High school boy in critical condition after 'penalty' run in heat

And this is happening all over Japan! I'm surprised that more children do not die as a result!

With the high humidity,temperatures feel much higher so 32 degrees will feel like 34 or 35 degrees.

I also fail to understand what extended running accomplishes?

Is it a form of torture that the MOE hopes will prepare students for a lifetime of commuting?

Young lives are at risk due to thoughtless actions by adults!

i would hope that the school is

sued by the parents for gross negligence!!!

Little more than torture. Poor kid, I feel for him and his family.

The student finished in 2 minutes and 8 seconds, and was asked to run the course 43 times.

That equates to about 12 miles. Telling mentally challenged kids, let alone anyone, to run this much in this heat and humidity is pretty bad judgement.

was asked to run the course 43 

I believe the proper verb is 'ordered.'

And why 43? Does the teacher have a secret formula that will magically get students to run the course in the required time?

Also, this might happen to spectators and athletes in the mid-August Tokyo Olympics.

Long-hour running constitutes corporal punishment

This is a school for the mentally handicapped and they use corporal punishment on their students? If this had happened in Australia it would have resulted in a ministerial investigation of the school and its practices resulting in fines and possibly jail time for those responsible. However, in Japan the teacher responsible has stated he regrets doing it and it's over? It sounds more like a DPRK work camp than a school for mentally disabled children. Unfortunately, this kind of ill-treatment and abuse of students is SOP in the Japanese education system. I've always thought that, Japanese school system is more like incarceration than education.

If i ware my kids i hope he would have the independence to say no or at least call me so i can tell him no.

Par for the course in Japan. THey can't seem to get the message -- whether it's teacher's in Saitama telling the kids to jump off rooves or balconies, gym teachers saying they'll continue to beat the kids who don't "toughen up" and will do massive human pyramids despite laws against them -- they don't care about a child's health one bit.

"The students had been advised to drink water every two rounds, according to the school."

Ah, well... clealy the kids' fault, then!

"The teacher told the education board he meant to raise students' motivation to clear high hurdles by extra running, adding he now regrets what he did."

Oh, okay. Extreme stupidity and flat out physical abuse and abuse of power forgiven, then! This guy will get NO punishment, and the BOE and school will hold an emergency meeting to TALK about how they should try to avoid it, but not in any way that will keep people from continuing to do it and then the BOE and school shrug and act like they had no idea.

I remembered playing American football back in high school in the middle of summer in California with temperatures reaching the mid-40s. No one really cared about us until news breaks out about a kid at a different school dying of a heat stroke. The coaches took it easy on us for a few days then it was back to hell.

I really hope this boy pulls through and sorry for the horrible coach.

And why 43? Does the teacher have a secret formula that will magically get students to run the course in the required time?

> The student didn't make the teacher's arbitrary cutoff time by 43 seconds. Hence 1 lap for every second over the time.

What I have never gotten is the idea by sports coaches around Japan that somehow more running equals better performance. Basketball, soccer, baseball, judo, whatever.... run long distance. I even once saw a high school with a weightlifting team... running five kilometers as part of their training.

Specificity of training to task is a concept that most coaches don't seem to grasp.

There was a program on J tv last night in which again teachers were seen abusing (both verbally and also physically) their students aged 7-11yo (re swimming training) and 15-16yo (dancing). Now am not against a bit of discipline but what I saw was way beyond that. Robot-kids crying/bowing/screaming 'hai' while copping a spray from their teachers was pretty hard to watch. That's not being tough but brainwashing J youth into being obedient, weak citizens in my book.

Even worse in this case as the victims are mentally-disabled children who do not/can not stand up for themselves.

And why 43? Does the teacher have a secret formula that will magically get students to run the course in the required time?

Yes, apparently. One lap for every second over the time limit.

Id like to see the teacher run 450 meteres in 1 minute 25 seconds!

Do you not read the key issue, this is a school for mentally disabled, not an Olympic training center. The teacher was abusive. He should be canned but I know he won't.

And why 43? Does the teacher have a secret formula that will magically get students to run the course in the required time?

One lap for every second he missed the target time.

This type of torture on a student with learning difficulties is disgusting and a crime.

Why are these bad apple teachers allowed to do this, and get away from it, so often?

Kids need to get out and play, not read manga and play video games.

but this is a clear case of bullying abuse. yesterday i watched a junior high school track and field training in 36 degrees. no hats no shade. if my japanese was good enough i would of made a formal complaint. there was one awning...occupied by teachers only.

i realise the olympics are coming and all that hype, but do it in the morning and evening, not midday.

