Bullying in Japanese Schools
Yesterday, a ’shocking’ news story was reported by Mainichi. A 13-year-old junior high school student in Miyagi Prefecture committed suicide because he was being bullied at school:
Bullied junior high school student hangs self after becoming ‘tired of living’MIYAZAKI — A 13-year-old junior high school student hanged himself in a cowshed next to his home after telling his relatives that he had been bullied at school, it has emerged.
The second-year student committed suicide after taking part in the new term ceremony at Higashikata Junior High School in Kobayashi, Miyazaki Prefecture, on April 5.
He came home from school after 12 noon, and his grandmother found him hanged shortly after 5 p.m. His suicide note said “I’m tired of living. I’m sorry.”
The student was a member of the school’s kendo club. On the night of April 4, he told his relatives that he wanted to quit the club because practice was too tough, and that relationships with other club members were troubled.
Officials of the junior high school questioned the teacher who was in charge of the first-year class to which the boy belonged. The school principal said the student probably hadn’t told anyone at school about being bullied. (Mainichi)
April 22, 2006
The student probably hadn’t told any teachers about being bullied. But even if he had, the teachers probably wouldn’t have given serious punishments to the students involved. Based on what I have seen on Japanese news programs and my own personal experiences as a junior high/elementary teacher in Japan, it would seem that bullying is a serious problem in Japanese schools. It would also seem that most bullying is passively encouraged by teachers intentionally ignore bullying and fail to discipline bullies.
As a foreign privately-contracted English teacher at Japanese public schools, I am not allowed to discipline the Japanese students. Most of my classes are taught alongside a Japanese English Teacher, who is allowed to discipline students. Almost every case of bullying I have witnessed in class, from verbal abuse (“shut up”, “ugly”, “drop dead”, etc.) to outright physical violence, was clearly visible to the Japanese teachers present, who did nothing.
Maybe my horrible western cultural relavitism makes me wrongly believe that students should be punished for bullying other students. Maybe the fact that I was born in America, where there are harsh punishments(suspension, expulsion, detention, etc) for physical violence and harsh verbal bullying, makes me unjustly judge the Japanese education system. Or maybe I have at the unique experience of teaching at 3 Japanese schools that have irregularly high levels of bullying and apathetic teachers. I really hope so.
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This is just a terrible story. I have spent a lot of years in Japan and I know that bullying has been a huge problem for a long time. You’re right that most teachers tend to look the other way. Then when something like this happens, everyone acts so surprised and shocked about it.
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This is just a terrible story. I have spent a lot of years in Japan and I know that bullying has been a huge problem for a long time. You’re right that most teachers tend to look the other way. Then when something like this happens, everyone acts so surprised and shocked about it.
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I am half japanese, half american, and currently live in america. This is a completely biased story. I happen to know (I am in middle school) That almost no teacher, whether in Japan or the US, react, or help, when there is verbal abuse. I am regularly called a chinese rat by my American classmates. People whisper ‘ching chong’ when I pass, and tell me to go back to Japan, when I was born in the US! Racism is everywhere, and your article seemed to point all problems toward Japan. Shut up, ugly, etc. has been accepted by society, even if it should not have been. At my school, teachers do not assist when you are being verbally assaulted. When there is physical violence, us as students are required to work it out, unless someone is being punched in the face. If I were you, I would look at it from all point of views. This kind of bias is ruining culture and bonds between America and Japan.
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I am half japanese, half american, and currently live in america. This is a completely biased story. I happen to know (I am in middle school) That almost no teacher, whether in Japan or the US, react, or help, when there is verbal abuse. I am regularly called a chinese rat by my American classmates. People whisper ‘ching chong’ when I pass, and tell me to go back to Japan, when I was born in the US! Racism is everywhere, and your article seemed to point all problems toward Japan. Shut up, ugly, etc. has been accepted by society, even if it should not have been. At my school, teachers do not assist when you are being verbally assaulted. When there is physical violence, us as students are required to work it out, unless someone is being punched in the face. If I were you, I would look at it from all point of views. This kind of bias is ruining culture and bonds between America and Japan.
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