Bullying is one of the serious problems in Japan. It is certainly related with the pressures to conform that children face in Japan's highly competitive system of education. Some bullied kids have died by suicide. Sometimes, teachers are unnoticed of this, because it is done in secret.The common perception is that students who are socially isolated, have poor social skills, or who are physically weak are often the targets of bullying. These students are not only weakly connected to their classmates, but are often emotionally unable to cope with mild forms of verbal harassment that other students consider "play." Teachers and parents both perceived that in recent years the number of students ...view middle of the document...
So, in order to get job, students must work hard to graduate school and go to college. Also, most Japanese students don't want to "lose" to their friends by getting lower points on the various tests and quizzes that occur frequently in Japanese schools. However, this same consciousness of wanting to be like friends can also lead students who might have done better to not try their hardest in order to fit in with the group. The two tendencies are not contradictory but stem from the student's desire to be like his or her friends. When friends are interested in school advancement, there will be friendly rivalry over who gets the most points on tests. When students are not interested in advancing in school or, more commonly, when they perceive little chance for advancing, friends may provide the impetus not to study. When students reach the upper two grades of junior high school, they begin to associate more with peers who will go to the same high school. Academic achievement appears to become a factor in friendship formation. At junior high school some students may compete to do little, but others may compete to see who can be the best. Overall, at the junior high school level, groups of students who urge each other to do poorly in school or to ignore studying seem to have relatively little effect. For the most part, most students who have just entered junior high school follow the admonishments of teachers and parents to study. But, as they progress in junior high school, some fall further and further behind. These students, who know they will not do well in the coming academic competition, tend to distance themselves from school life and academic competition.
