Educational reform in Japan,
or how to 'kill' children — a report

By SPENCER FANCUTT

SECTION I.a.(i) An overview

Until recently the task of the destruction of children has fallen primarily to leaders of nations or armies whom for reasons of priority, logistics or resources have chosen child sacrifice, war or systematic genocide as their preferred methods of facilitation. Although frequently efficiently executed, and in quantitative terms highly impressive, these measures have been proven to be at best only temporarily effective. Studies have shown population figures to respond quickly; in some cases within two generations of implementation.

Coupled with the increasing sensitivity of most world leaders to moral and ethical violations, human rights abuses, etc., it has become necessary to formulate alternative strategies to achieve this aim.

As demographic data has become available, much attention has been given to famine as a relatively acceptable means of producing consistently high mortality rates (especially in the 0-5 age group). However, these figures are deceptive. Children demonstrate remarkable desire and ability to survive even under the most deprived conditions, and will grow like weeds between the railway tracks of progress.

These mortality rates are accompanied by astonishingly high birth rates which negate encouraging death totals tenfold. Humanitarian aid has also been slow to address birth rates, resulting in growth rates which increase famine but run contrary to the objectives of this project.

SECTION I.a.(ii) A Proposal

In the light of past failings to eradicate the young, it is the intention of this report to forward guidelines which may enable many chief characteristics of children to be destroyed without raising the serious objections which have come to plague physical extermination. Definitive childhood elements such as imagination, creativity and curiosity can be tackled using the following programme.

SECTION I.b.(i) Focus

The promotion of a single or limited range of interests for the child is essential for the maximum extension of supervisory influence. This focus should become the centre of the child's life to the exclusion of other pursuits and one which can be manipulated at the will of appropriate authorities. To anticipate any opposition from liberal intellectuals, it is suggested that this focus should be education.  

Critics will immediately suggest that education has the capacity to broaden interests and nurture enquiry. This can be avoided however, with the assistance of educators.

Educators should stress the importance of factual information, dates, formulae, etc. through continual testing of data and devalue personal interest, logical thinking processes, creativity, etc. With the cooperation of educational  facilities, children can be contained from an early age until they have reached safe levels of maturity. Ranking of institutions (elementary to tertiary) should also establish a high level of competition among children, and anxiety to 'succeed', further marginalising any importance of the subject matter being used.

Detractors of this proposal will no doubt wonder about the effectiveness of an educational system limited by statute to less than 200 of the available 365 (366) days a year and a paltry six to eight hours a day in exerting any comprehensive control. This complication can be overcome with the operation of privately owned institutions of education or Djuec (from the Gaelic, 'to drill').  

SECTION I.b.(ii) Operation of the Djuec

In contrast to the state educational system, Djuecs will have no limitations on service hours and can contain children during school vacations, weekends and holidays to extents that discredited proponents of child slave labour would find enviable. The commercial nature of these ventures will of course give rise to incentives such as cash prizes/scholarships, loyalty discounts, luxury facilities, courses of higher intensity, etc., as Djuecs vie for clients. They will have the power to detain children from other interests and social interaction. As the focus of the Djuec will be children's success in entrance examinations of further education from concentrated instruction, undesirable application of the knowledge acquired will again be limited. 

SECTION I.b.(iii) Games and leisure time

It is perhaps inevitable that even with the efforts of schools and Djuecs, children will attempt to secure periods of 'free time' in which creativity, imagination and exercise of social skills can play a part. This danger must of course be addressed. With the joint cooperation of game manufacturers and city planners, it is felt that this tendency can be arrested and redirected to support child eradication. 

Firstly, a system of games, tightly monitored, must be created using the residue of imagination possessed by previous children. It is suggested that this system contain addictive elements which give the child temporary sensations of achievement, purpose, and happiness but with the incomplete satisfaction necessary to any addiction. 

It should also provide this entertainment devoid of real life application, but diverse enough to in no way require the child to supplement the game with personal invention. If possible, the number of players should be limited to one, with the approved, manufactured game replacing the role of other children with which interaction could otherwise take place. 

The game should of course be limited to the home, where distractions are fewer and chances of social 'playing' are minimal. 

Secondly, outdoor activity can be eradicated relatively simply by city planners. New housing areas (buildings of many floors are preferable) should be built in close proximity to other housing, roads, businesses and industries to eliminate the possibility of outdoor leisure. Spare land should be utilized wherever necessary as intensive agricultural acreage, or if soils are poor should be rendered inaccessible as expensive outdoor game sites/courses for adults. Former public children's play areas can be sold to private enterprises willing to turn the sites to profit in some manner. 

SECTION I.c. Conclusion

In brief, the application of this programme, if comprehensive and given the dedication of a stable governing force, should not only seal the fate of one generation of children, but as indicated in SECTION II become a self-perpetuating legacy. The beauty of this programme lies in the destruction of the child within, with all its repugnant characteristics, without the death of the body. As these young humans become parents, their own experiences will ensure a dedication to the programme, in the absence of alternatives destroyed in youth.

©Spencer Fancutt 1996   All rights reserved