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The Wrong Plan for Schools
Story Of Ayumi Yabe:
She is an 18 year-old girl who was bullied and harrassed at school since first grade. Her teachers refused to help. She even received a death threat, and when she gave it to a teacher all he did was reading it in front of the class.
She began thinking about suicide.
Then her mom found her a refuge, an alternative school.
But she is not the only victim of bullying in Japan, and most of he other ones aren't that lucky.
A lot of them did commit suicide, as you could read in the media very frequently.
Bullying is indeed a big problem in that country, and has been for a long time.
It would be because of an education crisis.
Test scores are lower, there is less motivation to learn, less discipline and in classrooms. That would be the causes of the increase of bullying.
It is now difficult to keep track of bullying cases, because most of them are not straightforward.
Story of Midori Komori:
She's a housewife that turned anti-bullying activist, because her daughter killed herself after being bullied. She also visited a lot of schools to fight the problem.
She said:
Bullying is completely different now because of mobile phones and the internet. Children can do whatever they want without alerting their parents, so it's become easier for them to bully other kids without being seen.
Because of that, the Japanese government with the new administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enacted a new plan, called a new ''bold'' plan to reform the schools and try to solve the problem.
But the critics say that the problem is that it's not bold at all.
It met protests from the teachers, parents and even education experts, because all it does, according to them, is teach morality and patriotism without caring about the day-to-day concerns of the students, that it doesn't promote more creative thinking among students, and that it fails to address other big issues like school vouchers and the reform of local boards of education.
Because of this controversy, Abe's leadership was questioned.
Example: 70 percent three months ago on approval rating (((concerning North Korean nuclear tests and his diplomatic overtures to China and South Korea)))
Now: 47 percent.
Why? Partly because of people's disappointment on Japan's educational system.
Improving the school system is very important:
- to foster future global leaders
- to boost Japan's economy
- to strengthen Japan's welfare state
Japan's education system would be:
- too rigid
- bureaucratic
- obsessed with rote learning and conformity
- doesn't focus on students instead.
Bullying would be a manifestation of the pressure kids are under to succeed.
-> Hyper competitive classrooms
Favorite bullying tactic: Silent treatment: not talking to the target at all. It can translate to entire classrooms.
Bullying cases have increased considerably, but it is actually worse than we know from surveys, because a lot of cases aren't reported.
Serious worries about that problem started when at least 7 children committed suicide in a two-month period.
Japan's minister of education blamed the problem on social morality getting worse.
He says that the problem is blamed on teacher while it is actually families and community's responsibility.
He is very sensitive about the bullying problem, and the agency insists that there were no student suicides linked to bullying between 1999 and 2005.
But Komori disagrees. Her daughter killed herself in 1998, and Komor has spent 8 years trying to get information from her daughter's school.
But she didn't get any details and is now suing the school.
She says the case is emblematic, and blame people's lack of attention on the problem, saying the basic rule is ''you look the other way''.
Reformers propose solutions, like more autonomy for schools on dealing with issues like that, and their allowance to hire teachers from varied backgrounds, to enhance creativity among students.
Abe said he agreed, but his new law only gives more power to the Minister of Education.
Izumi, a teacher who protested in front of the Diet objecting to the new bill believes that bullying occurs in a society where human rights are oppressed.
Now an education-advisory panel is studying how Japan could revitalize its schools and has to report it to Abe, who has to show his voters where that his ''heart is in the right place'' and that he is genuinely committed to reform.
The Wrong Plan for Schools
Story Of Ayumi Yabe:
She is an 18 year-old girl who was bullied and harrassed at school since first grade. Her teachers refused to help. She even received a death threat, and when she gave it to a teacher all he did was reading it in front of the class.
She began thinking about suicide.
Then her mom found her a refuge, an alternative school.
But she is not the only victim of bullying in Japan, and most of he other ones aren't that lucky.
A lot of them did commit suicide, as you could read in the media very frequently.
Bullying is indeed a big problem in that country, and has been for a long time.
It would be because of an education crisis.
Test scores are lower, there is less motivation to learn, less discipline and in classrooms. That would be the causes of the increase of bullying.
It is now difficult to keep track of bullying cases, because most of them are not straightforward.
Story of Midori Komori:
She's a housewife that turned anti-bullying activist, because her daughter killed herself after being bullied. She also visited a lot of schools to fight the problem.
She said:
Bullying is completely different now because of mobile phones and the internet. Children can do whatever they want without alerting their parents, so it's become easier for them to bully other kids without being seen.
Because of that, the Japanese government with the new administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enacted a new plan, called a new ''bold'' plan to reform the schools and try to solve the problem.
But the critics say that the problem is that it's not bold at all.
It met protests from the teachers, parents and even education experts, because all it does, according to them, is teach morality and patriotism without caring about the day-to-day concerns of the students, that it doesn't promote more creative thinking among students, and that it fails to address other big issues like school vouchers and the reform of local boards of education.
Because of this controversy, Abe's leadership was questioned.
Example: 70 percent three months ago on approval rating (((concerning North Korean nuclear tests and his diplomatic overtures to China and South Korea)))
Now: 47 percent.
Why? Partly because of people's disappointment on Japan's educational system.
Improving the school system is very important:
- to foster future global leaders
- to boost Japan's economy
- to strengthen Japan's welfare state
Japan's education system would be:
- too rigid
- bureaucratic
- obsessed with rote learning and conformity
- doesn't focus on students instead.
Bullying would be a manifestation of the pressure kids are under to succeed.
-> Hyper competitive classrooms
Favorite bullying tactic: Silent treatment: not talking to the target at all. It can translate to entire classrooms.
Bullying cases have increased considerably, but it is actually worse than we know from surveys, because a lot of cases aren't reported.
Serious worries about that problem started when at least 7 children committed suicide in a two-month period.
Japan's minister of education blamed the problem on social morality getting worse.
He says that the problem is blamed on teacher while it is actually families and community's responsibility.
He is very sensitive about the bullying problem, and the agency insists that there were no student suicides linked to bullying between 1999 and 2005.
But Komori disagrees. Her daughter killed herself in 1998, and Komor has spent 8 years trying to get information from her daughter's school.
But she didn't get any details and is now suing the school.
She says the case is emblematic, and blame people's lack of attention on the problem, saying the basic rule is ''you look the other way''.
Reformers propose solutions, like more autonomy for schools on dealing with issues like that, and their allowance to hire teachers from varied backgrounds, to enhance creativity among students.
Abe said he agreed, but his new law only gives more power to the Minister of Education.
Izumi, a teacher who protested in front of the Diet objecting to the new bill believes that bullying occurs in a society where human rights are oppressed.
Now an education-advisory panel is studying how Japan could revitalize its schools and has to report it to Abe, who has to show his voters where that his ''heart is in the right place'' and that he is genuinely committed to reform.
