The Right Amount of Strictness

“I know there’s a saying that goes, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’” but I saw the cover of The Institute at my local library and thought there was a dystopian taste to it, which is why I decided to read this book. It was also a Stephen King book, and I enjoyed his books a lot. I’ve read a few of his short stories, which were quite interesting.

Most of the themes in this book are childhood trauma and adults viewing children as objects instead of actual human beings and mistreating them. Those themes might, at first, seem disconnected from today's society, but we can apply it to many things. For example, recently, animals have been abused and there are a lot of animal protection organizations. There are also many cases of people not being treated the way they should be. I feel this a lot, especially when I moved to Japan. In Japan, elementary schoolers are forced to use randoseru (ランドセル: a type of school bag made of leather). This makes their bags heavier and there’s no purpose in using a randoseru. I guess they do use it to strengthen them, and for uniformity, but I think it is rather unnecessary because it’s too heavy. I, too, used a randoseru when I was in elementary school, but had to switch to a backpack because it was too heavy and useless. None of the teachers scolded me because I was a transfer student at that time, but usually, they would. And there was also this weird rule that restricted us from crossing the road, so we were forced to take a way longer path than necessary. Every morning, we would have to climb a lot of stairs, and it made our route to school way longer.

In these situations where people are mistreated, they will not be able to bring out their full potential, and may even lose their values and empathy. For example, a lot of schools in Japan and teachers discourage me from actively learning and presenting my thoughts. These kinds of restrictions limit how much I can express myself.

I believe there are many other cases in which Japanese society treats kids too strictly, and the excuse for that is to strengthen and discipline them. Although it is necessary to be strict with children at times, society should stop doing that kind of treatment when it is unnecessary and doesn't strengthen kids in any way.”

S.N.

25 June 2024