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national

Japanese high school student repeatedly kicks his teacher while class is in session

51 Comments
By Koh Ruide, SoraNews

Schools in Japan aren’t entirely free of misbehaving students, ranging from sleepers to delusional ranters. These are mild when compared to the horror stories of schools from some other countries. Which is why a particular video that recently surfaced on the Internet has Japanese netizens in a furious uproar.

Tablets were being used during class in a Fukuoka high school, and one student was using it to watch movies instead. After several warnings to concentrate on class were ignored, the 23-year-old teacher had no choice but to confiscate the electronic device, which caused the angry pupil to approach him.

You can watch the horrifying video in its entirety here.

The obvious intrusion of personal space by the student prompted little reaction from the teacher, and served to embolden the rebellious bully into doing the unthinkable: Giving his teacher the foot.

The student kicked his victim in the back a total of four times, each harder than the last. Encouraged by shrill laughter from classmates, the bully’s manhandling would have escalated to punching if his teacher didn’t scream in protest.

The teacher probably had to restrain himself from smacking the living daylights out of the boy.

Seeing that no bodily harm has come to the assault victim, the school currently has no intention of lodging a police report. Hopefully all will not be swept under the carpet as if it never happened though, as the principal is considering meting out appropriate punishment for the offending student.

Japanese netizens were utterly furious:

“A 23-year-old teacher? He did well tolerating all that nonsense in a zoo of a school.”

“The culprit and the students laughing are all at fault. The school should lodge a police report!”

“Shouldn’t they lodge a police report? High school students should understand that violence is unacceptable. Arrest him!”

“His parents are probably yakuza.”

“Forget the police report, arrest him for violent conduct. Even the students who stood by without doing anything are to blame. The age when students respected teachers is long past.”

Source: Yahoo Japan via Hachima Kikou

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© SoraNews

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51 Comments
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That is a good example of the 'no consequence' education in Japanese schools. The teacher did very well not to retaliate. Under Japanese law, the teacher does not even have the right to remove that student from the classroom, better less have him expelled for his assault on the teacher. You can also here all the other students laughing about it in the background. They all think it's hilarious because they know very well there are no consequences for any of them. This is why teachers in Japanese public schools do nothing about educating and disciplining the students. I've seen some disgusting situations in public high schools. The students do nothing and just sit around with their phones or PSPs stuck to their face. The teachers just totally ignore it and carry on their lessons regardless due to a fear of backlash from monster parents. Then, they make extremely easy tests that a kindergartener could pass and graduate them for the next round of parasites. Nobody ever fails or has to repeat a grade due to poor results. It's a flipping joke and this video shows clearly just how ridiculous this 'no consequence' education system is. I know that, in the States or Australia that kid would have been arrested, expelled and spending a few months in the juvenile detention center, but not in Japan. In Japan he just becomes famous on social media with no consequences at all.

38 ( +40 / -2 )

It's totally his parents fault for raising a spoiled child with no discipline and respect at all.

24 ( +24 / -0 )

Good job the teacher for really keeping his cool. He had much more to lose than the student, had he retaliated. Wish I had that kind of patience. I'd have gone random on him after first contact.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

Prey, do tell. I'd like to know which countries and what 'horror stories' you are referring to. I have never heard of a teacher kicking a teacher in my country, sounds like Japan is not the idyllic school system you are making it out to be.

My school, my class, had some problem students. I have seen many altercations between student and teachers. Its not uncommon, especially in lower level education schools, mine was mid level education btw.

It's a growing problem. Teachers are afraid of losing their job or encountering monster parents. Parenting is also getting worse, they let the kids grow up using the iPad and computers because it makes parenting easier.

Teachers should have some rights to punish students when they misbehave without having to worry about consequences. Mind you, I dont mean beating the sh** out of the kids as we have seen before but send the kid to the principal, expel etc should be possible, otherwise how can you discipline a bad egg?

13 ( +13 / -0 )

Seeing that no bodily harm has come to the assault victim, the school currently has no intention of lodging a police report.

