Intelligent Students? Sometime, I Think Not.

I am afraid my weeks and week ends are non-events. There is nothing that happens that is really of importance but I have determined to write of something and to write more often. It is only a question of what I will write.

Something I continue to attempt to solve is why otherwise intelligent students insist on being... well... unintelligent. For examples:

• Email etiquette. There’s a student who is now in her third and final year here. Her email address is nearly identical to mine so for the past year, I have been getting her emails. MANY of her emails. I have notified her to tell her friends and family to change the address in their address books. I have emailed the people who sent me things in error to tell them that I am not the person they are seeking. I have been doing this for a year. Do you think they could stop sending emails to me? Of course not. I have given up…now I just delete them.
•  Following instructions. There is a printer and photocopier for the students to use. There are clear instructions for replacing the toner cartridges for both machines. There are simple step-by-step instructions taped on the wall above the printer. The copier’s instructions are built in: there is a diagram that appears on a screen showing you exactly how to replace them. For some reason, if the second the toner is low and their copies do not appear crisp (which is required to submit papers), I get asked for help. Why? Is it beneath them to do it themselves? Are the instructions in Japanese/English/Chinese too difficult to comprehend? Do they feel entitled to pampering? 
•  Japan, in general, is a country that prides itself on manners. But it is not so for all things, apparently. I learned to form single file lines – one behind another – when waiting in queues or when walking along corridors. Students here cannot seem can’t grasp this concept. Instead, I will be walk down a stairwell, corridor, or narrow outdoor path (as a result of on-campus construction) and the students will stop in the narrowest portion to chat with their fellow students. All the while, people using the WALKway must constantly say “excuse me” to pass. What I do not understand is, the students will move only a step to let the person pass, then they go back to their original position. One would believe they would realize “This is a narrow place for 4 friends to chat. Perhaps we should walk 5 feet over to that big open space?

Is it only me? Am I the only person who struggles to not throw rocks at these people? I realize I am not here only to learn, but to teach as well. I did not believe I would be required to teach them such things that should have been learned in elementary school.