ABSTRACT
What happens when learning becomes monotonous training; when studying becomes mere preparation; when classroom participation becomes submitting to ritualized inspection; when test-taking becomes catechism; when important examinations become trivialized into quiz-taking; when academics becomes credentialism? Knowledge is shattered into a vast number of unrelated bits and pieces of information useful only far filling in exam sheets, filling out forms, and proving to the authorities that one has persevered through the ordeal of ingesting large amounts of data. For not a few students in Japan's less than excellent schools, the educational experience becomes not only baring, but distressing, disturbing, and harassing.
