A big cultural difference between America and Japan is that most schools in Japan do not hire janitorial staff and require students to clean the school daily. The purpose of this is to teach the children to respect their environment and how to live on their own. The schools hire maintenance workers, but students complete all the everyday cleaning tasks. The tasks include sweeping, dusting and wiping classroom floors and bathrooms for about 15-30 minutes a day. 

Students in America often take janitors for granted and it would be very beneficial if American schools implemented some practices like these.

Oftentimes, if someone walks into a public school bathroom, there are varying degrees of vandalism, from obscene writing on the walls to deliberately broken stall doors and trash on the floor. Though these students may think they’re “sticking it to the man” somehow or simply don’t care, they’re only making a mess for underpaid janitorial workers to clean up. If students were in charge of tidying bathrooms, classrooms and other areas around the school they could gain more perspective and self-awareness. Janitors are extremely important to every environment, but most of the time they go unnoticed and people don’t realize the work that it takes to pick up after thousands of people every day; they deserve respect. 

Learning proper cleaning techniques is also a crucial part of adulthood, and when children always have someone doing it for them it can be very detrimental to their development. Many adults do not know how to clean certain parts of their home, for example, surveys show that 1 in 10 people have never cleaned their dishwasher or washing machine before. Teaching children life skills is just as important as academics and will lead them to be more independent and confident in themselves as adults.

Teaching students respect and life skills by setting time aside each day for routine cleaning is a smart idea and could be incredibly beneficial if American schools started doing this too. School should be a place that teaches students all different life skills, including cleaning.