Tadakatsu Fukunaga, superintendent of the Shiga prefectural education board, commenting on the results of a survey in which about 30% of students who have stopped attending school answered that "teachers" were the reason for their truancy.
© Mainichi ShimbunVoices
in
Japan
quote of the day
It is necessary to deepen the knowledge and understanding of how teachers approach students who are not attending school, understand their feelings and respond to them.
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Redemption
Wow! I remember a few teachers especially in elementary school where you could have the same teacher all day were targeting me.
Harry_Gatto
It is necessary to fine the parents of children who don't attend school without good reason 10,000 Yen per day.
virusrex
Because that is what is needed right? solutions that makes you feel better even if they solve absolutely nothing.
Harry_Gatto
I'm not sure by what logic you think that my suggestion will make me feel better or is this just your habitual holier than thou attitude coming to the forefront?
Much of the problem is a result of bad parenting and such parents are usually not very bright themselves but do react to being hit in the pocket rather than being reasoned with. Please not the "without good reason" part of my suggestion and good reasons may be quite wide-ranging and must be considered but parent who don't car about their children's education need to learn the hard way.
This system operates with mixed results in the UK.
Harry_Gatto
@virusrexToday 11:14 am JST
Forgot to ask; do you have school-age children?
kohakuebisu
Yes, some of them are bullies or are extremely KY with no empathy.
My son's teacher forced him to sit at the school front door when distraught instead of taking him to a private location like hokenshitsu. The entire school then walked out past him as he was crying. The previous year, the same teacher repeatedly made disparaging comments about a girl with hair loss. Talk to enough parents and there are stories like this galore. Teachers who force kids to eat everything in the school lunch and will hold them back until they do. As if all that matters is "thou shalt eat piman".
If another x percent of kids to go to school due to bullying, that can also be blamed on teachers for not doing more to deal with it.
purple_depressed_bacon
Well, considering what I've heard about how teachers treat students in Japan, I'm not surprised the kids skived off. Kids are in school to get an education and foster their socialisation skills, not to be terrorised and have their every move and appearance dictated by a bunch of out-of-date and out-of-touch teachers drunk on power.
virusrex
Why else suggest something so obviously unproductive or even counterproductive if not for how it makes you feel to "punish" people?
What data are you using for this? obviously you can't just assume your personal ideas about the problem define what is or not the reason for it, right?
More importantly, what arguments do you have to argue fines is in any way an effective way to deal with this problem instead of what the actual professionals in the field of recommend for students as in the article.
The article gives reasons good enough to make your suggestion already redundant (being afraid of the teachers, physical punishement, etc). Specially in Japan where this reason is used as a way to rubberstamp a personal decision, abortions for example can't be done "without a good enough reason" except that even something as simple as saying "not feeling capable of raising the kid" becomes a reason good enough,
What do you mean with "this system"? fines for families where the child refuses to go to school for bullying or (as in the article) teachers related reasons? That seems extremely unlikely and would require proof, specially if the results are still mixed, not successful.
What importance would this have as an argument, what number would magically make the argument valid according to you?
ushosh123
I think the problem lies in the fact that teachers simply are in a far inferior position compared to the parent to properly educate the kids outside of technical aspects of education. The parents must continue to work with the teachers and understand their roles and responsibility more closely.
The parents and teacher having different roles in the over all education of children and it isn't really going to change.
Objectively, time is a resource and from an roi perspective, the parents simply need to invest more time relative to the teacher.