by
TAJ
For hours on end, Kimiko had been blaming herself. Now, as she washed the evening dishes, she considered how to break the news to her husband, who would soon return home from work. Was it really her fault?The facts were undeniable: Their daughter, Maeko, had not been selected for the Uemura kindergarten program. Instead, she had been listed as "second alternate," meaning her acceptance depended upon two of the children ahead of her dropping out.
That was possible, but not very likely. Uemura Gakuen had attracted over one hundred applicants for the fifteen places in its three-year yochien program. As one of Tokyo's oldest and most prestigious preparatory schools, it could count among its past students some of Japan's most influential politicians, leaders of industry, and even Sakahanda, the popular young sumo wrestler. Nearly a third of Uemura's students would go on to Tokyo Daigaku, or "Todai" - the nation's top university. And graduation from Todai meant a leg up in any career, thanks to a supportive network of alumni comprising Japan's business and government elite.
Kimiko's husband, Yusuke, was a "Todai man." They had agreed on Uemura as the right school for Maeko's own start toward Todai, and he had been absolutely confident of her selection.
"It's not really an examination so much as a screening process," he had told Kimiko. "After all, what can a three-year old be expected to know? All you have to do is see that she's dressed smartly, that she minds what the examiners ask her to do, and that all of the forms are filled out properly. When they review the application they'll see that I'm from Todai and that I'm a department chief in one of the largest electronics companies. All other things being equal, they always choose children from the best families to be their students. Maeko is certain to pass."
But as it turned out, Maeko did not pass. All afternoon and evening, from the posting of results until Kimiko had at last put her daughter to bed, she kept thinking that the real failure had somehow been her own.
Why wasn't she selected? she asked herself again, as she scrubbed a dinner plate. I bought her a beautiful new outfit especially for the interview. New shoes, too. She looked so cute, and she behaved so well. What did I do wrong?
Kimiko recalled the entrance examination which had taken place on Friday the week before. In the first part, an interviewer asked Maeko to place animal-shaped blocks into holes in a board. He asked her what colors they were, and she completed both tasks without hesitation or error.
In the second part, Maeko went off with a group of children while all of the parents waited in a separate room. Maeko later said that they had played a game and learned a song. She could still sing the song days later, leading Kimiko to believe she must have done quite well in that part, too.
So the failure could only have come in the third and final part, when Kimiko herself had been interviewed by the headmaster. During the review of the application form, Kimiko had been nervous, but she answered directly every question put to her. She felt she had been particularly strong in answering a question about the value of coeducation, stating that girls needed to learn with boys right from the start if they were to be able to have the same opportunities later in life. One of the country's chronic problems was inequality in the job market, and differences in educational background between the sexes was a contributing factor. Girls, perhaps even more than boys, needed access to the best schools available, but most of them, including Todai, were still predominantly male institutions.