Strange, the TV news last night said that the boy had been arrested.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

Some people around here are really blaming the teacher? That he's not emotionally ready for the job or that he didn't handle it well. What is wrong with people, firstly the student needs a bitchslap and you people in the comment section too. Secondly a teacher his job is to educate his student and not to rise them up loke they are his own kids. If the students start to act like a bunch of crazy monkey's the best thing to do is kick him out from school. That will set an example for whoever wants to act like a crazy monkey in class. As for the Americans around here who are disgusted by the system at school in Japan, I would say watch less fox news and go Google school shootings in the state. It's far worse there.

11 ( +17 / -6 )

Anyway, should never have let the kid approach him let alone turn his back on him. Nothing wrong with grabbing the student by the collar of his shirt when he felt threatened. The student should be expelled from school.

Unfortunately things don't work that easily. Unless the teacher knows he is being filmed and can use the self-defense excuse, the student goes home and complains to his parent who then complain to the school board. Then he loses his job and/or suspended. His loser friends laughing in the video would probably back him up. Kudos to the student who filmed this.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

That teacher can and should file a police report if he hasn’t already. There are reprucussions and they may not seem like a lot but sometimes can scare students a bit. I was punched by a student and he had to go to court and stand before a judge because of it. Same goes for another boy who nearly broke my friend’s jaw as she was trying to de-escalate an argument. If more teachers would take action, then maybe the law would take notice.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

This is embarrassing on so many levels. As much as I feel sorry for the dude I still think he should have known better and realised he wasn't ready (at least emotionally) for the job. If you're scared of students and/or do not get respect from them forget it. (was told he was a pt teacher or at least not fully accredited ?)

Anyway, should never have let the kid approach him let alone turn his back on him. Nothing wrong with grabbing the student by the collar of his shirt when he felt threatened.

The student should be expelled from school.

10 ( +17 / -7 )

The teacher did well not to strike back as maybe that's what the student was hoping for. The fact that the kid thinks it's ok to kick a teacher is shocking. He should be suspended at the bare minimum and made to apologize to the teacher in front of the principal and the kids' parents.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Educator69 - by Saturday the kid had been arrested.

Yes, and he was released without a charge on the same day.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Had the teacher retaliated he would be a) fired and b) probably receive a visit from some gentlemen in missing pinkies... arseholes like this kid clearly have no boundaries and has either been spoilt or been raised to believe he's better than everyone else.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

This makes my blood boil. I'd have torn him a new one.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

name and shame the school for allowing animals like this in the classroom in the 1st place. The reaction of the students is proof positive its a Lord of the Flies situation.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Suspension/Expulsion. Arrest. Civil suit. Whatever order is fine.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Letsberealistic Google is your friend.

Typing in "Teacher Student fight" should get you hits on many youtube videos from USA, UK etc.

This was mild, and that teacher should have been more assertive this was an embarrassment all around.

Frankly they should probably have smartphones/Tablets in those locked bags like they do in Comedy standup shows now in the US.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

I don't know whether to laugh at this or shake my head in amazement. This kid is downright lucky that it was THIS teacher.....

The school in question has some serious issues too and the administration does not realize how embarrassing this makes their school look!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

@clamenza - name and shame the school for allowing animals like this in the classroom in the 1st place.

Wow! you haven't worked in many Japanese public high schools have you? You'd need two pages of the newspaper just to name the schools in Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa with undisciplined twits just like this one. I've worked in over 20 different high schools (public and private) in Kanto and this incident is quite mild to some that I've seen. I saw four senior high 2nd grade boys jump on a teacher and start kicking the crap out of him because he wouldn't let them play PSP in the classroom. It didn't make the national papers because nobody had a smart phone. The boys were scolded and had a one week suspension. They were back at school playing PSP within a fortnight. Many of the girls are much worse. I saw a group of senior high girls who were smoking in the school grounds attack a female teacher who asked them to stop and one of them burned the teacher on the arm with her cigarette. Again, one week suspension and no news coverage. One of the girl's parents called the school and demanded to know why the school was letting her daughter smoke at school. On the other end of the scale, I've also seen a lot of teachers dishing out beatings. Everything from a slap on the head that nearly knocked a kid out to a teacher attacking a group of boys with a 1m rule. All these incidents and the hundreds more like them are kept very 'hush hush' and quickly dealt with in-house to avoid the media attention. I remember one school where a large number of the senior 3rd grade boys had Yakuza emblems embroidered onto their school jackets. I poop you not!

