In Tokyo, an exam crash course is relayed to the headmaster’s office.
In
Kyoto, young boys who cracked study in a juvenile detention centre. |
Unprecedented
violence among young people is sweeping Japan. Some see it as a reaction to an earlier
crackdown, but Yodji Morita, a sociologist from Osaka City University, criticizes
the reliance on force
Japanese society is facing what you’ve called an outbreak of “unpredictable violence”
by high school students. Could you explain?
It started in 1998 when, in the first incident of its kind since the end of World
War II, a teacher was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old boy. Then a schoolboy who
belonged to a gang stole about $200,000 and a 17-year-old hijacked a bus, killing
the woman he had taken hostage. Another youth, who had been bullied, battered two
fellow-pupils with a baseball bat before going home and killing his own mother. We
had 22 incidents like this between 1998 and 2000.
How has the public reacted?
With shock and fear. Parents feel they no longer understand their own children.
But this isn’t the first time there’s been violence in or around schools. There was
another wave of it in the 1980s, which the government cracked down on by hiring teachers
who were skilled at karate, judo or kendo. The aim was to put pressure on unruly
pupils, who mostly operated in gangs, so that classes could go on in peace.
Did this include using force?
Corporal punishment used to be common throughout Japanese society. But after
World War II, the government put an end to it. So officially, such punishment is
forbidden, but in fact such methods were used in schools in the 1980s, after children
had received warnings.
Did it have any effect?
It set up a vicious circle: the repressive atmosphere only increased the sense
of frustration and stress felt by difficult children, and tension built up. The repressed
feelings exploded with an ever greater violence, and the state cracked down again.
Also, the “normal” children began to see this strong-fisted policy as the example
that had to be followed. It was strictly applied (with teachers even searching school
bags and confiscating snacks), until it finally became unbearable. On the surface,
calm has been reestablished. But since 1990, there’s been an increase in physical
and psychological bullying, especially among girls, along with extortion and truancy.
And all this in an education system that puts children under great pressure...
The pressure doesn’t come from the schools, but from the parents. In Japan, we
have no natural resources, so producing skilled labour is our only source of wealth.
For parents eager to see their offspring succeed, education is an investment. Furthermore,
a strong sense of hierarchy is established in the school from early on, with children
divided into the talented and the not so talented.
But unlike in many industrialized countries, family and community ties are still
very strong. Do they help to reduce the violence?
Compared with other rich countries, our crime rate is very low, as is school violence.
That’s why the 1998 outbreak was such a shock. It was seen as a sign of impending
social change. In the past, you had to be self-effacing and melt into the group.
Modern Japan is becoming more individualistic.
What can people running the schools do?
Respect the children by giving them a sense of responsibility. Encourage them
to help each other in new ways. This is what current educational reforms are aiming
at. |
