10 Steps to Stop Bullying and Prevent Suicides in Japanese Schools

Posted by Bill Belew on November 29th, 2006 in Japan | No Comments

A government panel has been meeting overtime to come up with a way to stop kids from ending it all because they were bullied in school.

The result – some recommendations to prevent bullying –

1. Clarify the standards for warning and punishing children who bully schoolmates.

2. Convince children who know someone is being bullied but do nothing, that they are guilty, too.

3. Praise schools that solve bullying problems.

4. Have schoolteachers, boards of education and parents cooperate to eliminate bullying.

5. Have education boards set up teams to support school efforts

6. Give parents the option of moving their children to another school to avoid being bullied.

Uh…that's it? That's all the could come up with?

How about:

7. Define bullying to children

8. Have parents who lost kids to suicide from being bullied visit classes

9. Have respected speakers/sports people/celebs who may have experienced or witnessed bullying come in and talk?

10. How about holding the bully's parents and teachers accountable for not controlling their kids? If a child is injured or worse yet, commits suicide as a result of bullying, punish the parents and the teachers who didn't catch/stop it or show that they really tried.

Bullying is a serious problem in Japan. But, we regular people do NOT need to be intimidated by the bullies, now do we?

What do you think?