Moral education, which takes up the issue of bullying, is currently an extracurricular activity at schools, but it will become a subject in the regular curriculum of junior high schools from April 2019. What do you think about this?

Bullying is human nature in a sense, but there's a particularly nasty version of it here. In fact its sort of ingrained in the culture to bully and talk down to anyone regarded as an inferior, whether it be by age or rank , deserved or not. Have taken issue with a society that promotes these divisions and hierarchies especially when they are not hierarchies of competence.  You see these over inflated buffoons berating those around them completely unaware of their own deficiencies. In that sense you need to teach people to stand up for themselves more as the bully types just simply don't have the mental goods to get it. Standing up to bullies should be the focus of the education rather than trying to eradicate it completely. You don't want to have a safe space seeking generation like what's happened in the West. In this sense the plan to  reintroduce martial arts back into elementary schools will be a good thing.

I taught a teacher who taught Moral Education. Two things: first, he was teaching moral education because he couldn’t teach anything else. Second, his idea of moral education was “Shut up and Do as you’re Told by your Superiors (i.e. teachers)”. I hope the students pay as much attention to their Moral Education teacher as they do their English teachers.

I would like to see conflict resolution taught as part of moral education. One reason why I feel that Japan is an unhappy and tense society is that people are walking around as if treading on eggshells trying not to offend each other because once they fall out, the concept of face being so important in oriental cultures makes it very difficult for someone to make the first move and reconciliation to occur. I think this partly explains the poor relationships and outstanding issues between neighbouring countries in this part of the world.

Otherwise, the phrase 'moral education' in a country with so many powerful nationalistic groups attempting to interfere in education makes me feel rather queasy.

Second, his idea of moral education was “Shut up and Do as you’re Told by your Superiors (i.e. teachers)”.

Sadly, this comes as no surprise at all.

Morals (in the Western sense of the word) don't exist in Japan, actually in Asia as a whole. The thinking seems to be if you think you can get away with it, it's okay to do it.

Morals and mores are cultural based. My brain does not work like a Japanese indoctrinated individual that functions like a group of worker ants.

I would have to see the curriculum and watch a class in action before I could make a judgement about it using my moral perspective as a Westerner.

borscht's comment about this being a subject where poor teachers can be dumped is all too imaginable.

It's also far to easy to imagine a morality lesson at a school describing a hypothetical bullying scenario that is actually already happening in a systematic manner (i.e., with the school's blessing) at club activities run by the same school. If a tennis club is run on the lines of first years being ballboys, older children will systematically look down on the younger ones. It is inevitable. If a girl is roped in to wash the baseball kit as the "manager", you've just ingrained sexism as well.

"Morals" is not a study subject. Morals are based on culture, experience and eventually religion, and are subjective. Morals can be different from one neighbor to the next or even inside one family.

And teaching it at school is dangerous as political ideas can be inserted.

Bullying certainly needs to be addressed, but I think that's not the way

Elementary School already have this. The class is called doutoku 道徳, it's pretty funny actually, I kid you not, but in the textbook, there's a lesson dedicated to how loud you should talk depending on how far the person you're talking to is away from you, and where you are.

I think several decades too late. You now have generations of people almost devoid of proper moral values, roaming the society. Even if there is an attempt to make things better in the ethics department for the newer generations, there are strata of people who will not see eye to eye with them.

It's very subjective. One could posit that the internet is not "moral".

Sure, it's just words/views/opinions from randoms but is it freedom of speech or freedom to bully?

It is freedom to remain dignified, everything else is crushed by justice and retribution.

my guess it'll be some teacher who draws the short straw, it won't be from qualified professionals like a child psychologist

Simply put, I don't trust the Education Ministry to teach 'moral education,' even though I think a good dose of morality is something many students could need.

Why? Because the Education Ministry doesn't itself understand morality. They talk about bullying, but bullying is endemic to the system they operate in. It's far too common for a teacher to engage in bullying of their students, for the teachers to be bullied by the higher ups, and for 'monster parents' to bully them all, in a never ending cycle of power play bullying.

Secondly, I think it's far too easy for non-moral ideas to be injected into moral education. Political views, nationalism, etc can easily be cloaked in a veneer of 'morality' that will do nothing more than encourage students to be obedient little salary-bots for their LDP Keidanren overlords.

Third, futility. Let's not talk about respecting your peers, of recognizing their worth as people and as individuals with rights, feelings, thoughts. Let's not discuss a person's own need to stand up for their own worth, their own rights, feelings, and thoughts. Instead, as mentioned above, let's talk about how loud you should speak depending on the distance you are from your audience. Morality reduced to a mathematical rule with no context and no gray area.

Yeah, that'll be helpful.

I don't think morality is an appropriate subject to teach at schools because it is tied heavily with politics, religion, culture and personal identity. Would I want someone who sees the world in a much different way from me in terms of moral values teaching my child what is right and wrong from a moral standpoint? Of course not. That is the role of a parent.

That being said, taking on bullying should be done in schools but need it be handled as an academic topic directly? Teaching people humility can certainly be done in a much more effective way than a moral ethics class. It won't work. The golden rule can be understood as mutually beneficial without ever having to cover the morality aspect. Empathy can't really be taught but it can be cultivated in young people over time.

I sure hope this can be figured out though. The bullying or power harassment here from what I've personally witnessed is off the charts.