A New Challenge for Christian Homeschooling Families

CHILDREN WHO ARE IN A STATE OF NON-ATTENDANCE

At least 130,000 children are in a state of

non-attendance in Japan with respect to elementary schools and junior high schools (1st grade to 9th grade), according to statistics published by the Ministry of Education. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The real number of children not attending schools is said to be 1 million.

Indeed this statistic includes pathological cases of "school refusal syndrome" such as school phobia and school refusal; but in most cases, bullying is the cause of the non-attendance situation. Some say that more than 80% of these cases are caused by bullying.

HOMOGENEOUS SOCIETY

Merry White, an associate professor of sociology at Boston University and a research associate at Harvard's Reischauer Institute, explains the mechanism of bullying by quoting articles from the Asahi Shimbun (or Newspaper) and the Far Eastern Economic Review.

The Asahi Shimbun, a leading national paper suggests that the children who bully are tormenting "weaker" children who are in some way"different"---and the system is responsible. Japanese children are being taught, the newspaper continues, that uniformity is necessary and prized, that deviance is to be eradicated; and so, under pressure to homogenize themselves, Japanese schoolchildren try to homogenized others. Putting it another way, the Far Eastern Economic Review(May 23, 1985, p.66) says: "If such pressure to conform is internalized unwillingly, it is bound to want release. And what could be a handier

vent than a friend or acquaintance who seems to be out of step with the group and in need of discipline."

Merry White, The Japanese Educational Challenge(New York: The Free Press

1987), pp. 138-139

The Japanese society has been a cohesive society. The Japanese have a strong group-oriented mindset. With its Shinto-nationalistic statism, the Ministry of Education imposes draconian control over schools. There, children acquire the "I believe what my society believes" mindset, which is nothing but the result of social engineering done by the Japanese government. Because of the historical geo-political insularity, the Japanese establish their identities in terms of the society they live.

On the other hand, we see an ironical situation as the Japanese society faces globalization, as seen in cases like foreigners becoming CEO’s of excellent companies such as Nissan and Sony where the English language is the official primary language. Because of this trend, raising children who can cope with globalization is a frequent topic among educators in general.

But we can quite easily understand that this is nothing but pie in the sky when we see the educrats’ manner of treating "returnee children" or "kikoku shijo" whose parents have been posted abroad by their companies. These children are usually considered handicapped because they cannot conform themselves well to the insularity and ethnocentricity of the Japanese society.

Cf. ibid. pp. 173-175

"I AM WHAT MY SOCIETY IS"—THE JAPANESE WAY OF SELF-IDENTIFICATION

As I have mentioned before, the Japanese establish their identities in terms of the society they live in.

Being an individual is a somewhat foreign idea for ordinary Japanese. Here lies the difficulty for evangelism in Japan. Man must stand before God as an individual to be brought to the conviction of sin, which is the starting point of the evangelism.

Since the Japanese, however, do not recognize themselves as individuals, they have a hard time in understanding some of the basic teachings of the Scriptures such as sin, salvation, and church government.

Why are children bullied? They are different from others. Once they are bullied and ostracized they lose their old identity defined by the Japanese society. This is a kind of identity crisis for them. This is the reason why many bullied children commit suicide. For the first time in their lives, they fail to maintain their society-based identities, and have to face the fact that they are individuals.

When Japanese live abroad, they are placed in a similar situation as the victims of bullying. They cannot maintain their own identities in terms of the society they live in. They also experience an identity crisis.

This is why many Japanese become Christians while living abroad.

We see great potential in those bullied children and their parents, because they are ostracized and cut off from the society which keeps them from realizing that they are individuals.

In other words, they are open to the message of the Gospel, the only place where they can find the reason for their lives.

CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE

Surprisingly, in Japan, even teachers join the bullying.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610170159.html

Teacher incited bullying against boy

10/17/2006

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

CHIKUZEN, Fukuoka Prefecture--A junior high school teacher was the chief instigator of the bullying that tormented a 13-year-old student so much that he committed suicide, the principal of the school said Monday.

