Quake chaos forces Wajima kids to leave families to continue studies

Hope the JHS students (not kids JT) make new friends and get on okay with their studies. Good luck!

Wishing them the best. I hope their hardship will be taken into account when they apply to university and not just a score.

Absolutely heartbreaking.

These are very brave kids to separate so far from their parents at such a young age to continue their studies. I wish all of them success, and a reunion with their families as soon as possible.

It's a sad reason,but I would have been stoked to do that when I was that age.

Wishing them the best. I hope their hardship will be taken into account when they apply to university and not just a score.

Not written in the article is the fact that JHS 3rd year have their HS entrance exams in March and if they miss any classes it will be hard to get into a HS that they want.

Uni isnt the problem here. HS is.

proxyToday 02:28 am JST

I would never recommend a child be home schooled given the pandemic of social isolation facing today's youth. And this is from someone that was bullied in JHS and HS. Possibly if a child has severe special needs that aren't being addressed, homeschooling might be appropriate, but that isn't the average case.

Japan should have its own version of the US’s Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA

Online school should be an option.

Junior high school students from a quake-hit central Japan city said teary goodbyes to their families on Wednesday and headed some 100 kilometers away to community facilities where they will continue their studies.

Why teary? At that age I would have seen it as a great adventure. Those children will form bonds and lifelong friendships, build their character, and resilience. Rather like going to a scout camp.

As a father of three, I wonder, I just wonder, if any of these kids has been packed off against his/her will because mother and father thinks they should be studying hard for exams and that's more important than being together as a family in what must be a traumatic time. The mother I saw on tv yesterday repeatedly used the word "jukensei" for her son, who like all other 15 and 18 year olds is a person and not just someone about to sit an exam.

I wonder if any of the kids already has a juku booked for them at their new destination.

@TaiwanIsNotChina Home schooling is called "free school" in Japan a great many of the kids suffer bullying or have special needs but certainly not all. Home schooled kids are socialized very well, and are the opposite of hikikomori. You would be very impressed if you met a home schooled 18 year old compared to a typical 18 year old in Japan who have been crushed by the system.

You would be very impressed if you met a home schooled 18 year old compared to a typical 18 year old in Japan who have been crushed by the system.

Legally you can not "home school" children in Japan. Compulsory education here means that the parents MUST send their child to ES and JHS.

You are comparing a black hole to and apple! Or maybe vice versa.

Since there is no such thing as homeschooling here, you can not make a comparison.

proxyJan. 17 10:41 pm JST

Studies from North America have shown that home schooled children are happier, better adjusted, more thoughtful, mature and sociable than children who attend institutional schools.

Why do I think those claims are completely unadjusted for income level, academic performance, behavioral issues, etc. etc.

@TaiwanIsNotChina

Home schoolers are not particularly high income. High income folks send their kids to private schools.

Most are solidly middle class or lower middle class. Unfortunately, you are correct that family income and behavioural issues impact academic performance and those kids are behind the 8 ball from birth and far less likely to enter a university to be compared to home schooled kids who enter university.

All I'm saying is that home schooling works and would definitely be a great option for kids displaced by disasters in Japan.

@TaiwanIsNotChina Home schooling is called "free school" in Japan a great many of the kids suffer bullying or have special needs but certainly not all.

Free school and home school are totally different. Home schooled children are like the words state, "home schooled". Free School kids are taught at a different location and have different rules and guildlines, but all attend a "school" and do not learn at home from their parents.

Home schooled kids are socialized very well, and are the opposite of hikikomori. 

What kids are you talking about? What country?

@proxy most home schooled kids in America are taught Biblical principles throughout their schooling. That's why the patents do it. In general public schools have taken the Bible out of schools. Japan would greatly benefit from this same method.

As long as those kids had some sort on Internet connection, they would learn more and be better of if they spent their desk time learning on the Khan Academy site.

It is too bad that resources for home schooling are hard to find in Japan. It would be a great idea to have resources ready to go that parents could use when there is another disaster. Studies from North America have shown that home schooled children are happier, better adjusted, more thoughtful, mature and sociable than children who attend institutional schools.

In addition, children who are home schooled tend to perform better academically in post-secondary as well.

No, not all people who home school their kids are religious zealots. Home schooling is rising rapidly in North America and there are plenty of resources for parents who go down that road.

Japan needs more resources for home schooling.