Yeah, there is a pretty heavy stress on the club activities in jhs as well as shs. It takes a huge toll on the students and teachers too. Having clubs and things like that is great, but they tend to go to the extreme with it.
The online portions of the courses pose a whole different set of issues. I get that they don't want students putting out personal information and they don't want teachers requiring assignments to put out that information. But they have juxtaposed any online exposure with bad online exposure. The ridiculous part is that there are plenty of things that can be done without posting to the public internet. Even just in-class activities using technology are viewed with suspicion in many circles (even at the higher ed levels). It is changing, but glacially.
RE: Recap of the educational conference in Kyoto this week