I'm not saying every school is like this. There are some very good schools with well-mannered students although, these schools tend to be ridiculously strict. On the other hand, there are also many schools that are like free-range zoos for juvenile delinquents.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The student should be suspended for a week or two. If it happens again, he should be expelled. The teacher was exceedingly patient with this ill-raised brat.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

"Seeing that no bodily harm has come to the assault victim, the school currently has no intention of lodging a police report."

Of course they don't. Cowards.

"Hopefully all will not be swept under the carpet as if it never happened though, as the principal is considering meting out appropriate punishment for the offending student."

Oh, I know EXACTLY what the 'punishment' will be. The teacher and student will be forced to stand in the same room, in front of the principal and possibly others, and apologize to each other, with the student not at all being genuine and probably even grumbling about how unfair it is, if not kicking him again. The teacher will be forced once again to suck it up and do nothing, with his job on the line. Then they'll be forced to shake hands. The teacher will thereafter have zero respect in the classroom, and more incidents like this will occur.

The system needs to change. This kid would be expelled, and possibly worse, for this in a civilized country.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Arrest this stupid kid before he does something crazy. A teacher should not accept any such non-sense ever.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

As a former student like all of us here and as a teacher here and in the U.S., the best way to garner respect of the students is to lay down the law from the first class. In my high school in the U.S., the soft-spoken or over-friendly teachers often got pranked or had misbehaving students. The strict or stern teachers were feared but highly respected.

Just look at the other students in the class who are laughing or turning around and talking with their friends. They probably have had zero respect for the teacher for a long time. If it was a tough teacher, the students would probably be looking shocked or maybe even trying to restrain the student.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Yeah, great comments all around on the ridiculous "punishment" that is meted out in this country.

Don't forget the hanseisho! ... Bloody joke! That'll learn him!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The student should be suspended for a week or two.

Had this been America, the kid would never be seen in class again. He would have been pulled from class, arrested for assault, and taken to the police station. His parents would have to come and pick him up, the school would expel him immediately.

Then he would have to continue his education at an "alternative" school, which are usually taught by former soldiers and/or police officers, or teachers who themselves have been kicked out of "normal" schools for various misdeeds. Good luck getting into any university of you have a diploma from one of these places. And if you screw with the teachers in an alternative school, you are pretty much cut loose.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The school administration is pathetic their do-nothing response. The boy should have been expelled and the assualt reported to the police.

Given the video evidence the police can arrest the boy without the involvement of the school, and I hope they do.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

One of the mistakes teachers make is try to be "buddies" with students. You can be a friendly teacher but you must remain a teacher and person in authority for the students. Of course all of this is easier said than done, I admit. I struggled a lot with my first job as an ALT in an unruly middle school. And that was compulsory education so the students could not be expelled for extreme bad behavior. But this is High school. It's optional education. Why do they attend? They should get out and get some work. 16 to 18 year olds are not little children.

I think as a young teacher of only 23 meaning he just finished University himself, he has a long way to find a style of teaching for himself. I hope he does and recognizes that you cannot be friends with your students, otherwise the lines of student-teacher relationship is blurred. Once that happens, its very hard to fix and change the relationship.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Excellent example of self-control on behalf of the teacher.

I think it was more a fear-based reaction (i.e. I don't want to lose my job or face monster-parents) than it was 'self control'. This society is ruled by fears like these...

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This is a crime.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Why didn't the teacher deck the student - he wouldn't do that to another teacher again.

1 ( +13 / -12 )

 The teacher could have thrown him through the windows, picked him back up and thrown him again.

That teacher? I highly doubt it. If THAT teacher could have thrown him through the windows, and that kid knew it as well, this would have never happened.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

always enjoyed sneaking up on the bad boys and "accidentally" sweeping their chairs out from under them.

Not as a teacher, I’m hoping ;)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It's totally his parents fault for raising a spoiled child with no discipline and respect at all.

