Opinion Educational Considerations Ii By DOUGLAS LUMMIS	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
教育的配慮 II 筆者は先月のコラムで、校長主催の入学式をボイコットした所沢高校の話題を取り上げ、生徒たちの行動を勇敢だったとほめた。これに対して、読者から筆者宛てに何通かの手紙が寄せられた—

Recently I wrote in this column (Shukan ST, May 1, 1998) about the students at Tokorozawa High School who had objected to the entrance ceremony planned by their principal and had organized an alternative ceremony free of patriotic symbols. I received four letters, three opposing what I had said.

One letter says I should go back to the United States and start a movement there against the use of the national flag and anthem in the schools. What does this suggestion mean?

First, it seems to be a way of saying, "If you don't like it here, why don't you go home?" In the more than 17 years that I have been writing for ST, this is the first time anyone has sent me such a message. This is ironic, because actually the article was written in a tone of praise, not blame. It gives one of the reasons why I do like it here: the marvelous young people. It is they, after all, who are Japan, its present and future.

Second, the writer implies that it is improper for a foreign resident to criticize the government's educational policies. But the Japanese school system is open to all children, regardless of nationality, and foreign residents pay taxes, which help finance the schools. Don't parents have not only the right but also the duty to be actively concerned with what is happening in the schools their children are attending or may attend?

This is particularly important when it comes to patriotic symbols. In a school system in which not all the pupils are Japanese nationals, is it proper to have obligatory ceremonies revering these symbols? Why should pupils whose nationality is Korean, or Chinese, or Filipino, or French (or dual, like my daughter) be forced to attend such ceremonies? And why should Japanese children who disagree with the ideology symbolized in these ceremonies be forced to attend them?

Third, the writer's statement that I should start a movement in the United States implies that I probably find no harm in the use of the flag and the anthem there. Here he is wrong. It is true that from its founding U.S. school system has been saturated with patriotism and militarism. Look at the result: a war every generation. High school students are expected not simply to make a gesture of respect to the flag, as in Japan, but to recite an oath of allegiance to it. This oath includes the phrase "one nation, under God," which implies that the United States is especially favored by God. To the extent that the recitation of this oath is enforced, it is bad education for the U.S. students and an absurdity and an insult to many foreign students — including Japanese — in the U.S. schools.

So, yes, I think it would be wonderful if some U.S. students would take a lesson from their fellow students at Tokorozawa High and begin a movement against pledging allegiance to the flag. How about beginning at a high school inside one of the U.S. military bases here?

Shukan ST: June 26, 1998

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