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Japanese Students Hatching and Raising Chickens Before Killing and Eating Them
| Under the guidance of a teacher, they prepared them for incubation, washing them, arranging them in a special tray and learning to adjust the humidity and temperature on the incubator. For the next three weeks, they were in charge of monitoring the eggs and making sure that the right conditions for hatching were met. Once the chicks hatched, each student had to pick one and raise it as their own, knowing full well that in just a few months they would have to kill and eat it.
| The students were responsible for the well-being and proper growth of the chickens. They had to feed them, change their water frequently, monitor the temperature of their enclosure, as well as weight them periodically and record their progress. As you can imagine, some students get attached to the chickens, with some going as far to treat them like pets, despite knowing the gruesome conclusion of the class.
| Other try their best not to get to close to the birds, for that exact same reason. For example, Arakawa Yumesui, one of the students taking the Class of Life last year, told Nippon TV that she did not dare name her chicken for fear of attachment. Even so, when the time came to take its life, she said she felt uneasy because it was kind of like a pet to her.
| http://www.odditycentral.com/news/controversial-high-school-class-has-students-hatching-and-raising-chickens-before-killing-and-eating-them.html
| I think that's kind of the point. Even if you don't name the chicken, the process of having spent time with it from egg to dinner makes you attached to it in a way that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
Considering also that Japanese culture places a lot of emphasis on things like "giving thanks to the spirit of the animal for having lived to provide you with a meal," among other things, I think this class is more or less in keeping with traditionalist values.
| It also teaches an important value that isn't strictly Japanese- all things die eventually.
It's difficult to be desensitized when you're directly responsible for every aspect of something's life.
| I don't see anything wrong with this. They are basically being farmers
| Uh, we do that kind of every year at home, no problem with it.
| Is this seen as an issue? If this was some regular high school I could see why you would make a fuss, but if they are gonna be dealing with animals in their careers then it males sense.
| Ok?
| >>268226
Exactly, used to this at my grandmas place with the chickens and rabbits. That's just how it goes and is a good lesson. I feel like some people don't even understand where meat is coming from and what it takes to obtain it.
| I would smuggle the chicken home and make it my pet.
| >>268226
I think the real issue is people eating meat that basically would say it's ethical wrong but don't care as long others make their hands dirty for 'em. It's a typical example of modern civilizations bigotry.
So to the topic:
I find the dicussed course pretty interesting. I think it should be obligatory for everyone who eats meat, as long there is the option to choose not to kill it in the end and go vegetarian. Like a test for a meat eater license.
| >>269295 that's a little outlandish but i see where you're coming from. people don't need to flash a license to eat a burger, they just need to realize where the meat they eat comes from and how it gets to their plate
| >>269414
that would be a compromise I could easily live with. But reality is pretty far from this. You buy "chicken wings", advertised with "happy, local farm animals", eventually served by a guy in a funny cartoonish chicken dress. But what you get instead is basically a highly industrialized mass-production factory product, economical optimized in a way far from what most consumers basically expect or want.
| >>269295
HAHA xD
I'll die if this post comes from the UK
"Oi lad, TV permit and butter knoife registration please, oh is that chicken I see in this plate? Trying to hide it with sauce eh laddey? Oight meat loicence chop chop"
| Killing animals is wrong, but is justified by the unfortunate need to consume others for survival. You think that lettuce wanted to die before you made a salad with it?
| I wish my school had this class.
I could feed it only soy and make it the leanest chicken breast
| So, teaching children to farm is evil somehow? Everyone who has relatives in rural areas should understand. No only this, but Japan has a problem with declining interest in production like farming, so education of the younger generation is necessary.
| What's wrong with this, I remember have no pet chickens then rating them. (I lived in LA so it wasn't a rural part of America)
| I don't see anything wrong here. They are just being farmers
| I feel like lessons like this are important for keeping a person grounded, and empathetic. If you're ever responsible for decisions that affect people's lives, I feel like this experience would remind you to take it seriously.
Everything dies, yes. But that doesn't mean that just because something or someone dies that it should be without impact. And you should definitely care if that comes about from your actions.
I wouldn't call it controversial, merely an unsavory reality.
| This is actually a pretty common thing to do among farmers and their children.
If anything its probably better to know meat becomes meat
| I love how everyone here agree there is nothing wrong with this. That's a new one
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| For the past 60 years, every generation of freshman students at Izumo Agricultural and Forestry High School, in Izumo, Japan’s Shimane prefecture, has taken the “Class of Life”, a controversial six-month course during which the students help hatch and raise chickens, before having to slaughter and eat them.
Last year, the Class of Life at Izumo High School started in October, when they were presented with around 60 chicken eggs.