In many grade schools these days, anarchy rules. Groups of children walk out abruptly in the middle of class. Some don't even bother to enter the classroom and instead hang around in the corridor. Others continue to talk after lessons begin. Often the chatter is so loud teachers cannot make themselves heard.
Many students read comics or play cards, turning toward the blackboard only when summoned by name.
Entire classes boycott lessons. Some children verbally abuse their teachers. A few beat them up. The media have focused on gakkyu hokai before. But the issue formally appeared on the national agenda only this year, when speaker after speaker at a conference of the Japan Teachers' Union asked what had happened to the nation's previously attentive, courteous and disciplined schoolchildren.