This is a suicide note of a 13-year-old boy who killed himself because of being bullied in 1994 in Japan:
They took money from me, including 1.000 yen [approx 10 US dollars] my grandmother had given me and the money I planned to use for having my haircut. I had to cut my own hair. I should have committed suicide earlier but did not for the sake of my family. [L]iving life under this kind of pressure wasn’t worth it.(Hays).
Bullying among school children is a very serious issue in Japan. Most of the victim children are bullied physically, verbally, and mentally. “In severe cases, victims become virtual slaves to bullies who extort huge sums of money and beat their victims so severely they have to be hospitalized.”(Hays). This despicable bullying often has caused bullied children to avoid school and even commit suicide. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Education in Japan, in 2011, the number of recognized bullying cases was approximately 75,000 (35,988 in elementary schools, 32,348 in junior high schools, 6,617 in high schools, and 342 in special-needs schools). The number of cyber-bullying cases was 2,924(the previous year: 3,170), which is 3.9 percent of the total recognized bullying cases. And according to the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, the number of suicides related to bullying was 4.
These statistics show that the number of cyber-bullying has declined from the previous year, though some educators are suspicious of these statistics and assume that many causes of this kind of bullying go unreported. Cyber-bullying is a recent form of bullying and it is common especially among junior high school and high school students. Cyber-bullying includes posting heartless messages or photos of victims on unofficial websites created by young people, or sending abusive e-mails through mobile phones or computers. Most of the messages on these unofficial sites, which total over 38,000 in Japan, are posted anonymously so that it is very difficult to detect this kind of bullying. “Experts say high-tech bullying is far harder for parents and teachers to police than physical violence because of the anonymity of cyber space and a lack of technical knowledge.”(Kubota). The bullying problem is getting so much more complicated than it used to be that it is not easy to solve instantly in Japan. But at least we need to find ways to reduce incidents of bullying.
As a countermeasure to cyber-bullying, I propose two solutions: restricting unofficial websites for the purpose of bullying and developing technology to avoid the sending or receiving of bullying messages.
First of all, the government should establish laws or regulations to restrict these criminal unofficial websites on the internet. If there is a law that bans these unofficial websites, police will be able to bust administrators of these websites and reduce the number of victim children. Nobutaka Machimura, ex-Minister of Education in Japan, said: “[I]t is not easy for the government to respond to the emergence of such websites. There are some countries that could just shut them down straight away. But Japan cannot legally do that. I think it is a question of the morals of the children and the parents who use them.” (Mail & Guardian online). It is surely the matter of the morals of the children, but in reality they cannot get away from this kind of bullying without the help of adults. It is the responsibility of the government to protect children from this cruel bullying and provide all children with a safe and enjoyable life. Otherwise, what does the government exist for?
Another solution is to use filtering software or special settings on mobile phones and computers to block messages sent through suspect servers or IP addresses. Motohiro Hasegawa, associate professor of the Department of Information and Culture at Kinjo Gakuin University, agrees that: “In terms of technology, e-mail filtering systems are effective.” (Kubota). It is one of the easy ways for parents to protect their children. In addition, manufacturing companies of mobile phones should produce a mobile phone with special features for blocking access to unofficial websites or detecting and rejecting abusive messages before they are received. Technology has created this cyber-bullying, so it is time for technology to improve the prevention of this problem. But technology can not solve the bullying problem by itself. As Hasegawa states: “But in the end, the problem is not about technology…it is about humans.”(Kubota).
Because it is a human problem, education should play an important role in reducing incidents of bullying at school. But teachers have been struggling with this issue in Japan for a long time. The common countermeasure for bullying at school is to have individual conferences with bullies and bullied children and to discuss this issue in a classroom when bullying comes to light. However, this kind of teachers’ action often leads to more concealed bullying and makes the situation worse. After the bullying discussion, students pretend to stop the bullying while in front of teachers, but in fact the situation is exacerbated behind teachers’ backs. The victim children do not ask for help anymore because bullies threaten them with revenge. So how can teachers deal with this?
I believe that every teacher needs to learn about bullying before he or she actually begins to teach. Most of the unskilled teachers try to solve this problem ineffectively and accelerate the bullying, or they try to ignore the problems due to a lack of class management skills. The Board of Education should offer frequent workshops so that teachers learn what bullying is, how to deal with this issue, and what to teach students to solve this problem. As well as teachers, parents also need to learn about bullying. Schools could offer workshops for all parents to gain awareness even though their children may not be bullies or be bullied. Midori Komori, the mother of a 15-year-old girl who killed herself after she was bullied, travels around Japan giving lectures to raise awareness of bullying and strongly insists: “Every adult, including teachers, parents, and other adults, has to teach children not to do anything they do not want their friends to do to them. If we can teach our children that, I think we will no longer see bullying in our society.” (BBC News).
