EduCareer StaffBlog"Rinjin Blog" | "EduCareer"Supporting your career in English teaching in the Japanese school system

Deteriorating Student-Teacher Relationships

2010/07/20

This article from Japan Times shows the deteriorating relationships between teachers and students in India. Interestingly, the article cites deteriorating relationships between students and teachers as one of the causes of student suicides. Japan also has a problem with student suicides, usually due to bullying- does the student-teacher relationship play a factor?

In Japan, there used to be a saying that a student should not only walk three steps behind his teacher, but even three steps behind his teachers shadow to avoid stepping on it. Teaching is still a respected profession among adults in Japan, but it is hard to imagine today's youth revering their teachers in the way the old proverb. Students act out, and a public screaming and humiliation session is still considered an acceptable response to student misbehavior in many schools. That said, teachers in Japan often work overtime for their students' sakes- home visits and counseling are common and teachers are sometimes even responsible for disciplining students for things that happen outside of school. And in most cases, students seem to like their teachers and teachers genuinely want their students to succeed. So where is the problem?

Perhaps it is a case of too much involvement. I've heard many teachers talk about the stress of monitoring students personal and educational lives at the expense of their own families. If teachers were not required to do so much for everyone, they might be better able to identify and focus on students who need extra help or devote energies to creating a more supportive school environment. Of course, many teachers work hard to do this already, but as amazing as they are, teachers are not superpeople- the community, the parents, the students themselves all need to take responsibility for strengthening relationships and preventing student suicides.

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