毎週かえつ生の最近の出来事や気づきを文章にて紹介しています。
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安定とリスクのバランス
文部科学省が20日、全国の教育委員会や都道府県に『学校と保護者の連絡手段を「紙」から「デジタル」にし、ハンコは省略する』との通知を出した。今までは学校で手紙が配布され、子どもが一度ハンコを押してもらうためだけに持ち帰り、また学校に持参するという手間が生じた。しかし、これからはURLやQRコードを積極的に活用していくようだ。デジタル化することによって、正確性、そして効率も格段に上がる。変化には批判がつきものである。この「脱ハンコ」もその例外ではなく、総会では「印章は本人確認や意志の担保のため依然として極めて有効な手段だ」として、拙速な脱はんこに反対する文書が以前公表されていた。こういった意見によって制度を変えることを吟味することはとても大切だが、コロナへの対応も然り、多くの事柄の決断を下すのに少し時間がかかりすぎているようにも感じる。私はこの文章で変化の必要性、そして安定とリスクのバランスについて考察していく。
判断を瞬時に下せないのは、日本の安定を第一とする保守性にあると思う。日本は保守的であるという意見はよく耳にするが、そもそもその変化を嫌う保守的な思考はどこで生まれたのだろうか。海外経験を通して、私は日本が競争社会であることを実感した。特にこの競争社会が顕著に表れていることを体感したのが教育だ。幼少の頃から親に言われて塾に通っている子達を見て、安定した将来を子どもに送ってほしいと望む親心を感じた。幼少期から塾に行くことは全く悪いことではないし、むしろ素晴らしいことではあるが、幼少期にしかできない体験もあると私は思う。幼少期から目的もよくわからないまま勉強をすることを強いられたり、将来のためにも大学に受かるべきだと煽る環境では、変化ではなく安定した職を自然と望むようになるのも仕方のないことなのかもしれない。学歴が必要とされる社会で、大学はあくまで手段であるということを理解していたとしても、多くの人がプレッシャーに感じるのは当然のことのようにも思える。
私は変化をすべて肯定しているのではなく、実際に時代に合っているのかを再検討する柔軟性が必要だと考えている。日本財団が17歳から19歳の若者に行った国の将来像に対する調べにおいて、日本はこれから「良くなる」と答えた人数は、アンケートが行われた9か国中最下位だった。また、自ら「国や社会を変えようとは思わない」という回答が多くみられた。変化というものにはリスクも伴うが、変化なくして成長はないのではないのだろうか。現存する制度を再考することであったり、変化を起こすことに対してより柔軟にならない限り、保守的な考えは変わらないと言える。時には一貫して物事をやり抜くことも大切だが、日本にはリスクを背負ってでも挑戦する心が少し足りないのではないかと思う。今回の「脱ハンコ」に関してもそうだが、変化によってより効率的かつ生産性のある環境へと変わることはたくさん存在する。保守的に物事をやり遂げること、そして変化を求めることのバランスを図ることこそが、常に変化する社会で必要とされる。このバランスを保つために、今の日本にはより挑戦を仕掛ける人材、そしてそういった人材をサポートする環境こそが必要なのではないだろうか。
参考文献
10/21 朝刊 朝日新聞 「学校連絡 デジタル化」
日本の若者、国や社会への意識低く保守的 https://crypto.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1221790.html
日本古来の悪しき風習！教育と法律の問題点。https://note.com/monelite/n/n62dc4135ba14
脱はんこ「反対」へ共闘 自民印章議連と山梨知事 https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2020100800761&g=pol
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A journey to understanding
The Idea Canvas is a project to promote the ideas of high schoolers, engage in discussion with other students, exchange ideas and expand worldviews. We will be writing weekly articles in English and Japanese. We welcome feedback and constructive criticism, and we would also love to post articles written by you, our audience, in response to our articles, about things happening in the world, and more.
I say this as my opinion, as unfounded in actual knowledge as it may be. For the record, I don’t know anyone transgender. I’m not transgender. I don’t think I’ve ever even talked to someone transgender. So honestly, my opinion is next to worthless. And if someone who actually is trans, or knows someone who is, or studies it, has something to tell me, wants to correct me, I’m all ears. I don’t want to insult anyone, hurt anyone, anything like that. And if I do, even involuntarily, I’m sorry. And I in no way want to endorse or in any way encourage any sort of discrimination or persecution toward transgender individuals, and I condemn anyone who takes part in such activity. But with that said, here is my opinion.
