Prologue

Classroom of the Elite

The structure of Japanese society

It’s a bit sudden, but listen seriously to the question I’m about to ask and think about the answer carefully.

Question: Are people equal or not?

These days, all society loves to talk about is equality. People are calling for men and women to be treated equally, and shouting for society to get rid of inequality. They call for high employment rates for women, personal-use cars for everyone, and they go as far as to find fault with the order of the register of names. People even advocate equality for people with disabilities, and now the public is encouraged to stop using the term “disabled people.” Children are being taught that everyone is equal.

Is that really true?, I wondered.

Men and women have different roles if they have different abilities. People with disabilities are still disabled, no matter what term they call disabled people. None of this has meaning if no one pays attention to it.

In other words, the answer is no.

People are unequal beings; there are no truly “equal” people.

A great man once said that God did not make anyone above or below each other. But that doesn’t mean that everyone is equal. Does you know that the passage doesn’t end there? The rest is like this. Everyone is equal at birth, but then I asked, why are there differences in people’s jobs and statuses?

That was written in the second half of the passage. Is it a difference because one struggled with academics or because one didn’t try hard enough?

A difference is created there. That’s the famous “scholarship studies.” These teachings haven’t changed at all, even in modern day 2015. However, the situation is more complex and is becoming more serious.

Anyhow, people are beings that are capable of thinking. I don’t think it’s correct to say that people should live on only using instincts because things aren’t fair.

In other words, the word equality is full of lies and falsehoods, but inequality is also unacceptable. I was trying to find a new answer to the eternal problem facing human beings.

Hey you, the one who’s holding this book and reading it.

Have you ever thought about the future? Have you ever imagined what it means to go to high school, to go to college? Have you never felt that it was vague that one day, you would somehow find employment and get a job?

I felt that way.

When I finished compulsory education and entered high school, I didn’t notice anything. I only felt joy in being released of my “duty”. I didn’t notice that, at that moment, my life and my future was being impacted progressively.

I didn’t even understand what it meant to be studying Japanese and mathematics at school.