A recent online survey of 1,749 Japanese elementary and junior high school students revealed that 79.1% find their school rules bizarre. These rules include bans on scented stationery, mechanical pencils, and certain hair colors, as well as specific requirements for socks, underwear, and gym clothes.
by SkyInJapan
9 comments
underwear shit really shows how weird japanese are in terms of change. like dafk is the justification for it? nobody came out and said “why we need that rule let’s get rid of it”?
My kids go to a Japanese elementary school, and the only rule they have out of the ones mentioned here is no mechanical pencils. Their school is pretty relaxed about most things 🤷🏼♀️
a school near me that a friend’s daughter goes to bans rounded pencils, out of fear they might roll off desks. all children must have hexagonal pencils.
The article links to the original article in Japanese which has access to the survey results if you are interested in more detail.
The not being allowed to wear underwear for PE is head scratching, I would not be ok with that as a parent.
Let’s not forget, that as bizarre as it may seem, these rules made sense back when the modern public educational system was being created.
Not to make this post too long, I’ll cover the one, I am guessing, may be most bizarre to most: the underwear rule.
First of all, picture a poverty stricken country that is slowly recovering from a devastating war and the scars it left in the country. Plus, due to the involvement of the country with less than savory foreign regime, the whole country is deeply divided ideologically and, somewhat, economically.
To repair this divide and, hopefully, create a united front to develop the country while minimizing the existence of polarizing elements, one of the methods chosen was education, as it has been proven quite effective previously (my poor grandparents, to the last day of their lives, couldn’t read Korean past elementary level, Japan was very throughout and effective in controlling a society through education)
Anyhow, with this in mind…
When there are gym classes, students are to change in the classroom from their uniform (be it standardized one or just approved regular clothing) to their PE outfits.
During these moments, everybody would be able to see what undies each one of them is wearing.
Kids can be very honest (to the point of cruelty) and blunt, if one were to have something different, they may be shunned.
Once again, the goal of the educational system was not only to foster new talent, it was too create unity and camaraderie between the up and coming young generation.
To avoid such scenario, there were rules created to address that possibility.
In conclusion, if you keep in mind the goal of the post war Japanese government, all these “weird” and/or ridiculous rules make sense.
Were they effective?
No idea. That would be up to everybody to decide on their own.
My local community pool has a rule where you’re not allowed to put on sunscreen within the fence of the pool, because I’m told it will clog the filters??? I’m willing to bet there are some doozies of school rules that just make absolutely no sense
omg, is this even real??
Our child’s elementary school doesn’t allow colorful pencil or eraser designs. No mechanical pencils either. Children could get distracted 😂
I’m sure THAT’S the issue with concentration in the classroom.