Regarding the April 6 editorial "Delay recruitment even longer": The reality is that the top-down system of behavior in Japan won't allow for the flexibility or freedom of thought on mainline policies, whether it concern [corporate recruitment of new university graduates] or society in general.
University administrations are so locked into obeying the central government administration that it would be impossible for them to act independently even if that meant deciding things more sanely as the editorial is suggesting that they do.
Career-dominated tertiary education starts from the first year in most schools, and the related offices muscle their way even into freshman orientations, sidetracking students' education from the outset and seriously compromising any will to study that might have survived college-entrance exam mind freeze.
To reverse directives handed down to them by the super-hierarchy of command composed of ministry mandarins and moguls would be impossible, no matter how essential it might be to resurrect Japan's ailing and failing higher education system.
Few or none of those who govern post-high school education could be bothered with the actual level or conditions of learning in comparison with the early drive to market students to employers.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.