Record-high truancy, bullying at Japan schools: gov’t survey – The Mainichi

7 comments

1. Not surprised. The teachers at our kids’ school were clueless as to what was going on, and the only solution was not going.

2. I wonder if this includes both public and private schools?

3. I haven’t noticed much bullying beyond teasing at my school, but there’s a *lot* of kids who don’t go to school, and some who do just play on their phones in the hallway during class.

4. Ok for everyone who is foaming at the mouth with a chance to talk shit about Japanese schools, I’m gonna rain on your parade.

   The reason why there are record amounts of bullying now is because the classification/definition of bullying has been broadened massively over the last 10 years, and the board of education is enforcing that definition intensely.

   What I mean is, let’s say you have two 2nd grade elementary school students, and one of them goes up to the other and says, I think your art project is ugly, and the second kid cries, and then they apologize and make up. We still have to write that as a ‘bullying’ incident, and it is counted, and put on the report you just read.

   So the overall # of bullying cases has risen MASSIVELY, because the country is basically over compensating for how terribly bullying was handled in the past.

   ​

   As far as record #s of truancy, this is an actual problem, but again, far more nuanced than this article makes it sound. Over the past 5 years, the shift has gone from ‘we must bring this kid back to school immediately!’ to, ‘we must do what is right for this kid’ and the pressure to bring the kid back into school has basically dissapeared. The thought process behind this, if the kid has some kind of hardcore social anxiety, forcing them to come to the school building can do more harm than good.

   Also the reporting of ‘truancy’ is a grey area too. Some schools report anything over 3 consecutive days absent without a reason as truancy. Some schools report attending lessons via zoom from home as truancy if it is persistent. Some schools count staying in the nurses room all day rather than going to lessons as truancy, and some don’t.

   There isn’t as much of a set standard for how to report this. So the problem could actually be worse than is listed here, or better depending on your viewpoint and how schools in different areas report things.

   Finally, as it says in the article, corona was a big influence. A lot of kids got to sta home and attend school online for relatively long periods of time depending on what the situation at their own school was, and got used to it.

   So yeah, this one is a bit more complicated.

   Far and away the most concerning sentence in the article is that of the ‘truant’ kids, roughly 35% are receiving 0 counseling or guidance.

5. Time for Kunio-kun to clean up River City High

6. I’m too lazy to do research but has there ever been an instance of a bully free school?

   I’m Asian American and got bullied badly in US schools which definitely messed me up mentally

7. There is roughly one student per class that misses classes each day. Often times the same student.