Q-11: AMONG THOSE FAMILIES IN JAPAN THAT ARE CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVES, WHY ARE MORE AND MORE TURNING TO HOMESCHOOLING?
A-11: For one thing, confidence in schools is beginning to falter because of physical punishment inflicted on students by teachers, bullying among children themselves, and a host of other problems. Japanese education is carried out in an environment where the concept of "doing something together" is strong, and where there is a strong tendency to reject differences rather than acknowledge them. At the same time, though, there are also many parents who criticize such education and, in fact, many children who are starting to stand up and say "NO!" to school.
Moreover, resources outside of school (such as libraries, art galleries and museums) have become more abundant. It is also easier to get information through television, the Internet and whatnot. Lots of teaching materials are being published these days. Such conditions make it easier to do homeschooling.
This, of course, speaks to the motivations of those households that have actually *chosen* to do homeschooling. As mentioned before, while the numbers of households that choose homeschooling are known to be rising in Japan, they still are relatively few in this country.