That's one possibility. Another is that his parents' concept of discipline is just to smack the heck out of him every time he is annoying, teaching him that such behavior is normal.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The teacher should have turned around and kneed him in the privates. Then told him he can be a man or go cry to his mama. And if he ever see an act of aggression against him or another student he will need a hospital.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I can just imagine what my old middle school home room teacher (who was an ex-para, Korean war veteran Scottish rugby player) would've done to this clown: DEFENESTRATION!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wheres the update that the school called a parents meeting and all them said the teacher should have handled it better and that the school said that they will retrain the teacher?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

@dadude, fair enough. Although am no teacher I used to work with 'troubled teens' during summer camps (am talking 20-25 years ago - student job).

Had to deal with physical confrontations, fights, threats etc pretty much everyday and 'grabbing' a kid by the collar was not only 'ok' but also necessary as I was dealing with verbally and physically aggressive teens ( I was qualified/trained, knew what was ok/not and parents were on the same page).

@anonyha. Am not 'blaming' the teacher per se when I say he wasn't emotionally ready for the job. My point is, no one should be terrified of going to work. So yes, for his own sake, he shouldn't teach 16yo kids.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

It’s a rich kids private school. They have no basic home education or whatsoever. The teacher could have thrown him through the windows, picked him back up and thrown him again.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Teacher shoulda done more than that. Not in my class ;P

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Lots of suggestions about 'decking', 'DEFENESTRATION', 'kneeing privates' are not really helpful.

The teacher kept his cool a bit - good, despite some people saying that it should not have happened in the first place; the kid taking the video - well, what was that about?

In the 'good old days' of clubs, corporal punishment and head shaving - which were good only for fewer incidents - there was also less understanding and empathy on the part of teachers. Now some empathy and understanding are often the only tools of the profession.

And arresting the perpetrating student - may work for him, but the message would be stronger on those around him.

ANd finally the teacher, a really good learning experience that could have turned out much worse with any attempt at 'decking' the perpetrating student. The teacher would most certainly have been the one being arrested there.

Lesson Number 1 for teachers - do not get angry, or you lose all.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The only punishments I have seen against bad student behavior here are;

a) A teacher walked out of the classroom and left the students alone for the whole period. Half of the students had been right pigs for the first 5 minutes until that happened. Needless to say the good ones got punished, too.

b) A teacher absolutely tore strips (verbally) off a student for 40 minutes straight (in the class) because a boy flipped the bird (playfully) to his classmate. I thought the teacher could really use some therapy...

I have seen pigish manners, bullying, spitting on kid's heads, throwing things at other students etc etc all go unpunished. The teachers just pretend they don't notice. If they do punish, they usually lose the plot and have a meltdown in front of everyone. What's wrong with nipping things in the bud with some talks, and maybe send to Principal's office if things escalate/continue? Maybe some detention.

I've said it before, but Japan really has a mental health problem but it's really evident in schools.

The kids are babied through school and home life, they grow up with no respect for others. They just know the 'shape' of respect when they have to feign it.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Makes you wonder how many of those "Teacher A hit student B" news stories actually happened like this. If this teacher had lost it and cracked the kid, would we even be seeing the video? Or would it be another "teacher A hit student B" story where everyone pipes up in the comment section saying things like "grrr, if I was there I'd have kicked that bully teacher".

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yup. This is how good the Japanese education system is. Glad I didn't attend.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If anybody imagines that something like this (a student assaulting a teacher) does not happen or has not happened many times in schools all over the world, they must be living in a very insulated world. Apparently it is rare in Japan or else it would have not made the national news. The usual way of dealing with an assault by a student against a teacher is criminal prosecution if the teacher was injured; if not the student would be expelled from school.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It’s nice to see the writers of this piece announce their prejudice upfront. If I were a parent, I’d call the cops.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Excellent example of self-control on behalf of the teacher.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

i always enjoyed sneaking up on the bad boys and "accidentally" sweeping their chairs out from under them. once was always enough. theyre barbarians at that age ... They only understand force

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... the school I attended... makes this one seem more like The Bash Street Kids than the hell on earth back in the day.

Suspend the student. And send the teacher for some retraining and counselling.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

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