensachi score will be done with in about ten more years.
I wouldn't worry about it.
I get quite a bit, actually.
Re: #45
Thankfully, not yet.
Though I might go through one before I retire.
Hard to put into words, but it's a revulsion close to how I'd feel about incest.
Are you out of your mind?
Just name the university's science department where that supposedly happens.
At places where 80-90% of students go on to grad school, spending time on an undergrad thesis is pointless anyway.
Are you maybe someone who never actually went to university?
I've heard the same "no thesis" story from people who went to other universities too.
But you get that Re: #57 is being ridiculous, right?
A colleague resigning over a sex crime is the biggest thing that's happened recently.
I don't know what became of them after that.
I'll just say upper-middle tier.
Re: #103
With basic science, aren't you only really qualified once you've finished a doctorate?
Someone like me who stopped at a bachelor's degree really can't speak to the specialized stuff.
This year's theory was simple enough that even I, a non-physics person, understood it easily — so what exactly don't you get about it?
To begin with, my interest was in condensed matter physics, so honestly I don't even really know what a neutrino is.
That's the level I'm at.
Sorry about that.
Re: #109
Exactly right.
That's how teachers end up mistakenly thinking they can judge people by their own yardstick, and turn into that stereotypical "teacher-ish" teacher.
I'm not a fan of that type.
I teach what's needed for my own class, and if it's outside that, I send the student to whoever teaches that subject.
I'd rather not get tangled up in weird territorial stuff.
That's a pretty philosophical, cool way to put it, teacher.
I'll have to sneak into one of your classes sometime.
You don't even know qualitatively what a neutrino is?
Is that a joke?
What are you talking about, even high school covers stuff like E=mc^2 and the double-slit experiment.
That's just scratching the surface, though.
You can only really say you've understood that equation once you can derive it from first principles.
High school only touches the edges of "old quantum theory," and that doesn't mean you've understood quantum theory.
But you don't even know it at that level, do you?
Where does the motivation to pursue it that far even come from?
"New quantum theory" is of course covered at the undergrad level.
Neutrinos are probably even further beyond that, I'd guess.
Background and Talking Points
Japan’s teaching license (the “regular license”) is granted under the Education Personnel Certification Act once a student completes the designated courses and credits at university — whether or not a graduation thesis is required isn’t actually a condition of the licensing law itself, but is left up to each university and department’s own graduation requirements. It’s also true that some science departments at the old Imperial Universities don’t require a thesis at all, so the thread’s dispute over whether “no thesis” could really be true seems to stem from conflating the licensing system with individual universities’ graduation requirements. Likewise, since the science teaching license is granted as a single blanket “science” qualification rather than by individual subject, it’s also correct that one teacher can be responsible for physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science alone. Meanwhile, the comments about a colleague resigning over a sex crime and about the teacher’s sense of distance from students were kept to general statements without any information that could identify a victim, and this article has likewise been written to stay within that scope.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Niyusoku VIP) thread “I’m a high school teacher, ask me anything.”
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