youtuber kids top

Because they want to “make millions” and “not have to study…” 

We’ve seen before the results of surveys polling Japanese children on what they want to be when they grow up, and sometimes they can have kind of depressing results.

But now the results are in from a new survey carried out among fourth grade boys at an elementary school in Osaka. At first glance it reveals much of the same information as other surveys… except with one new surprise. See if you can pick it out from the top four professions:

1. Soccer player
2. Doctor
3. YouTuber
4. Civil servant

Yes, that’s right! YouTuber has taken the third spot on the list.

▼ Apparently the kids have been inspired by Japanese YouTuber Hikakin and his millions of followers and views.

If it was just a few outliers who picked YouTuber, then that would be one thing, but making number three on the list? That’s pretty widespread. To find out why, the Mainichi Shinbun interviewed a teacher at the school, who said the following:

“I got a phone call that our students were putting up videos on YouTube. They filmed themselves jumping off tall places, or pulling down other kids’ pants. When I confronted the children about it, they just said: ‘We’re trying to become YouTubers.'”

When the teacher pushed further, the kids explained their motives:

“Celebrity YouTubers can make one-hundred million yen (US$880,000), so we don’t need to study. The best videos that get a lot of views are ones that surprise people, so that’s why we filmed the jumping and pantsing.”

Of course the teacher then explained to them that what they were doing was illegal, and in the case of pantsing potentially breaking child pornography laws, and they could get in trouble. There haven’t been any updates since, but we would assume that if the survey were to be carried out again at the same school, there might be slightly fewer kids wanting to be YouTubers this time around.

Here’s what Japanese netizens had to say about the whole “kids wanting to become YouTubers when they grow up” situation:

“My kid has been saying ‘I want to be a YouTuber!’ too. It’s spreading….”

“An even better way for the teacher to turn them off from the idea would be to tell them that the vast, vast majority of YouTubers make barely anything at all.”

“For me, I think ‘civil servant’ being that high on the list is far scarier.”

“It seems that dreams have become simply ‘how to make as much money as possible with as little effort as possible.'”

Agreed on that last point! Elementary school is the time to dream big, so instead of trying to be a YouTuber, those kids should aim higher. They should want to be the very best, like no one ever was… they should aspire to become Pokémon Masters!

Source: Mainichi Shibun via Hachima Kiko
Featured/top image: YouTube/HikakinTV