Let's hope he recovers. I also would be in favor of severe penalties for the coaches if death results from an "uncommon sense" (非常識) situation. Prison time and compensation to the family (wrongful ...).

This ""teacher"" should be fired & up on CHARGES!!

Bullying, its just part of the "culture" sadly

Rinse & repeat again, & again forever!

Coincidentally, just yesterday over lunch, one of my bosses at work was telling me about her basketball practices when she was young. Some people had to do 20 rounds around the school if they didn't complete the training, and since temperatures were high, some people suffered from heat stroke. She said this in the most normal of tones. As for this article, how despicable to make a DISABLED child run rounds like that in the heat. If I were the parent, I would not only sue the school and the teacher for this atrocity but would also have my child removed and raise my voice against this buffoon of a teacher. Let him run 86 rounds. If he collapses, then it serves him right.

Maybe once or twice around.... but 43 in that heat and humidity! That is Cruel and Unusual Punishment. The other kids should have reported him but he probably ruled by fear like many coaches do in Japan.

David Varnes: "Specificity of training to task is a concept that most coaches don't seem to grasp."

Yeah, but we are talking about a country where for this teacher to get his license to teach, let's say, Mathmatics, he had to write a rote memory test that included Art history, Social Studies, Geography, and Biology. Nothing on classroom management or how to problem solve. Same with companies and business, have to memorize and learn a bunch of garbage that is not at all applicable to the position. And meanwhile, police officers and politicians need few to no qualifications to be hired and rotated amongst various positions. It's not just coaches, it's a major societal problem.

Poor kid. Fingers crossed that he can recover. Critical condition means he's well past a "get well soon".

This incident highlights the many problems with kids sports in Japan. These are deeply set systematic issues that extend way beyond any "bad apple" of a coach. They include the ridiculous intensity at which kids sports are practiced (apparently even by children with learning difficulties whose energy might be better spent in activities that will help them find an active place in society), the top-down structure that places coaches way above kids and parents, the antiquated Spartan approach that demands complete devotion to a single discipline, even for kids as young as six or seven, the fetishizing of competitors visibly going through the pain barrier (something I've never seen Roger Federer or Usain Bolt do), and the misguided idea mentioned above that ignores specificity and assumes simple exhibitions of effort, mainly running, are someone beneficial regardless of the intended sport. I know kids who are downhill skiers who have to run half marathons. Half marathons are won by people who look like Mo Farah. Downhill ski races are won by men who are tall and at least 85kg. Basketball matches are won by people who look like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. You cannot put on fast twitch muscle mass if your coach is forcing you to run middle and long distances. You will end up with slow twitch muscles that are mostly useless for an explosive sport like basketball.

Firing the teacher won't be enough. That was a crime.

This incident highlights the many problems with kids sports in Japan. These are deeply set systematic issues that extend way beyond any "bad apple" of a coach.

For instance, that students are expected, if not required, to attend these sports clubs after school.

School's over, I'm going home.

It's like that nonsense with everybody from the office going out together after work.

Work's over. I'm going home.

Not only should the teacher be fired, he should be charged!

runner3: "Not only should the teacher be fired, he should be charged!"

TIJ -- neither will happen. At worst he'll face a small pay cut for a month, and MAYBE be pressured to quit. I bet they don't even take him off as team coach, given the emphasis on baseball here.

Sports coach and bosses and whoever have authority in Japan crush people they lead if they want to without major opposition because they value weakness as an unacceptable default.

Being ill is unacceptable, being unfit is unacceptable, being different is unacceptable.

Hence the irrational things asked to children leading to garbage coaching.

In the case here, I am stilk surprised lack of details since he started to run on Wednesday so after recovery.

Parents may be as guilty as their coach if they knew all and saw their child in bad shape and did nothing....

@Jonathan Prin - Sports coach and bosses and whoever have authority in Japan crush people they lead if they want to without major opposition because they value weakness as an unacceptable default.

Yes, that's right. However, they fail to produce successful sportspersons with their 'heavy handed' coaching of athletes. The most successful athletes in Japan are all women.

Abuse!

pure and simple.

This is beyond disgusting. This is a school for the mentally disabled, not a boot camp for the special forces in the military for crying out loud....

Yes Abuse

We should be able to take this teacher out and peg to the ground in the boiling sun

No water to drink but nearby but it in a bucket out of his reach

Picking on disabled is the lowest of all actions any educator/ teacher can do.

