Posts published in “Current Issues”

By Mai Takeshita

In Japan, many schools require students to wear school uniforms. However, there are both positive and negative opinions about wearing school uniforms. These opinions are different from region, adults, and students. In my opinion, I agree with the opinion, “Students should be required to wear uniforms in school.” The following are three reasons why I think so.
        Firstly, school uniforms can give students fairness. In school, each student has a different background in their home. Some students’ homes have money enough to buy a lot of clothes for private use. On the other hand, some other students’ homes don’t have enough money to buy variety of clothes. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, one-seventh of Japanese children are facing poverty. The rate of poverty in Japan is one of the worst countries in OECD signatories. If students are required to wear regular clothes in their school, there will be a difference, and some students might feel uncomfortable with the difference. But wearing school uniforms will enable the difference to be smaller. Basically, school uniforms are not expensive, and they are designed simply. According to a statistic by the Japanese government in 2021, the average cost of a female school uniform was about thirty thousand yen. It seems to be expensive, but these uniforms can be worn every year. On the other hand, if students wear regular clothes to schools, they will need many clothes. University students wear regular clothes, and the average of their clothes is said from ten to thirty thousand yen every season. What is more, many students buy their new clothes every year. Comparing these total costs, school uniforms are much cheaper. In terms of fairness, a school uniform is better because students won’t feel uncomfortable with the difference of the appearances by the quality of clothes.
        Secondly, school uniforms make students have group consciousness. Wearing uniforms enables the students have group consciousness, and encourages them not to have bad behaviors in society. Additionally, people can recognize which school the student belongs to. As my experience, when I was in first grade in senior high school, one of my friends was going to ignore a red light and cross a pedestrian crossing. But I stopped him from doing that, saying “You are wearing the uniform.” If people saw what my friend were to do, and called our school, he/she would say students of our school were going to ignore the red light. Teachers would not feel comfortable with the call. Wearing uniforms makes people to be aware of their group, and act as a member of the group. Additionally, wearing uniforms will make people to have group psychology. My-Navi, a job finding support site, explains group psychology has anonymity, emotion, and illusion that the people have big power. If a student wearing uniform behave badly, the information will spread as the information of entire school the student belongs to.
        Thirdly, school uniforms can be worn by only students. According to Gaccom (a site provides information about elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Japan, also provides community that guardians can interact with), only 20 percent of elementary schools adopt school uniforms. However, 97 percent of junior high schools require their students to wear uniforms. Also, many senior high schools adopt school uniforms. Many of students wear school uniforms for six years. If they enter universities or start working, they no longer need to wear school uniforms. University students basically wear regular clothes, and workers wear work clothes. Yasuda Women’s University, Keio University, Waseda University, etc., many universities have their uniforms, but they don’t require students to wear the uniforms in usual class days. In some work places, employees need to wear work clothes or suits to indicate cleanliness and grooming. In some other work places, employees are not required to wear work clothes or suits. It depends on the policy of the company and working style. Thus, after graduating from high schools, people no longer have opportunity to wear school uniforms. School uniform is one of the privileges for students.
        The reasons above are only a small sample of the good points of wearing school uniforms. First, I explained about fairness that school uniforms have. School uniforms don’t cost so much as regular clothes. Second, I explained about group consciousness that school uniforms have. School uniforms can make students to consider what action they should do or should not do as the students of school. Third, I explained the specialness of wearing school uniforms while students. People no longer wear school uniforms after graduating from high school in Japan. It is only 12 years that people can wear them. For these reasons, I agree with the opinion “Students should be required to wear uniforms in school.”