"The teacher's remarks created an image of the boy in the eyes of the other students," Satoshi Goya, principal of Miwa Junior High School, told reporters. "I think this caused the bullying and led to his suicide." The boy's former homeroom teacher branded the boy a liar, leaked personal information that led to a nickname the boy hated, and said he bullied the boy intensively because "he was easy to make fun of," according to Goya.

After repeated bullying from the teacher and his classmates, the second-year student hanged himself in a shed at his home Wednesday.

He left behind suicide notes that said he was ending his life because he could no longer endure the bullying. After his death, his parents held several discussions with Goya and the boy's first-year homeroom teacher.

According to the parents, the boy's mother consulted with the teacher about her son's fascination with the Internet.

Later, the teacher leaked the contents of the consultations, and the boy's classmates gave him a nickname related to the personal information.
The boy detested the nickname and began begging his mother to let him stay home.

During the discussions on Saturday and Sunday, Goya explained an incident in which the boy picked up writing materials that a classmate had dropped on the floor. The teacher called the boy "a hypocrite who cannot even be a hypocrite."

When the boy advanced to the second year, the teacher told his new homeroom teacher, "This boy lies," according to Goya.When asked if these incidents were true, the teacher told the parents, "Yes." The teacher also acknowledged that he had bullied the boy because he was an easy target.

Goya apologized to the parents, saying: "The (teacher's remarks) led to his suicide. Bullying by his classmates had been going on, but this became the biggest trigger and the root cause of the bullying."

After the discussions with the boy's parents, the teacher told reporters, "I will compensate (for his death) for the rest of my life."
Miwa Junior High School held a special school assembly Monday morning.  All the teachers lined up before the students, and Goya apologized for the student's suicide.

"We teachers did not do our best," Goya said. "There were some brutal words as well as presumption. I am sorry."

The school conducted a survey of the students to find out if there have been other problematic remarks and deeds on the part of the teachers.

(IHT/Asahi: October 17,2006)

Of course, bullying exists all over the world such as "blackboard jungles" in America. White describes a difference between Japan and America concerning the attitudes of teachers and students.

One important difference between the two countries is that in America other students and teachers tend to intervene if possible; in Japan other students rarely become involved and simply observe. Japanese teachers are also afraid that if they step in, they may themselves be attacked.

Merry White, The Japanese Educational Challenge(New York: The Free Press

1987), p.138

The reason behind this difference is most probably due to the Christian influence on the society.

There is a case of a student in junior high school. She is a Christian. She tried to intervene in the situation where bullying was going on in her school. This kind of act is rare in Japanese junior high school. She did a shining witness in the school. But since then she has become a target of bullies.

HOME SCHOOLING, THE WORKABLE ALTERNATIVE

Japanese strongly believe in the myth that there is no salvation outside the public school system. This aggravates the problem of bullying and non-attendance at school(futoukou). Because of this myth, children commit suicides when they are bullied. The morals of teachers degenerate, since the Ministry of Education claims absolute authority in education. The government has succeeded in convincing the people that there is no other alternative to placing their children in the government-controlled educational system.

Some courageous parents step forward to homeschool their children. But sadly, unlike in the US, non-Christian parents are ahead of Christian parents concerning homeschooling. This is mainly because many Japanese churches trust the Ministry of Education, which leads them to "a new religion, with the state as its true church, and education as its Messiah. [1]"

The Lord calls Christian homeschoolers to reach out to bullied children and their parents. Their cry reaches the Lord.

Christian homeschoolers have the foundation set by the Lord. They have liberty in Christ. No other people can offer the solution to the problem. We pray to the Lord that He will multiply gospel-centered, missional homeschooling familes for His Kingdom.

We pray our Paideia Network will serve as a catalyst for encouraging Christian homeschooling families, to fulfill the mission for reaching out to children who are in a state of non-attendance, bullied children, and their parents.

Shu Suzuki

[1] R.J.Rushdoony, The Messianic Character of American

Education(Phillpsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company

1967) P. 32

Copyright © 2006 Shu Suzuki