This is definitely abuse.

Teachers have zero right to do this - just teach what you're there to teach, shut up and get paid.

Punishment achieves virtually nothing in these kind of circumstances!

There was a young man who died at the high school that I attended, many moons ago. He was training for the cross-country running team, and he ran until he dropped. He suffered kidney failure. So far as I am aware, he was not running because he was forced to. Doubtless he should have drank more water, and in hindsight, he shouldn't have been running at all in the high heat of that summer day.

I was reading an account of a battle that took place in the summer. Accounts were that many of the combatants died because they refused to stop long enough to find water to drink. I think that sometimes we use our minds to control our bodies in ways that may be commendable in the short term, but which can have disastrous consequences in the long term.

I hope the youth recovers well. What about 43 years of jail to share between the direct child abuser (the 'coach') and the school head that let high temp training happen ? Glenn, even if it's a kid that wants to overtrain, adults in charge are there to stop him before it's too late. Otherwise, why do we waste so much tax money on educators if they fail to do their most basic task of supervision and keep the kids and teens alive ?

Teacher ... fired first. Arrested with many charges such as attempted involuntary manslaughter. And many more. Basketball practice is not for everybody. Running either.

@toshiko

"... attempted involuntary manslaughter."

Doesn't quite work in English : )

Little more than torture. Poor kid, I feel for him and his family. diabetes dominada

How is the teacher not criminally charged? Appalling

This is deplorable. Nothing more to say. However, I do encourage people to not offer unresearched, blanket statements about "all over Japan"...

DisillusionedAug. 26  05:10 pm JST

Yes, that's right. However, they fail to produce successful sportspersons with their 'heavy handed' coaching of athletes. The most successful athletes in Japan are all women

Well... that's not entirely accurate. On two levels. Yes, they have successful female athletes - but they also have some successful male athletes too. And as far as high profile cases of "coach abuse", several have been with female athletes being abused.

Of course, this happens 'all over Japan' !

The authority over and arbiter of public and to most private school education in Japan is Mombusho.

Mombusho sets guidelines and rules, recommends and approves textbooks.

Schools follow these precepts

Students study a set selection of textbooks which differ very little 'all over Japan'

Teachers teach an average class size of 40 students using the basic same chalk and talk techniques, students sit at and in classes that are basically identical.Even the chimes for class periods are uncannily the same, 'all over Japan'

Many times, in my 30 years in Japan have I seen red faced students running in blistering heat.

My own son 'puked up' after a particularly grueling school run-something that never happened to me and I was a committed runner in my university days

Blanket statements like 'all over Japan' apply especially well to Japan's education system.

.

43 times?

So is the teacher mentally disabled, or just a cruel sadist?

Instead of all the normal punishments. get the whole school out and make this teacher run. And run.

And run.

Wearing a "i am a a low life scumbag T-shirt"

Then fire him.

Something like this happens every year. Japan just cannot change.

Here is a "List of Standards," if you may, of 400m times for an 18 year old male. Depending on your goals and background, you can use this as a rough guide to evaluate your time or set goals. To convert to female equivalents, you can add 5-6 seconds to the times on the lower end. I'm not sure if this heuristic holds true further down the list.

47 seconds--National level high school 400m runner

51 seconds--Varsity level high school runner

56 seconds--JV level high school runner

60 seconds--very solid runner, not a 400m specialist

65 seconds--above average runner, probably not on track team

70 seconds--average runner who stays in shape, or could be a good athlete who doesn't run (e.g.football player)

80 seconds--below average in either speed or endurance

90 seconds--below average in both speed and endurance or well below average in one.

I found this on the internet as a comparison the distance for this teenager is roughly 20,250 meters thats half a marathon! in that heat, and temp without any long term training ??!! I think that would finish of most people

i kinda don't get the time frame of this story. there are no dates, only days listed. so i'm assuming this began last monday, Aug. 21, when the kid was ordered to run 43 laps around the school. he felt ill and went home after finishing 21 laps. two days later, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, he returns to finish his punishment but "soon collapses." and the gist of this article is that he collapsed because of heat stroke? am i missing something here since he had two days to recover from running 21 laps?

and obviously most of you have never played sports at any level in any country. i've had to run laps until i puked in high school. and i've also run long distances when it was hot and muggy. it's extremely rare for a kid to die as a result of extreme physical exertion. but when it does happen, everyone freaks out for a few weeks but then it's back to normal. but i love the OIJ (only in japan) crowd. your blinders make me laugh.