Parents and teachers should not force children to go to school, but should try to understand their feelings.

When I saw this quote, without reading the text underneath, I thought it might be a quote in relation to bullying. Then I saw that it was about children committing suicide after the summer vacation.

Serious question for other JT readers. Have I been hiding under a rock or is this a major problem in Japan these days? I didn't realise that children were committing suicide after the end of summer vacation.

If there is a serious problem with suicide at the end of summer vacation, the answer is to simply give the kids a REAL vacation, so long that they get bored with it and actually want to go back to school.

But my number one piece of advice is to hit it from the other end and stop making school a torture device, especially as they do in junior high school. The kids need more freedom to explore, less pressure to conform, and club activities seriously need to be toned down. Once you join a club in Japan, that is your life. Its great for making empty suits to fill your national workforce, but its going to ensure high suicide rates. I don't think its worth it, especially since Japan has reached a time in its economic history where a population of unthinking robots is not going to be of much use.

Are there alternative primary and secondary schools in Japan that aren’t as limited in their approaches to education (rote learning of material unrelated to students’ lives regurgitated verbatim on a high-stress test with no critical thinking allowed) as I’ve heard the government high schools are? I have to believe that many students would prefer something different to what’s currently required. If so, are graduates of the alternate schools able to be accepted to the best universities in Japan, even if these schools don’t follow the prescribed national curriculum? Or do the powers that are in both government and business only want fungible assets able to be trained to obey? How well are the schools preparing young people for Japan today, with an economy that’s stagnating because of a seeming refusal by the powers that are to do things much differently than they always have, and for a future in which knowledge of digital technologies is necessary and might include an AI Singularity?

I didn't realise that children were committing suicide after the end of summer vacation.

Me too. Maybe teachers shouldn't ignore the warning signs. Like when a student who has been constantly bullied documents in his/her journal that they've decided where they plan to commit suicide. . . hint , hint. Then, it's time to throw the red flag and alert the principal/boe/parents/pta and so on-

Teachers and parents should make schools and homes bully free, tirture free and these should be places where children can rest, discover the world, make friends and blossom. Don't force them to be in a mold.