A guy should be able to do just about everything a girl can do. If a guy wants to dress up in dresses, and wear pink, and play with dolls, any of those obviously stereotypical ‘feminine’ things, he should be able to do that. A girl, in the same way, should be able to do just about everything a guy can do. If a girl wants to dress in blue, play football, play with trucks, any of these again, obviously stereotypically ‘masculine’ things, she should be able to do that. I know saying this is easy, and I know that there are so many ways in which inequality between the genders exists, inequalities that go both ways. I also realize, as I’m typing this, that it’s honestly weird for me even… not even weird, it’s discriminatory of me to be writing this, trying… well basically to give reasons against the existence of transgender people. I know that’s wrong, that I honestly shouldn’t give a damn and just let people live their lives. But it’s a big issue, that’s impacting all sorts of people. Especially in the aforementioned sports.
The question that I ask is based on a utopia, where there is as close to perfect equality between men and women as possible. Would there then be a need… not a need. I’m unsure how to put this, but would there be any transgender people in such a society? When the only differences are those that are there from birth, the biological differences that exist between a man and a woman? Why are people transgender. Is it because they feel uncomfortable in their own bodies? I’m sure there are many people uncomfortable in their bodies, short, tall, fat, slim, facial shape, bone structure, so much more. And yes, things like plastic surgery are almost mainstream now, where you don’t have to accept the body that you have from birth, where you can change the way you look. (I don’t mean to single out people who have facial or other reconstructive surgeries due to injury or other uncontrollable/medical reasons, I’m thinking more of purely cosmetic surgery) But is that and sex-change surgery the same? And it almost seems to me that this kind of surgery or procedure is limited to those rich enough to afford it. Recently, there has been backlash over people pretending to be of different race than when they were born. But…. tell me then, why is that so different from being transgender? And if we accept transgendered people, can we not accept trans-racial people? After all, biracial people, who struggle with their identity already exist, all over the world. Where do we draw the line? I know there is a fallacy in this way of thinking, to claim that there’s a huge slippery slope, and that someday people will claim to identify as, well, Apache Attack Helicopters. I don’t think that that will happen.
However, I do think there are some conflicts emerging between the argument for gender quality, and the acceptance of transgender individuals. I also think there are some very real effects, most notably in sports, that transgender individuals are causing. For example, how do you feel about male to female transgender athletes participating in women’s sports? Below are some articles for further reading; but be warned, they do have a bias, and they are a collection that I assembled. To get your own opinion, research the issue for yourself.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-glorious-victories-of-trans-athletes-are-shaking-up-sports/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/sports/transgender-athletes-womens-sports-idaho.html
I went and did some research. Transgender, has the word gender in it. Gender isn’t about the biology, it’s about ‘social constructs, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for boys and men or girls and women. These influence the ways that people act, interact, and feel about themselves.’
That’s from the American Psychological Association. And if someone feels like they don’t want to be forced into a role that their gender dictates, I completely agree with that. Absolutely. I have no disagreement with that. However, I do wonder about sex-change operations. I guess, now, thinking about it, that it’s a horrible thing to be forced into. That society is so segregated, so divided and cubby holed, that someone had to cut themselves down from a square and sand themselves into a circle, just to fit into the hole that society provides. There is a certain amount of crossover, inevitable, unavoidable crossover from sex, the ‘biological status as either male or female, and is associated primarily with physical attributes such as chromosomes, hormone prevalence, and external and internal anatomy.’ (Again, from the American Psychological Association), and gender (refer to earlier definition).
But I wonder, again, not being transgender myself, so not fully understanding, but is an operation, a full physical change the best way to solve these problems? It seems that in a way that kind of procedure exacerbates the problem, making people think that if they don’t fit in with gender norms, that they have to change their entire physical appearance and structure. That if a person born a man wanted to act in a ‘female’ manner, they have to surgically alter their body. That if a person born a woman wanted to act in a ‘male’ manner, they have to surgically alter their body. That doesn’t sound right to me. No one should have to go through all of that just to fit in, and that shouldn’t be the accepted way to solve this. We should be fighting to reduce the inequality involved with gender.
In a perfect world, I would hope that the word ‘transgender’ wouldn’t have to exist. Because in that perfect world, all but the necessary, completely unchangeable biological things would separate men and women. Everything else, pay, roles, toys, sports, would be equal. I know that our world isn’t anything like that. It might never be like that. But I think that we should be working to make strides in that direction.
That was my opinion. Jumbled up, messy, completely cluttered, and incomplete. Lacking so much information. But that’s it. So, if you have anything to say, any opinion you would like to share with me, if you want to yell at me and tell me why I’m such an idiot, why I’m so damn wrong, by all means. I welcome it. I want to start a civilized discussion, discourse about this topic. If you disagree with me, that’s perfectly fine, and I’d love to have a conversation with anyone who disagrees with me. Thank you.
https://transequality.org/issues/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-transgender-people
https://www.glaad.org/transgender/transfaq
https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender
https://isna.org/faq/transgender/
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また、在校生で文章を書いていただく場合はTwitterまたはthei
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