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[worldwidealive]

http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050227a8.htm

Did anyone else see this article in the Japan Times today? I about laughed out loud!! What a bunch of crap. Did the researchers think to figure in the absolutely insane amount of time high school kids spend in school, in cram school, in tutor sessions, in English lessons, in....well, need I go on? I think it's quite obvious why they are sleep deprived.

This is a joke. The kids in this country need to be able to live a normal life or the suicide rate will continue to climb. For God's sake let's not blame it on email and Lawson's!

[Glenski]

I agree with you, worldwidealive. The survey was totally worthless. Look at this one alone.

[Brooks]

and a lot of kids are just staying up late watching movies and/or TV.
Students tell me that they study and watch TV at the same time.

[homersimpson]

I tend to lean toward what Brooks wrote. My JHS students are half-dead most of the time and if you ask why, the party-line answer is, "I was studying late." If that were true, then why are you a dolt? Said student couldn't possibly be studying. What they really are doing is playing video games, on the Internet, emailing their friends via keitai, reading comics, watching (God-awful Japanese TV), generally f-ing around, etc. If excess of studying were truly the reason, than why do elementary, JHS, HS, and university students, as well as teachers, bankers, train conductors, rice farmers, convenience store workers, et. al also so tired? Are they studying as well? Japan has real issues with a "natural" cycle for the body; they eat dinner too late and go to bed too late. Whether that's because of studying or watching the tube is irrelevant. (And don't bother arguing about the life expectancy rate in Japan. For the most part Japanese outlive the people from other industrialized nations by anywhere from 8 months to 2 years. Japan's "ultra-healthy" lifestyle is mostly myth).

[Brooks]

at my school we have kids who do their club after school six days a week and go to juku after it.
And we have the kids who study enough to get a passing grade.
Or they don`t even study.

I talked to a math teacher who said that there is a gap at our school:
we have the kids who study and/or go to juku, have goals, etc. and kids who just want to coast on the escalator system.
Lazy kids need discipline and strict teachers. I don`t know how they can do well at university, but they probably don`t.

I taught one boy who failed Japanese his last year of high school but the　teacher changed his grade to 2. He will be studying business in April.
Why bother to study when you can get a passing grade?

Some kids are burned out by their club so by the time they get home they don`t want to study. They just want to relax.

I wish there was academic probation for students who are club members but it doesn`t exist. I wish students were taught how to manage their time, too.

[BradS]

Ah... what about the parents? Surely they must take some responsibility.

I get kids and adults at my school that are always "tired". When I ask them why they say "I watched tv last night until 3am." When I ask them what they watched or why they watched it the answer is usually "No reason" or "I can't remember the name of the show". They simply seem to watch tv out of habit.

[Nagoyaguy]

Yeah, time management skills are just not a priority here methinks. After all, what is the point of getting all your work done by 430 or 500pm, when you cant go home anyway, and have to sit at your desk for another 4 hours trying to look busy?

Kids learn early that time is made to be used. Hell, they do club activities before school, after school, weekends, national holidays, day in and day out for years. What does this teach them? I used to think that they must all be kickass athletes with all the practice time they put in. Wrong. Most of it is just mind numbing drills. Hitting a tennis ball into a fence or practicing a swing.

I tell my coworkers that I played 2 sports in high school and they are shocked. The concept of sports 'seasons' does not exist. If you join the baseball team, you stay on the baseball team for 3 years. You canNOT also take up kendo or music or volleyball.

I also feel for the teachers. Inevitably, I ask them "How did you spend your weekend?". The answer is the same- club activities and tournaments. Why do they stay at school so late? School ends at 400pm, then club until 530, THEN they can start to get some work done. On a lucky day, they leave at 700pm. *beep*, schools in Canada are LOCKED by 430pm, and locked all summer, too.

When do these kids have time to be just kids? No wonder they stay up so late, it is their only time to unwind and relax.