Should Children Clean Their Own Schools? Japan Thinks So.

Many Japanese schools don’t hire janitors or custodians in the traditional American role, and much of the school cleaning is done by the children themselves. One of the traditions of Japanese education is that students do o-soji (cleaning). It’s one of the few things non-Japanese tend to know about Japanese schools. Unfortunately, many of us tend to get the details wrong. 

Japanese schools have non-teaching staff called yomushuji, or shuji for short. They have many responsibilities, including serving as crossing guards when school lets out, but their main job is cleaning and maintenance. That’s a good thing, too, when you take a moment to think about. Schools definitely need adults to mop things up after the children finish cleaning………….