What Begets What??!?

When I first arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun back in 1990 corporal punishment in schools had only just been officially banned and was still very much a part of the local mindset. The Ministry of Education (now the Ministry of Technology and Education) made a sort of witch-hunt of the whole affair and was quick to make a very visible example of any teacher they caught using violence against students. However, it was still considered a matter of course by most parents that schools would quite literally whip their kids into shape. As far as the teachers themselves were concerned it was standard procedure, and I witnessed some pretty horrifying acts of "discipline" during the three years I spent as an Assistant Language Teacher assigned to the public senior high schools of the greater Kashima area.

Not that I remained silent about it.

Actually, in a program like JET, which recruits mainly hot-headed, ambitious young people with delusions of grandeur right out of college, it's only inevitable that there is more than a dragon's share of (mostly liberal) activists on the roster. The fight against corporal punishment was definitely the crusade du jour, and the cliche "Violence begets violence" got tossed around at every turn. I was nowhere near as frothy-mouthed about it as many of those would-be hero types, but I made my views on the subject very clear. In fact, I protested rather vociferously, telling my Japanese coworkers that I refused to do my job if a teacher was brutalizing a student in the faculty office or, as was often the case, in an adjoining closet. I don't know how much effect I had personally, but the acts of violent discipline definitely seemed to fade to almost zero while I was present.

Eventually I left the JET Program(me) and the local public high schools and moved on, eventually settling here at ye olde academy. Meanwhile, the fight against corporal punishment turned from a political publicity stunt to a witch-hunt at the grassroots level. By the end of the 90s most of the municipal school boards didn't even allow teachers to scold students, let alone use any kind of physical punishment. Meanwhile, here at ye olde academy, a teacher who was known to pound students on the head if they either talked or slept during his class was repeatedly suspended and finally banned from the classroom till he resigned. Another teacher, who slapped a student that insulted him, was verbally roasted during a staff meeting as if he were guilty of rape or something.

Then there was "hero-at-large" Mr. O, who tore into me with a vicious barrage of heated insults and attacks on my professional competence because I wanted to hold a staff conference regarding a group of troublesome students. In his mind, the fact that I even thought those students should be considered for disciplinary action was proof of my lack of ability. His final words were, "As teachers, above all, our job is to LOVE the students, LOVE the students, LOVE the students!"

(Funny...he never even tried to deal with the problem students, and they continued to be a problem till the end. So much for his "superior, professional ability".)

Perhaps I should also mention my wife, who has just been railroaded into quitting her position as coach of her school's tennis team by a rabid mob of parents who are also calling for her removal as a teacher altogether. Her crime? She said the following statement to the newly-elected punk captain of her team: "If you can't listen to me or do your job, you might as well quit." Ooh, that's harsh. The parents are calling it "verbal corporal punishment", and a couple of them are even threatening legal action.

Yes, education in Japan has become a far kinder, gentler affair than what it used to be. Depending on which school or municipality you are in, it is also full of all kinds of nauseating cliches, such as "They are not children, they are small adults," or "Respect them, and they will respect you," or "LOVE the students, LOVE the students, LOVE the students!"

I guess I already said that last one. Sorry.

Anyway, since the whole point of the fight against corporal punishment was "violence begets violence", you'd think that in this wonderful, happy, violence-free, love-filled educational environment kids are growing up to be nice, sweet, non-violent little angels that totally respect their teachers, right?

You'd think it, and you'd be WRONG.

In fact, today's news reported that school violence has been on the rise steadily over the past decade, with the largest increase happening during the past four or five years. The biggest problem is that kids nowadays are much more childish than they used to be, a product of indulgence, which means they are much less able to control their emotions. They are also well aware that their teachers' authority is totally toothless, so they have little or no respect for authority in general. Violent attacks on both teachers and fellow students are happening at a rate almost double what it was back in 1990.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the academic performance of Japanese students has also taken a very disturbing nose-dive.

Well, to all you cliche-spewing idealists, I'd say take a good, hard look at reality. The verdict is in; "violence begets violence" doesn't stand up to empirical evaluation. Maybe it's time to experiment with going back to the alternative and put a little fear back in the kids. Bring back the scolding. Bring back the switch sticks. Maybe it's time to see some little punks standing outside holding buckets of water for an hour again.

Actually, maybe it's time to see some parents doing that...and some administrators...and some politicians...and some teachers...and some random people off the street...and...

*ahem* Anyway, back to life...