hjmick
06-07-2008, 11:02 AM
In this day, where every kid gets a ribbon or trophy, where Little League teams no longer keep score, where there are no losers, no winners, when it seems the overriding concern is not to damage a child's ever so delicate self esteem, it seems as though Japanese parents have taken it to a whole new level...
Japan's 'monster' parents take centre stage
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The stage was set, the lights went down and in a suburban Japanese primary school everyone prepared to enjoy a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The only snag was that the entire cast was playing the part of Snow White.
For the audience of menacing mothers and feisty fathers, though, the sight of 25 Snow Whites, no dwarfs and no wicked witch was a triumph: a clear victory for Japan's emerging new class of “Monster Parents”.
For they had taken on the system and won. After a relentless campaign of bullying, hectoring and nuisance phone calls, the monster parents had cowed the teachers into submission, forcing the school to admit to the injustice of selecting just one girl to play the title role.
Across Japan teachers are reporting an astonishing change in the character of parents, who, after decades of respectful silence, have become a super-aggressive army of complainers...
Where previously schools were trusted and respected, they are now the targets of concerted activism. Dozens of educators have been forced to resign in the face of the blazing fury of parents who no longer tolerate anything that appears to disadvantage their offspring.
In a new book on the phenomenon, Yoshihiko Morotomi, of Meiji University, lists hundreds of incidents that illustrate it. There are parents who have secretly placed recording devices in their children's classrooms, and others who have demanded that the results of sports events be changed to reflect expectations rather than the reality on the field.
In one case the mother of a child who was injured in the playground demanded that the child who accidentally caused the injury be suspended from school for as long as it took her son to recuperate - so that he would not benefit from the lessons her boy was missing...
Complete story... (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4083278.ece)
What ever happened to "life lessons" and "building character?" There is no reason that losing or not getting the lead role in the school play can't be used to build self esteem or be used to encourage a child to try harder and improve. How many generations of whiny, spoiled, self indulgent, children to adults with a feeling of entitlement are going to be raised before some one stands up and says, "ENOUGH! Sit down, shut up, and deal with it!"?
Japan's 'monster' parents take centre stage
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The stage was set, the lights went down and in a suburban Japanese primary school everyone prepared to enjoy a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The only snag was that the entire cast was playing the part of Snow White.
For the audience of menacing mothers and feisty fathers, though, the sight of 25 Snow Whites, no dwarfs and no wicked witch was a triumph: a clear victory for Japan's emerging new class of “Monster Parents”.
For they had taken on the system and won. After a relentless campaign of bullying, hectoring and nuisance phone calls, the monster parents had cowed the teachers into submission, forcing the school to admit to the injustice of selecting just one girl to play the title role.
Across Japan teachers are reporting an astonishing change in the character of parents, who, after decades of respectful silence, have become a super-aggressive army of complainers...
Where previously schools were trusted and respected, they are now the targets of concerted activism. Dozens of educators have been forced to resign in the face of the blazing fury of parents who no longer tolerate anything that appears to disadvantage their offspring.
In a new book on the phenomenon, Yoshihiko Morotomi, of Meiji University, lists hundreds of incidents that illustrate it. There are parents who have secretly placed recording devices in their children's classrooms, and others who have demanded that the results of sports events be changed to reflect expectations rather than the reality on the field.
In one case the mother of a child who was injured in the playground demanded that the child who accidentally caused the injury be suspended from school for as long as it took her son to recuperate - so that he would not benefit from the lessons her boy was missing...
Complete story... (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4083278.ece)
What ever happened to "life lessons" and "building character?" There is no reason that losing or not getting the lead role in the school play can't be used to build self esteem or be used to encourage a child to try harder and improve. How many generations of whiny, spoiled, self indulgent, children to adults with a feeling of entitlement are going to be raised before some one stands up and says, "ENOUGH! Sit down, shut up, and deal with it!"?