By Taiki Kimura

Some people say that student should not wear their school uniform, but this idea is false. Student should wear uniforms. According to an old uniform company in Japan, the men’s uniform was introduced into the Gakushuin in Japan in 1879, and the women’s uniform later in 1885. Therefore, the uniform has a history of more than 100 years. Uniforms originally symbolized clothing for the rich and poor, and many people learning the same things in the same place. So, uniform has long history, is cost-effective, and encourages good behavior. Hence, student should wear uniforms. 
        First, the uniform has a long history. As per the previous paragraph, the uniform in Japan was first     worn in 1879, and it has been about 130 years since the first uniform was worn in Japan. Over the past 130 years, the design of uniforms has changed dramatically, and different schools now have different designs. For example, different schools have different button designs and shades, and some schools wear ties while others do not. According the NHK news, in recent years, an increasing number of schools have taken genderless uniforms into consideration, and some have adopted uniforms that can be worn by both men and women. Therefore, the uniform has changed with the time and it is important for Japanese traditional culture. 
        Second, the uniform is very useful for saving money. By simply buying uniforms, students and student’s parents will not have to buy a lot of clothes to wear to school. According to a survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the average total cost of one year of elementary school study is approximately 321,000 yen for public schools and 1.6 million yen for private schools, with private schools costing approximately five times more than public schools.  Therefore, school is expensive, but buying uniforms saves money because it eliminates the need to buy clothes to wear to school. Also, since they do not buy large quantities of clothes, they do not have to throw them away, which is good for the environment. The above factors indicate that use of uniforms saves money and has a positive impact on the environment.
        Third, Uniforms can give students a variety of attitudes. For example, a sense of belonging to the school and therefore not being able to misbehave. If students do something wrong while wearing the uniform, it’s bad for the school, and vice versa. According to a survey of students, they said that wearing a uniform helps them to establish a line between their public and private lives. So, students are affected in many positive ways by the uniform.
        All of this shows that it is better to wear uniforms. If we stop wearing uniforms, we will lose the long culture we have in Japan, it will cost more money than necessary, and students will have bad behavior. We need to carry on our culture and wear uniforms for our own sake. Uniforms have many advantages, which is why it is better to wear uniforms. 

By Hazuki Kajiume

A topic that has been frequently debuted in recent years is whether students should go to school in uniforms of in private clothes. My position on this matter is that students should be required to wear uniforms in school. According to Kojien, a Japanese dictionary, uniforms are clothes that are designated to be worn by people belonging to a certain group. The advantages of wearing a uniform are economical, practical, and social.

First, uniforms are economical. According to the Kanko school uniforms company’s survey, some people say that uniforms are economical because people can reduce the amount of spending money for private clothes. The answer that school uniforms were economical was mainly from the parents of the students. If the school doesn’t have a uniform, students must wear private clothes to school every day. In that case, students will have to buy a lot of private clothes. By going to school in uniform, people can save money on clothes. Also, this is not good in terms of the environment either. In evidence of that the Ministry of the Environment says that buying less clothes will reduce the burden on the environment. A healthy environment is important to the economy on a large scale, while saving money is good for personal economy.

 Second, students don’t have to care about school clothes by wearing a uniform. This is the most popular answer given by people in the same company’s survey above as an advantage of wearing school uniforms. Surprisingly, about 80 percent of respondents answered so in the survey. Some of the respondents said it was useless to spend time choosing clothes. Wearing school uniforms saves students time thinking about what to wear to school. In addition, uniforms are equal because clothing is not different from person to person. It is true that some people say that equality makes it difficult to show individuality in the questionnaire, but students should show their personality outside of their appearance, such as study, exercise, and social life. Requiring uniforms reduces mental pressure on young students with many other things to manage.

Finally, students can increase a sense of belonging. According to the dictionary, uniforms have the function of expressing the character of a certain group or group, and the purpose is to raise a sense of solidarity within the group and to specify occupations, classes, and roles externally. This is exactly the advantage of school. Uniforms vary from school to school, so people can know which school a student is from by looking at the students in uniform. This helps to identify which students attend which school. In addition, uniforms give a sense of unity. If students have a sense of belonging, a sense of unity is created in school. And if a sense of unity is created in school, students can spend a fulfilling school life. 

As explained above, there are many benefits to students wearing uniforms in school, such as families can save money on clothing while saving the environment, students can save time on outfit planning, students can feel a sense of belonging at school and in society. Although not everyone prefers uniforms, they are important, useful, and encourage social harmony. Therefore, students should be required to wear uniforms in school.