Educational Reform is needed to deal with social problems such as bullying, dropouts and examination hell

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Educational Reform is needed to deal with social problems such as bullying, dropouts and examination hell

In the past few years a stream of atrocities committed by Japanese students has been reported in the international media: a 13-year old stabbed his teacher to death after she reprimanded him for being late for school. A few days before a high school student had threatened a fellow pupil with a knife. A short while later a 15-year old attacked a policeman in an attempt to steal his gun. However, the incident that shocked the public most was that of the savage murder of a 14-year old by a fellow student. What horrified both the Japanese and the international audience most was not just the young age of the offender but that he placed the severed head of his victim on the school gate after the killing.

Current tendencies in youth behaviour

All these cases could be seen as being completely unrelated, gaining weight simply because they occurred in such short succession. This is, however, not the way it is perceived in Japan. Such acts of violence are seen as an extreme manifestation of a general decline in the moral values of young people and are placed on the same level as other breaches of rules forced upon children by grown-ups such as truancy (futoko), bullying (ijime) and "dating for compensation" (enjo kosai). "Rage" and "brutalisation" have become the new buzzwords to characterise students' behaviour. In countless debates, educational experts lament the disintegration of classroom discipline, teachers losing authority and the relationships between teachers and students becoming more distant. Experts claim that schoolchildren no longer obey, defy school rules and are careless (Anon, 1998).

This perception has resulted in a wide consensus in Japanese sociological and pedagogic literature. When analysed more closely it becomes apparent that only a small number of recurring characteristics and explanations are applied to all forms of deviant behaviour. This serves to underline the fact that that from the Japanese point of view the various forms of deviant behaviour are simply symptoms of one and the same problem - today's youth is refusing to obey adults. They no longer have any stable moral values and through their actions are questioning the current norms of social cohesion. As so many subscribe to this opinion, it is evident why it has become one of society's most pressing issues, relating to questions such as conformity and society's favoured education policy which are fundamental to Japan's self-image. From the Japanese point of view the crisis has become so severe that it threatens to destabilise the foundations of society.

Before addressing the possible causes for the change in behaviour of school children it is necessary to briefly analyse statistical data surrounding violence and deviant behaviour of students in Japan. Although rising numbers of media reports might suggest that recent outbursts of violence are a relatively new phenomenon, statistics indicate that many stories are being blown out of proportion. Truancy for example, often said to be a relatively new occurrence, was actually more serious an issue in 1955. In that year 3.3% of students failed to turn up for school on more that 50 days. This number then continually declined until 1994 when it slowly rose again (Takigawa 1998:165). The level of 1995 has never actually been reached. In 1996, for example, 0.2% of primary school students and 1.4% of middle school students played truant (nihon kodomo wo mamorukai 1998:139), which would show that the problem is not quite as acute as some media reports might suggest.

Other statistics add weight to the argument that violence in schools is not a new problem and that it has also not been continually rising. Results released by the education office (kyoiku iinkai) show that since records began in the early 80s cases have not constantly risen year on year but have instead fluctuated, reaching their lowest point in 1991 (Shimizu 1998). If the data released by the police are taken as a basis for calculations then the number of registered cases has actually fallen since the 80s (Homusho homu sogo kenkyusho 1997:432). As only more serious cases are reported to the police, these figures would seem to indicate that violence and extreme cases of aggression are in fact, contrary to popular belief, falling. Furthermore, when viewed from an international perspective, Japan has, together with Korea, by far the lowest rates of youth crime in the world.
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"Scapegoat school" - reasons for deviant behaviour

When analysing the available data it seems that the reaction of the media and the public seems disproportionate when compared with the actual behaviour of the schoolchildren. Even though one might say that the Japanese media exhibits a certain degree of over-sensitivity with regard to deviant youth behaviour, the fact cannot be ignored that current perceived tendencies are increasingly alarming the Japanese public. Their attention is focused on why and how societal norms are violated. The public feels worried and threatened and are desperately searching for the root causes.
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