It is time to educate children about bullying. Most teachers bring up the bullying topic when they find a bullying situation in a classroom. But that is not the right time to talk in a class. Teachers should regularly and often share this topic with students whether there is bullying in their class or not. This way, students will become accustomed to talking about bullying openly with teachers and among themselves.
Bullying is also a serious issue in America. The American Justice Department school bullying statistics and cyber bullying statistics studies show that: “1 out of 4 kids is bullied.”(HOW TO STOP BULLYING). Roland Rogers Elementary School in New Jersey has a unique anti-bullying and anti-violence program. There is an anti-bullying wall in the main hall of the school and every student is required to sign a pledge to be “bully-free” and post the pledge on the wall through a school year. Then, when a bullying situation is found, the offender is brought to the wall and asked if he/she adhered to his/her pledge. Robin L. Moore, the principal of the school, says: “I believe the wall has ‘been very effective’ when it comes to bullying in the school.” (Bellano). Annette Giaquinto, a superintendent of schools, also states: “Although I have no data to assess the effectiveness of the pledge wall, I believe that public affirmations are an effective measure.” (Bellano). Like this countermeasure, schools in Japan need to tackle the bullying issue by getting all students involved.
One of the most important things to reduce bullying is for teachers and parents to build a close relationship with children. “Positive and supportive school relationships between principals, teachers, students and parents can have a positive impact on reducing bullying.” (Parentinged). When there is a close relationship and open communication with children, teachers and parents have a chance to notice when they have a problem in an early stage of bullying. The earlier they find it, the easier the problem will be solved. Also, children and students must know they can come to their parents and teachers for help with anything anytime. The close relationship is also very helpful for teachers in order to look into the main problem which causes children to bully each other, i.e. as a release for the academic pressure or the frustration that they have with their parents. If teachers can address the root cause of the problem that bullies struggle with, they will be able to solve their main problems and prevent bullying.
Many parents argue that it is very difficult to communicate with their children in the period of adolescence. That is precisely why it is important for parents to communicate well with their children from an early age. Once parents have this close relationship, they will notice from the emotion and behavior that their children show at home when they are in trouble, even without verbal communication. My mother used to tell me that she could easily know when I was distressed from my behavior at home. And I believe that it was one of the reasons that I did not suffer from any bullying in my school days. I unconsciously knew that I always had someone to protect me when I got in trouble. Excellent communication between parents and children is a key factor in reducing bullying.
Bullying is a significant and complicated social issue in modern society. It is not an easy problem to solve. It requires patience and long-term efforts. But I believe we can, at least, reduce the incidence of bullying if we work together to tackle the problem in the way that I proposed in this essay. All adults should be aware of the seriousness of bullying and address it, even the government. Kiyoteru Okouchi, whose suicide note is quoted at the beginning of this essay, committed suicide after being bullied into stealing over $ 11,000 from his parents by classmates who used the money at the local pachinko parlor. After having his head held under water in a river by the bullies and being stripped of his clothes in a school gymnasium, he hanged himself from a tree in the family garden. (Hay). What if Kiyoteru Okouchi were your child, could you ignore the problem of bullying?
Works Cited
BBC News. “Japan’s deadly bullying problem”. 6 Dec. 2006. BBC. 25 Apr. 2012
Bellano, Anthony. “Roland Rogers’ Wall Combats Bullying” 20 Sep. 2011. Galloway Patch.
25 Apr. 2012
Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau. “Investigation of Issues on Pupil Guidance of Students’ Problem Behaviors in 2011” 4 Aug. 2011. The Ministry of Education in Japan. 25 Apr. 2012
Hays, Jeffery. "Bullying and School Problems in Japan: Suicides, Injuries by Teachers, Violence and Lack Discipline in Schools" July 2011. FACTS AND DETAILS. 25 Apr. 2012
HOW TO STOP BULLYING. “Bullying Statistics / Cyber Bullying Statistics / School Bullying
Statistics” 2009. HOW TO STOP BULLYING. 25 Apr. 2012
Kubota, Yoko. “Cyber Bullying bedevils Japan” 11 Nov. 2007. Reuters. 25 Apr. 2012
Mail & Guardian online. “Cyber-bullying common among Japan’s children” 16 Apr. 2008. Mail
& Guardian online. 25 Apr. 2012
Parentinged, “The Effect Of Bullying In School On Children And Adolescents”.
www.parentinged.com 25 Apr. 2012
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