I recently read an interesting article about a Monster Parent phenomenon in Japan. Interesting, but not particularly well-written, actually.
It starts off talking about how one Japanese school recently performed "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," but out of parental concern over the unfairness of just letting one girl play Snow White, there were 25 Snow Whites, and no other characters in the show. What the hell? In a few short paragraphs, the article meanders to parents bullying teachers into signing resignation letters, and I'm not entirely clear how it did that. Hence, the "not well-written" analysis.
But I still found the article kind of interesing on at least two fronts. First, I have some friends who are school teachers, and it got me thinking about the "could this happen in America?" Well, the answer is of course it could -- we've heard of things along the lines of the "25 Snow Whites" self-esteem arguments on occasion before. I really have no idea how widespread this situation is in Japan, though, so I'm sort of lacking a basis of comparison.
Which leads me to the second point in which this interests me: one of my friends is living in Japan right now, teaching. I don't know if he's had any run-ins with a Monster Parent, but it got me thinking.
Anyway, I want to try to be a supporter of letting a parent raise his/her child the way he/she wants to, but 25 Snow Whites? Frakkin' stupid.
3 comments:
Just because you want to raise your child a certain way does not mean that society at large or anyone else has to accomodate you when you come outside to play in the big bad world.
Very true, Ronald. There is an added problem, Japan only promises a Junior High Education. The kids must compete for High School. This means that there is enormous pressure on the kids in 9th grade to perform... and if they don't... it MUST be the teachers' fault.
Well, it's good to see that they've learned how to take credit for their own successes and blame others for their failures...they'll fit in high school and the corporate world juuuuuuuust fine. ;-)
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