The first and second graders learnt how to grow vegetables and flowers in science class.
Since yesterday was so sunny, we prepared to put soil in the planters to grow our own potatoes. The bags of soil were very heavy, but we were able to carry them together.
We gently covered the potatoes with soil to protect them from the intense sun, and gave them all water. The second grade students are planning to grow a variety of plants. We can’t wait to see what they grow!
Teachers Meeting
After school, a teachers meeting was held. Our ninth grade students also attended.
A few decades from now, when the children grow into adults, its highly likely that society will be completely different to what it is now.
The four themes we discussed in depth in todays meeting were: the declining population of Japan, the future of AI companies, the way of life for our children, and the problems of children today.
Among the topics we discussed today, we spoke about how 49% of Japans current working population could be replaced by AI or robots (2015, Nomura Research Institute report). Even the ninth grade students have heard that AI will take over most human jobs, they also commented that “AI seems scary” to them.
“What makes AI so scary?” is a difficult question for anyone to answer. Even though everyone knows about AI, they don’t really know how it works.
Thinking ahead to when the students were adults, we wondered what kind of skills they would need to acquire by the time they graduated. Many groups emphasized the importance of “aiming to achieve happiness in any environment”, “valuing oneself and others” and “increasing their self-esteem”. The children expressed their opinions on this as well which made the discussion more meaningful.
However, to put the issues discussed into practice, its up to us, the teachers, to think about concrete methods, and put them into practice, at this crucial point in the childrens lives. We would like to thank the ninth grade students for taking time out to attend the meeting as it was very beneficial to have them there, to help come up with these methods.
