The Rot at the Heart of Japan’s Student Clubs

Society

Uchida Ryō [Profile]

Japanese national curriculum guidelines stipulate that student participation in extracurricular activities must be independent and voluntary. The reality, however, appears to be one of coerced “independence,” robbing students of opportunities to think for themselves. This essay considers the Nihon University American football club’s flagrant penalty in the light of the current state of junior high and high school student clubs.

Pressured Not to Quit

Another curious circumstance is that these supposedly independent extracurricular activities include something called “independent practice.” Practice before school hours on weekdays or on the weekends is sometimes referred to in this way. Nonetheless, not only do the faculty advisors attend these “independent practice” sessions, but so do almost all students, just as though they were compulsory.

And this disregard of the students’ supposed independence may be found not only in enrollment in these clubs, but also in withdrawing from them, when faculty advisors make strenuous efforts to retain students who want to quit.

When a student at one high school applied to withdraw from a club, the club’s faculty advisor yelled at the student to think of the other club members, blasting the student in question as “worthless.”

It seems unlikely that the reason for such abuse was a genuine concern for “the other club members.” Rather, when faculty advisors have their own identities bound up with these extracurricular activities, they perceive students who try to leave as disruptive elements who are rebelling against the advisors themselves. They thus come to think of guiding and persuading these students in and of itself to be part of the work of extracurricular activity leadership, and moreover, to view such efforts as a demonstration of their leadership ability as teachers.

To be sure, students should not expect to simply have everything their own way. Extracurricular activities, however, are predicated on the independent participation of the students themselves. There is thus no legitimate reason for faculty advisors to get angry at children who don’t want to take part.

The Moral of the Story

This is not to say, of course, that extracurricular activities do nothing but harm. But for these clubs to be truly independent activity, there needs to be a greater degree of freedom where exercising this independence is concerned.

We must not raise people who simply faithfully carry out orders from above; our task is to foster young people who are capable of interpreting for themselves what those orders mean. If extracurricular activities are merely an exercise in lip service to the notion of independence, while in fact being used to constrain students and rob them of their freedom—and even of opportunities to think and make judgments for themselves, then it is miseducation.

The unsportsmanlike tackle by the Nihon University American football team was the result of the accumulation of many instances of just such miseducation.

Something good did come out of all of this, however.

The way the player in question acted during the game is a serious matter. Immediately after the tackle, however, he recognized that what he had done was wrong, and did not equivocate about the need to apologize to the wronged party at the earliest opportunity. More than that, he honestly confessed his misdeed in a public venue.

The sincerity which arose from the player’s contemplation of his own actions draws our concern instead to the problems with the leadership of these extracurricular activities.

Public opinion has focused less on the unsportsmanlike nature of the tackle itself and more on the cruelty of the leadership by the coaches. The power to change what constitutes leadership in extracurricular activities may yet be found in a society which is aligning itself in such a fashion.

Now that public opinion has been aroused by this incident, I have high hopes for the influence it is capable of exerting.

(Originally published in Japanese on July 18, 2018. Banner photo: The Nihon University football team starts practice again in Setagaya, Tokyo, on June 29, 2018. © Jiji.)

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Uchida RyōView article list

Associate professor of the sociology of education at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University. Born in 1976. Holds a doctorate in education. Research interests include risks for schools, such as accidents and suicide. Works include Kyōiku to iu yamai: Kodomo to sensei o kurushimeru kyōiku risuku (The Disease Called Education: Education Risks that Make Children and Teachers Suffer), Jūdō jiko (Jūdō Accidents), and Jidō gyakutai e no manazashi (A Look at Child Abuse), which won an honorable mention award from the Japan Society of Educational Sociology.

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