It's not a bad thing not to go to school. I want to tell kids that there are places where they can do something outside schools.

‘real talents and interests’, like the potential for actual independent thought!

Heres a great example. Speech contest. Asked the students what they had to write about.

Minna ichidanketsu surutoki

looked up the meaning of 一致団結

solidarity; banding together and working as one for a common cause

group think 101.

theyre doomed, I thought.

Some people aren't just meant to be institutionalized

That's a good way of putting it. I would add that many of the kids who do fine in school might have done much better if they had had an alternative. Those are the kids who get top grades easily, and go through the system with flying colors. The problem is that the same system took away from time they could have used to develop their real talents and interests. And the same system instills a kind of brainwashing aimed at creating passivity that is very damaging, even to those who are aware of it.

With a ridiculous 95 percent of Japanese people graduating high school I think this guy is right. There’s no way 95 percent of the young population actually do the work to get over the line, so somewhere along the way it’s been diluted and they are turning a blind eye to those not suited to acadamia, which is at least 15 percent of the population.

Indoctrination ain’t for everyone.

This sounds like a guy trying to actually give options to those that struggle, so good on him. Young people need more options than what they have, and the lack thereof is probably a major cause of despair.

telling this idea to the Japanese might be one of the most sacrilegious things they might hear for a long while. Child truancy has been a problem since man invented schooling, and even work. Some people aren't just meant to be institutionalized, running through the conveyor belt of life only to realize that time has passed them by and had done nothing they really wanted to do. I think the grown-up version of this are the Hikikomori, NEETs, freeters, etc. where they're not living the life they want and chose to not suck it up. Unfortunately, society today is too focused on success, credentials and numbers but have forgotten what they went to school and have toiled away in work for.

@Maria

フリースクール全国ネットワーク

https://www.facebook.com/freeschoolnetwork/?timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=100002862322064&fref=tag

of an NPO,

. . .

Any particular NPO, Mods?

for every 1 kid rejecting school because they can do something better on their own, there are 5-10 who reject it because they want to sit at home playing video games or picking stupid fights online.

I don't think it's that bad. For one, those kids don't often have the initiative to refuse to do anything they are told, which includes going to school.

While video games would not be healthy, doing nothing constructive can sometimes be healthy for kids who have had their creativity squashed by the school system. These kids need time to "detox" from the passive frame of mind that schools put them in. Kids are naturally inquisitive and will come out given time. Kids who are not inquisitive and not interested in much tend to go along to get along in schools.

I'm starting to think that home schooling may not be a bad thing

It's not bad to not go to school, but for every 1 kid rejecting school because they can do something better on their own, there are 5-10 who reject it because they want to sit at home playing video games or picking stupid fights online.

It's not a bad thing not to go to school.

Exactly. Even westerners fall into the trap of thinking something is wrong with a child who refuses to attend school. In fact, it might mean something is right with the child. He/she refuses to participate in the prison-like charade that defines most schools.