Bullying in Japanese Education
In his widely read book on Japan, Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr claims that students only learn behavior and conformity in Japanese schools, and that, because of this, the educational system creates violence:
The acceptance of violence against those who are weaker than you is a part of Japan’s educational process, as it enforces group unity. Given the intense pressure to conform from kindergarten onward, Japanese students frequently turn to bullying, known as ijime. (291)
I beg to differ.
We are certainly required to keep harmony with many people around us in schools, companies, offices and so on. Many Japanese think it is not good to disturb the piece, so we learn a kind of obedience besides politeness, decency, and courtesy. Therefore “the acceptance of violence against those who are weaker than you” is not what Japan’s schools are about. We are taught that it is a bad thing to bully someone.
Kerr also thinks that school teachers tacitly support bullying: “While teachers take an official stand against ijime, they tend to encourage it indirectly, through their own emphasis on obedience to the group” (292). But it is not enough observation. There may be some teachers who encourage students to bully, but they are very few, and most teachers don’t tolerate violence and bullying at all. When I was an elementary school student, one of my classmates was bullied by some girls. She was distressed by the experience, so she talked with her teacher about it. The teacher confronted it seriously, and after this, he had a talk with her and the girls who bullied her. They talked things through, and finally the girls stopped bullying. They came to fully understand that bullying was a really bad thing.
In support of his claim that teachers encourage bullying, Kerr brings up a statistic:
In a nationwide conference of the Japan Teachers’ Union in 1996, most teachers agreed: “It can’t be helped that in severe cases of bullying the bullied student skips school for a while.” But only 11 percent thought it was appropriate to suspend the bullies” (292)
This may be true, but I don’t think it’s particularly relevant. Suspending the bullies is punishment, but it doesn’t change anyone’s behavior. So, if the bullies are suspended from school, they may not come to realize why bullying is a bad thing, and when they return to school, they may repeat the same mistake. If the majority of teachers don’t believe that suspending the bullies from school is an adequate response, it doesn’t mean that they support or encourage bullying.
Kerr also exaggerates the alleged racism in the Japanese educational system as a cause of bullying: “Students who have studied abroad are obvious targets; so alien is their upbringing to that of their classmates that educationalists have created a new word for them: kikokushijo, ‘returnees’” (292). But the kikokushijo are not always bullied in Japanese schools. The elementary school which I went to for six years had foreign students. There was no foreign student in my class, but there was a class that included a kikokushijo. She didn’t seem to be bullied by her classmates, and she looked happy mingling with her new friends. Kerr’s analysis simply doesn’t square with my experience.
I don’t think bullying has much to do with the emphasis that Japanese education places on harmony. Kerr sees only the worst in Japanese education and Japanese teachers, yet there are many teachers in this country who strongly oppose bullying, so if he’d widen his view and look at things from different sides, he might change his opinion.
Comments
My guess is that the author is kind of projecting his own experiences in Japan onto his skewed view of education (here the term ‘projection’ refers to psychoanalysis), with a strong feeling of being alienated in this country overly closed to other species (Dogs and Demons or apes) and all things alien, where you are faced with the governmental policy of severely restricting immigration, which would easily translate into harsh criticism from people of his kind, as being unworthy of a developed country. His sense of alienation might have been augmented by the experience of being 4ced to fingerprint, as mandated by law (or simply shocked at the sight of schoolboys yelling ‘geijiiin’). But then, what I guessed here only proves that his argument is not so unfounded, at least with regard 2 bullying “kikokushijo” sorts of people.
Hi T,
Kerr’s chapter on education relies to a large extent on anecdotal evidence, and the generalisations he derives from that evidence, in my view, can reasonably be challenged by somebody who went through Japan’s educational system and, on the basis of that experience, finds Kerr’s claims overblown.
The perception that violence in Japanese schools is in fact on the rise hardly qualifies as “altering or concocting facts” — that violence is widely recognised and discussed as a problem. It’s not that I follow that discussion too closely, but Kerr’s analysis of the violence as a direct consequence of the system’s insistence on conformity strikes me as both original and not very easy to dismiss. But surely it’s more creditable to criticise Kerr’s views by challenging the validity of his evidence and insisting that one’s own experience is different than by attacking him personally as a disgruntled outsider who’s only venting his sense of frustration, no?
O.K.
Attacking the author on a rather dubious basis may be as far-fetched as his reasoning that the issue of violence in Japanese schools is a direct consequence of conspiracy between schoolteachers who only seek conformity and pupils authorized by them to unleash a more biological, more primitive but universal, urge to pick on aliens. According to his line of argument, Japan’s system only serves to strengthen racism and discrimination.
Too much emphasis on conformity is obviously derived from old Confucianism that cherishes order. Japan’s education system is an amalgam of Confucian ethic and the misinterpretation of individualism introduced after the war with the United States.
Violence in educational institutions is on the rise in every part of the world and must be discussed on a global scale. Hence it’s not appropriate to blame it on Japan’s particularity and I would say his line of argument is based upon false reasoning, far from revealing the true cause of the problem.
You’ll encounter bullying wherever you go and throughout human history. Our tendency to bully people different from the majority in one way or the other is deeply rooted in human nature. Even apes will do that. Problems of this kind will not cease to exist as long as human beings are there, even after thousands of years from now. But it doesn’t mean that teachers and those kinds of people are allowed to admit it as such.
The truth is that bullying and violence in general, including DV, sexual harassment, power harassment and so on, were skillfully concealed in the past; with the development of mass media and the means of communications and changes in social awareness, we started to shed light on them; violence had always been there and not on the rise. How about molestations in overcrowded commuter trains?
Yes! Bullying is a very bad thing. And Kerr looks only at one part of Japanese education. I think so, too. I want Kerr to see me in the future. If he looked at me, he would change his mind. I am a teacher who will change Japanese education. Don’t you think so?
I havent read Mr.Kerr`S book yet,but I do think IJIME is NOT only happen in the school. My girl friend had bad time beause IJIME. Not only her,but also many of my Japanese friends had bad experience about IJIME too. I did sort reasearch about IJIME of Japanese scociety. I think maybe IJIME had sort relate to Japanese`s xenophobia thing. The targets are not only WEAK,but also they are usualy different(or a little bit different) from most of others. From the infos what I heard or searched. It seems like IJIME is NOT only in the shool,but also in companies or any other kinds form of groups. Although this is not my business,but I do think IJIME is kind serious not only in school,but also among most groups(includs adults) in Japan. I understand that many Japanese tend to hide or deny the truth of IJIME situation beause its a shame like many of you(I am sorry to say this,but I know it :) ),but what I want to say is beside IGNORING or DENY the truth of IJIME(which I know many Japanes do this when they hear,read,or see the stuff which make them shame.) why dont we just accept it and see if there is any way to understand it and change it. I am sorry that I might used a lot word based on bias and stereotype( bias which I experienced many times anyway :\)
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Generalization is often in conflict with personal experiences. The easiest and most effective way to write a book is by altering or concocting facts to fit the author’s perspective.
However, generalization is necessary to build a common basis for debate. Just enumerating your personal episodes does not make a good discussion.