[otakucode @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Japan had such a cultural advantage in terms of education and ability of its citizenry for quite awhile, why do they insist on killing it? The reason they had such capable citizens, such respectful and helpful people, etc is because they respected their children to be able to take care of themselves. If they decide to babify their kids like we do in the west, they will reap the inevitable crop of inept adults and criminal adolescents that we have.

Remember, adolescents were INVENTED by technology. Prior to technological societies, there were children and there were adults. You sexually mature at 12? Guess what, you're married at 12. And you get a job at 12. And you are an adult. No R rated movies keeping you out, no drinking laws making sure you don't get your short ass drunk. You're just a bit smaller and a bit more inexperiened than the average adult. Nowadays, you're sexually mature at 12? Too bad. Nobody wants to believe you are anything but a slightly taller infant until you are 21. At that time, you are expected to sprout, fully formed, from the head of Society an able-bodied adult. It doesn't work like that. You have to raise children to BE adults if you want them to be capable of taking care of themselves.

And teaching them to kick back and relax because someone will always be watching out for them is not the way to instill any sort of self reliance in anyone.