Quote Originally Posted by WBHenry View Post
I am curious though: What is the down-side to their behavior? What are the repercusions should they not graduate? Where do they get their money now for cigarettes and CDs? Are Mom and Dad simply going to support them forever? Do they ever talk about their hopes and dreams for their own future? Or are they basically nihilistic in their outlook? (I must admit, this is not the picture of Japanese culture I had in my head. I was under the impression that duty and honor were instilled to a great degree in Japanese children. It seems I stand corrected...)
In Japan, academic failure is a non-option in most cases. That is part of the problem of an elevator system. Let me illustrate with an example.

I have a student in one of my classes who has a slew of problems, both emotional and social, but also academic. He does not participate in ANY classroom work, be it individual, or group-based. Given a worksheet, he will not even pick up a pencil. When I am writing on the board, he will not look at me (or the board) -- he will look down at his desk. And I've never actually seen his face, because he wears a surgeon's mask 24/7 (presumably because that's his security blanket in hiding from the world around him). In his placement test he scored only 9% (out of a hundred). But when I call him out in class, he will answer (albeit incorrectly).

I went to my supervisor and asked him how it was that such a student actually even got accepted to the college in the first place. He replied, "I don't know -- let's take a look at high school grades and college application file." Well, we found out that he came from a private high school, and that his exiting grade was 2.5. (On a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best).

Let me explain what a 2.5 grade means, as my wife used to work for (a different) private high school a few years ago. A PASSING grade in any class is not 50%, like in the West, but 30%. Students automatically earn 30% simply for attending class. So just by having perfect attendance, a student can pass a class without actually even picking up a pencil. And so it was -- this student had a 2.5 overall grade from high school... Meaning he WAS THERE -- but did little more.

At our college, it's not much better. The students have a 50% pass grade here, but if they fail their semester, they are given an AUTOMATIC chance to re-write. But not only that -- they are given a special, one or two-hour class, tutoring them SPECIFICALLY on only the contents of their make-up test. In addition, we have been told by the admin to make the make-up test so easy, that it would be impossible to fail. (No, I'm dead serious.) Then, if (when) the student passes the make-up test, they are awarded a passing grade (the prerequisite, minimum 50%) for the semester.

Really, the only way to fail, is to stop attending. Students are given 4 absences per credit hour. So if the course is 3 credits, they are allowed up to 12 absences per semester (which is a LOT). If they are absent 13 times or more, they lose their right to sit the exam. In my classes, I get about 2 or 3 in a group of 20, on average.

Now, as to your other questions. Yes, mom & dad play a HUGE role in all of this. 95% of the time, it is the parents who are footing the bill for everything... It is NOT unusual to see kids driving a brand new beamer, or an SUV with gold, bling rims driving to school each day. What happens IF they fail? Not a whole lot. Japan has a very big problem with NEETs (NEET stands for: Not in Employment, Education or Training) and freeters -- those who move around from low-paying job to low-paying job.

But the REAL tragedy is, that most of these kids are OKAY with that!

Japanese society has changed. A lot. I have access to a very recent, brilliant academic article that deals with this in depth, but it's also very, very, long and a heavy read. But there is a definite loss of moral and ethical values in this country, and I am only experiencing a tiny portion of a very national problem.

WBHenry - that is interesting. I'll certainly do a bit of research in that direction.

Kiltedwolfman: Yeah. I suspect that if some of these students had some foundation in martial arts, it would mean a lot. But interest in that is fading (in my opinion), at least with youth. I have studied tea ceremony for most of my time in Japan... My sensei is the top teacher in Yamanashi, and only a few ranks down from the world "iemoto" Sen Soshitsu in Kyoto, who is the 16th direct decendent of Sen Rikyu, the father of Japanese tea ceremony. Even though the college has its own tea ceremony room, I have made use of it numerous times when students have shown some interest in learning and practicing tea ceremony. But so far none of them have ever been able to last at it for any length of time... Just too slow, too boring, and no perceived benefit to them.

Bugbear: the academic article I mentioned above addresses this in great detail. I can forward it to you if you're interested in reading it.