mark_15
01-09-2007, 03:53 PM
NEWSWEEK reports on violence in Japanese schools: "Reformers say that Japan's education system is too rigid, bureaucratic and obsessed with rote learning and conformity, to the detriment of students. The Ministry of Education runs the school system with an iron fist; it has strict guidelines for teacher hiring, establishes the curriculum and mandates how student problems should be handled. Bullying, say social experts, is a manifestation of the pressure kids are under to succeed. Kids in hypercompetitive classrooms seem to require little incentive to gang up on each other..." Read feature (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16500163/site/newsweek/)