By Keiichi Inai

On September 21, the Tokyo district court ruled that the compulsory raising of the national flag and the singing of the national anthem by the Tokyo Board of Education was against article 19 of the Constitution and article 10 of the Fundamental Law of Education. When the national flag and national anthem law came in to effect in 1999, the government said it was not compulsory to show the national flag or to sing the national anthem. In reality, however, hoisting the national flag and singing the national anthem are compulsory, and the teachers who did not sing the national anthem "Kimigayo" or stand up for the national flag at entrance ceremonies or graduation ceremonies received disciplinary measures.

In handing down the ruling, presiding judge Namba said that teachers have no obligation to sing "Kimigayo" or to stand up for the national flag, and that to force anyone to do these things would violate their freedom of thought and conscience. The judgement shows that many Japanese don't accept the national flag or the national anthem because they were once used for indoctrination by the military before and during WW��.

It is forbidden to teach students one-sided religious theory and ideas in public schools. Likewise, this judgement clearly recognizes that the enforcement of the national flag and anthem is unlawful to the Fundamental Law of Education. Moreover, even if the government does not force teachers to stand for the flag and sing the anthem, Japanese people have been doing these things regularly in their daily lives. For example, it is customary to raise the national flag and to sing the anthem in international sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games. When Japan won the World Baseball Classic tournament in March, men and women of all ages in Japan sang the anthem with the players. From this, the pride and dignity of patriotism ought to be engraved in the minds of Japanese. It is not necessary to force it at school ceremonies.

However, the Tokyo Board of Education called the ruling "extremely regrettable" and appealed the case to a higher court on September 29. However, there are probably many people who cannot understand the intention of the board of education. The government should listen to various opinions.

Another problem concerning education that is being discussed in the Diet now is the decline in students' academic abilities. The Abe Cabinet has begun working on educational reform and has set up an education reform panel that aims at supporting the acquisition of solid academic abilities and in developing capable teachers. They are discussing a system to update teachers' license requirements with the aim to fire teachers who lack the skills necessary to teach, and they want to introduce an educational voucher system where students can freely choose which public elementary school and junior high school they want to enter. It is thought that poor teaching ability is the underlying cause in the decline of students' academic abilities. Therefore, the cabinet thinks that the quality of the entire education system and of teachers' awareness concerning classes must be improved when the plans are carried out. However, is the dismissal of teachers who are regarded as unqualified really the right thing to do?

Although some students have behavior problems in class, their guardians often say that their child never does such bad things and puts all of the responsibility on teachers. Because of the one-sided shifting of responsibility, some teachers are driven into a corner and run away. Because of things like this, their abilities will not improve. The next generation can't grow up with such halfway educational reforms as only weeding out incompetent teachers.

This problem includes not only the quality of teachers, but also the entire social environment surrounding students. The methods of the board of education are being questioned because of recent suicides in junior high schools. They seem to conceal the real number of suicides by bulling because they want to improve school evaluations. The education system is a reflection of society and a bad society creates bad students and bad teachers. It is important to have a broader perspective to make education and schools better.