Hardships in School Life Narrated: A Folkloric Study on Personal Experiences and Internalized Challenges

This study examines the characteristics of schools as places in local communities by focusing on narratives of hardships experienced in school life from a folkloric perspective. The author conducted interviews with graduates from their middle schools, with particular emphasis on the manner by which hardships in club activities and interpersonal relationships are narrated. This study conceptualizes the school as a self-determined space, where narratives of hardships avoiding general expressions observed. This narrative difficulty suggests that individuals accept hardships as personal experiences and actively engaged with them. In conclusion, this study highlights that schools are spaces where hardships are likely to be internalized and accompanied by an inherent difficulty in being narrated, thus suggesting the necessity for educational discourse.