日本社会での多様性については、昨今大きく話題の的となっており、ジェンダーや民族など、多くの切り口がある。その中で、私は特に学校などといった、教育現場における多様性や平等性について関心がある。
勉強だけでなく、社会で生きていくためのモラルを身につけるための場でもある教育現場で、一人ひとりの発達状況が大きく異なる子どもに対して、どれほどの同質性を要求するべきなのか、同時に、どれほどの多様性が尊重されるべきなのかという疑問を持っている。
私は、小学生の頃に仲良くしていた数人のグループからある日突然、「みんなは星のマークと青色が好きなのに、あなたはハートのマークとピンク色が好きだから」という理由で一時的に仲間を外されたことがある。この時に、学校という社会で生きていくためには自分の好みや主張でも隠し、同質性に馴染まなければならないと感じた。多様性の許容されない空間というものを自分の属するコミュニティ内で初めて意識することになった。
以上の経験をきっかけに、私は、多様性とは何かについて考えるようになった。認められて然るべきだと思っていた嗜好を拒絶された時には、不平等を強く感じた。
子どもに平等に保障されている教育の権利に基づいて学校教育は行われている。多様性の尊重ばかり意識してしまうと、自由を履き違えて集団性の身につかない子どもになってしまう可能性も考えられる。逆に、同質性を身につけることに固執してしまうと、行き過ぎた校則や集団行動を要求してしまうことは避けられない。だからこそ、多様性の尊重がどれほど幅を利かせるべき理念なのか判断するのは難しい。
また、平等性について、障がいの持った子どもたちには、普通学級の子どもたちに対する支援よりも、一層充実したそれが求められる。つまり、ここにおける平等性とは誰もが等しく同じ教育を受けることではなく、一人一人に応じた個別の教育を施すことであると思う。
今の私の興味があるこのような分野では、多様性を見つめた先に平等性を求められる気がしている。日本社会という視点で多様性や平等性を考えたときにはどうなるか分からないが、この世界で生きていく以上それを学んで自分以外の他人のものの見方を知ってみようとする姿勢を持ちたいと考え、ゼミで研究したいと思った。
Additional thoughts from 1st class:
Ethnic minority and education
I found many students have interests in gender issues and each of them were worth thinking deeply about. I studied gender education for little children, so I am also interested in such issues. For example, goods for them, pink is used as the color for girls and blue is the one for boys. And other students proposed to create society like男性でも育休を取れる雰囲気, it’s essential for whole Japanese society because少子高齢化を防ぐためにも.
As for my research, since I was born in Hokkaido, I have been familiar with Ainu people. In school special classes, they told us about the traditional way they live and such music, and so on. After growing up, I realized they were a “minority” and there were some systems to help them. But my friends from other than Hokkaido, their value to Ainu is different from mine. Even though we all are Japanese, some think Ainuは教科書の中の存在だと. I think もしかするとアイヌの文化が消えてしまうかもしれない。 So, I will research effective ways to educate and tell the next generation about ethnic minorities, such as Ainu. I would like to compare with世界の少数民族 and research how to hand down the culture in the world and protect 当事者。
・How do the Japanese government plan to teach Ainu?
・What do Ainu people do to preserve their culture?
・How many ethnic minorities are there in the world?
Diversity in Japanese society has become a hot topic in recent years, and there are many ways of looking at it, including gender and ethnicity. Among these, I am particularly interested in diversity and equality in educational settings such as schools.
I question how much homogeneity should be demanded of children with very different developmental conditions, and at the same time how much diversity should be respected in educational settings, which are not only places for learning but also for acquiring the morals needed to live in society.
I was once temporarily removed from a group of a few people I was close to in primary school one day because 'everyone likes the star symbol and the colour blue, but you like the heart symbol and pink'. At this time, I felt that in order to survive in the society of school, I had to hide even my own preferences and assertions and fit in with the homogeneity. It was the first time I became aware of a space where diversity was not tolerated within the community I belonged to.
The above experiences led me to reflect on what diversity means to me. I felt a strong sense of inequality when I was rejected for preferences that I thought should be recognised.
Schooling is based on the right to education, which is guaranteed equally to children. If we are only conscious of respecting diversity, it is conceivable that we may end up with children who misinterpret freedom and fail to acquire a sense of collectivity. Conversely, if we insist on developing homogeneity, it is inevitable that we will demand excessive school rules and group behaviour. That is why it is difficult to judge how broad a philosophy respect for diversity should be.
In addition, with regard to equality, children with disabilities require even more extensive support than that for children in regular classes. In other words, equality here does not mean that everyone receives the same education equally, but that each individual should be given a personalised education.
In this kind of field, which is my current interest, I feel that equality is required beyond looking at diversity. I don't know what will happen when diversity and equality are considered from the perspective of Japanese society, but as long as I live in this world, I want to learn about it and have an attitude of trying to know other people's perspectives other than my own, and I wanted to do research in the seminar.
Additional thoughts from 1st class:
Ethnic minority and education
I found many students have interests in gender issues and each of them were worth thinking deeply about. I studied gender education for little children, so I am also interested in such issues. For example, goods for them, pink is used as the color for girls and blue is the one for boys. And other students proposed to create society like男性でも育休を取れる雰囲気, it’s essential for whole Japanese society because少子高齢化を防ぐためにも.
As for my research, since I was born in Hokkaido, I have been familiar with Ainu people. In school special classes, they told us about the traditional way they live and such music, and so on. After growing up, I realized they were a “minority” and there were some systems to help them. But my friends from other than Hokkaido, their value to Ainu is different from mine. Even though we all are Japanese, some think Ainuは教科書の中の存在だと. I think もしかするとアイヌの文化が消えてしまうかもしれない。 So, I will research effective ways to educate and tell the next generation about ethnic minorities, such as Ainu. I would like to compare with世界の少数民族 and research how to hand down the culture in the world and protect 当事者。
・How do the Japanese government plan to teach Ainu?
・What do Ainu people do to preserve their culture?
・How many ethnic minorities are there in the world?