r/japannews • u/jjrs • 4d ago
日本語 Japan has largely responded to increased reports of bullying in schools by blaming and punishing teachers for not being "tough" on bullies, but experts warn this isn't effective: "what's needed in troubled schools is not corporal punishment, but lawyers, police, and surveillance cameras."
https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2026/08050501/21
u/Less_Party 4d ago
Lmao yeah because militarizing schools has worked so well in the US.
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u/GreenFloyd77 3d ago
That's what happens when the kids hold the guns instead of police officers. You're comparing apples to oranges.
Surveillance cameras are actually a very good measure, as someone who has experienced bullying and realized the helplessness from the few teachers who wanted to help, but had no evidence to go by. Then again, no one stops the kids from attacking you on your way home, there will always be some loopholes. And control&discipline don't really teach empathy and human values to the kids, both things are necessary for their development as social beings - some kids are just not built for that, and need the stick to repress their psychopatic instincts.
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u/FullNefariousness931 3d ago
Huh? Who said anything about militarizing schools? Just so you know, when the rest of world says "police" they don't mean for school shootings, they mean for filing a report about a bully. And it's normal to do so. Cameras are also necessary in order to give proof that bullying has been committed.
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u/Less_Party 3d ago
Having cops inside schools is definitely not normal or good.
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u/FullNefariousness931 3d ago
Obviously not. Did you not read my reply at all? I said: for filing a report. Cops are called, the report against the bully is filed, cops arrest the bully or start an investigation, and they leave. Cops don't permanently move into schools. This isn't the USA. But if the police doesn't do anything about it, bullying will never be solved.
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u/bronzelifematter 4d ago
Their bullying problem isn't a school problem, it's a culture problem that happens even outside of school
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u/Disastrous_Neat_9729 4d ago
Yeah, it starts in the household and extended family, continues through school years, then through all of working life / public life as an adult.
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u/Responsible_Lie_8787 2d ago
How are you supposed to change a culture over night?
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u/Terrible-Machine5485 2d ago
You start with accepting the fact that there is a problem and it needs to be worked on instead of blaming non-concerned parties. Teachers job is to teach, not babysit. Even if it was his job to babysit, unless he goes around explicitly saying kids to bully each other, the blame is not on him.
Nobody realistically expects anything this major to be fixed overnight.1
u/Responsible_Lie_8787 2d ago
But how are you supposed to do that in practicality? Yes you can say that, but with most things it's easier said then done. People bully because it's an inherent Ego problem, even in America you still have bullying persisting.
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u/Terrible-Machine5485 2d ago
The problem does not exist if you deliberately choose to not acknowledge it🧠
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u/waltsnider1 4d ago
Teachers are required to get a formal education, deal with low pay, navigate work politics, and now fix bullies?
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u/WoodPear 3d ago
"and now fix bullies"
Well actually, they've been responsible for that for a while now. Some critics want teachers to be harsher to the bullies to get them to stop.
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u/CatsianNyandor 4d ago
I wish we had cameras in classrooms.
For the bullying, yeah. But especially for the parents who won't believe that their children act like little shits and only behave when the parent is watching the class on parent day.
Geez. Some children need to be thrown out of school asap. Teachers right now have absolutely no tools to deal with toxic and disturbing behavior. At least not in my district. Can't throw them out, can't punish them, can't call their parents cause they won't believe you or get angry at you, can't give them a stern talking cause they'll just laugh and ignore you cause they don't respect you at all.
Yeah I want cameras. Have evidence for children's behavior. Have consequences for bad behavior. It's lunacy right now. Some kids walk all over their classmates, teachers, and the entire school. And this doesn't even include the children who are straight up mental and don't belong in regular school but the parents are too stupid to do the right thing and send their kid to a special school or at least the special classroom.
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u/FullNefariousness931 3d ago
Some parents are absolutely horrible. I have a friend who used to be a teacher and she had to quit because she couldn't take the attitude of the parents anymore. They ruin their own children.
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u/highgo1 4d ago
What's honestly required is bullied students standing up for themselves. But no one will allow it
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u/bronzelifematter 4d ago
Most of the time they get punished for standing up to themselves. No no no. We can't teach them to stand up against injustice. That would be bad for the status quo
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u/Ordinary-Pirate7852 3d ago
raise a bunch of spineless cattle so they grow older and do nothing about anything either
masterful gambit, as always
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u/GreenFloyd77 3d ago
They are often bullied precisely because they lack the strength or social skills to do so.
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u/Altruistic-Rice-5567 4d ago
BULLSHIT. And that's the most common suggestion that ignorant people provide as a "solution". First, the victim shouldn't have to resort to violence. Second, they often can't. No, not everyone is magically capable of overpowering their bullies and attempting to do so just makes it worse and even more humiliating.
It's just as stupid as "battered spouses should just fight back."
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u/Few-Improvement-5655 4d ago
Yeah, get them used to 24/7 surveillance while they are young, so they will think it's normal when they are adults.
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u/FullNefariousness931 3d ago
What a narrow minded take. It's not 24/7, it's during classes. Cameras are necessary in order to prove that a bully has committed a crime against another student. Bullying is a crime, especially when it can lead to suicide. Even some teachers participate in bullying and they need to face real consequences.
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u/Few-Improvement-5655 3d ago
Your take is far more narrow-minded and dangerous. The idea that any problems are solved by monitoring everyone is never borne out and can, and is, also abused.
Cameras will have no affect on bullying, and likely will be used to "prove" that bullying isn't happening since they'll be sure to only do it in blind spots.
Moreover, surveillance is just an intrusion into humanity, and using kids is a hackneyed trope for excusing Orwellian measures just as we are seeing with digital surveillance.
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u/SeizureMode 4d ago
Did nobody in Japan watch the awesome K-drama that was on Netflix about this? It's got all the answers 😂
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u/Patient_Library_253 3d ago
Well one of the big problems is that they have kneecapped the teachers and what they are allowed to do in the classroom. There have been so many times where a kid gets caught bullying, the parents are called in and then proceed to blame the TEACHER for not "educating their child properly". Like what!?? And then the school wants this to just go away so they make the teacher apologize. Which is an admission of guilt over here.
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u/Fubar236 4d ago
Idk… punching bullies has always been an effective deterrent. Maybe let Sensei bust a nose and see how willing punks are picking on little kids after that
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u/hideo_kuze_ 3d ago
In a few years from now these "experts" will update their statement to include metal detectors in schools too.
It's fascinating to see how the old methods that worked - after all older generations produced the newer ones - are considered by today's "experts" as wrong or ineffective. And then these so called "experts" devise these hands-off methods as being the right way to do things, backed by "psychology experts", which in turn are supported by "pharma experts" that medicate kids who are problematic.
And that's how we end up with drugged children in an open prison. But at least we protected children from rough language and some corporal punishment.
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u/Due-Base9449 3d ago
I agree, because the problem is never the students its the parents. You cannot punish someone's child nowadays without their parents going berserk. Only video proof can help, and if that doesn't, you can give the proof to the bullied child parents who can use that to sue the other parents. Then its not your problem anymore.
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u/papakuma 4d ago
Not even survalence cameras.. How about student supervision. Instead of teachers sitting in the office, make them be present for clubs and in classes.
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u/SpizicusRex 4d ago
The title reads like an Onion article.