The New York Times: An Aging Island Embraces Japan's Young Dropouts

There is alot to discover in a Ney York Times article about an island where children who have refused to attend school have been going.

For example:

"Japanese schools do not take punitive actions against parents of elementary and junior high school children who fail to attend classes; in fact, as long as they are enrolled, as required by law, they graduate. A result is that in 2002 more than 131,000 children nationwide, including nearly 3 percent of the junior high school population, did not go to school."

First, I did not know that schools avoid going after parents, nor did I know that 3 percent of the jr high poplulation refuses to attend school.

I've written about this before because I work with a group of children who are refusing to go to school. They are interested in English so they come along on Wednesdays and we do stuff together. They are fun, maybe a little fragile, but they are kids.

I'd like to know that, with the social pressure to conform, if 3% of the kids outright refuse to attend schools, what is happening with the other 97%. Who is satisfied and flourishing in the environment?