Don't overlook violence by younger students

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Sep. 28, 2010)
Don't overlook violence by younger students
「キレる」子ども　暴力の低年齢化にブレーキを（9月27日付・読売社説）

There seems to be no end to the violence being committed by younger students. This serious situation at school is clear from a fiscal 2009 survey conducted by the education ministry.
　暴力の低年齢化に歯止めがかからない。全国の小中高校を対象にした文部科学省の２００９年度調査からは、学校現場が抱える深刻な状況が浮かび上がる。

The number of violent acts by students both at and away from school jumped to a record 61,000 cases, marking an increase for the fourth straight year, according to the survey of primary, middle and high schools across the nation.
　学校内外での暴力行為は４年連続で増加し、過去最多の６万１０００件に上った。

Violence by high school students is declining, but that by primary and middle school students has continued to rise. Primary school students in particular racked up a total of 7,100 violent incidents, nearly double the figure recorded three years before. The number of cases in which primary school teachers were treated at hospitals after suffering student violence topped 100.
　高校生の暴力は減少傾向にあるものの、小中学生では増え続けている。特に小学生は７１００件で、３年前の２倍近い。教師が小学生から暴力を受け、病院で治療した件数は１００件を超えた。

In the past, specific groups tended to commit violence regularly. But in recent years, there have been conspicuous instances of usually calm students who are suddenly triggered by something to commit violence.
　かつては特定のグループが恒常的に暴力行為に及ぶことが多かったが、最近は、おとなしい子どもが何かのきっかけで突然、暴力をふるうケースが目立つという。

===

New measures necessary

The situation has thus worsened to the extent that the problem of student violence cannot be solved merely by giving corrective guidance to the leaders of violent student groups. New countermeasures need to be taken after analyzing the current situation.
　グループのリーダーを指導することで問題を解決するような方法では対処できなくなっている。現状を分析して、新たな対応をとる必要がある。

A common characteristic of children who burst into fits of rage is limited ability to control their emotions and express their feelings in words.
　「キレる」子どもに共通する特徴は、自分の気持ちを言葉で表したり、感情をコントロールしたりするのが苦手なことだ。

To help such students develop better emotional awareness, one primary school, for example, gives lessons in first- and second-grade classes in which photos of an angry child's face are shown and students are asked, "How does this student feel?"
　こうした点を克服するため、ある小学校では１、２年生の授業で、例えば、怒った顔をした子の写真を見せて、「この子がどんな気持ちでいるか」を、児童たちに考えさせているという。

Many experts say the problem lies with student's families. They say that in some cases students are not well disciplined because their parents tend to neglect them. In other families, overly controlling and education-obsessed parents subject their children to too much stress.
　家庭の問題を指摘する専門家も多い。親が子どもに構わないため、しつけが十分でない、あるいは逆に教育熱心なあまり、干渉しすぎて子どもにストレスを与えている、といった意見だ。

School authorities must make efforts to improve the situation by learning about the family environments of individual students and using that knowledge as the basis for serious dialogue with parents.
　学校側には、子ども一人ひとりの家庭環境を把握した上で、親と粘り強く対話を重ね、改善を促していく努力が求められよう。

===

Bullying persists

The number of bullying cases recognized by primary, middle and high schools came to 73,000 in fiscal 2009, a decrease of 12,000 from a year before. Compared with 125,000 cases registered in fiscal 2006, the figure for fiscal 2009 shows a drop of more than 40 percent.
　一方、０９年度に小中高校などで認知されたいじめの件数は、前年度より１万２０００件少ない７万３０００件だった。０６年度の１２万５０００件に比べると、４割以上も減ったことになる。

But it is premature to conclude that bullying at school is in fact declining. This is because some schools answered there was "no bullying" at their schools without asking students in questionnaires or individual interviews about whether that was actually the case.
　ただし、いじめが減少傾向にあると見るのは早計だろう。いじめの有無を尋ねるアンケートや個人面談を実施せず、「いじめゼロ」と回答した学校もあるためだ。

A third-year middle school student in Kawasaki who had been bullied by classmates killed himself in June. Such tragedies happen repeatedly. The "decrease in bullying" shown by statistics should not lull those in charge of education into relaxing their efforts.
　同級生からいじめを受けていた川崎市の中学３年の男子生徒が今年６月に自殺した。現実にはこのような悲劇が繰り返されている。統計上の「いじめ減少」が教育関係者に気のゆるみをもたらすことがあってはなるまい。

Bullying could happen to any child. Schools must recognize this anew and take care not to overlook even the small signs of bullying.
　いじめはどの子どもにも起こりうるということを、学校現場が再認識し、小さな兆候も見逃さないことが大切である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 27, 2010)
（2010年9月27日01時12分 読売新聞）