I thought about 'Are kanji necessary?' How do you explain to children 'the reason for learning kanji'?

Hello, Ten-san 😊

I am just an ordinary mother,
not a teacher or someone from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,
but since it said 'please spread this',
I couldn't help but write an article about it ☺️

Ten-san, you are in the 6th grade of elementary school.

After reading this post,
I couldn't help but think about it.

'Is writing kanji really necessary?'

To be honest,

I also thought for a moment, 'That's true.'

Even though Ten-san doesn't go to school,

you write sentences in your own words,
and you are able to share them on note.

You also make picture books and have published on Kindle.

I don't know how many kanji you can write or read now,
but at least

it doesn't seem like you are
'having trouble because you can't do it.'

And when I think about it in terms of my own life

As long as I can write my address and name,
there aren't that many situations where I'm in trouble.

I have a smartphone, and I can use conversion.
If I want to look something up, it comes up right away.

So, isn't it okay not to force it?

I felt that the feeling of thinking that way
is very natural.😊

But, when I think about it,

this just means I don't have any trouble in my current life.

Surely, in Ten-san's life too,

not being able to write sixth-grade Kanji
means you aren't having any trouble, right?

However,
the fact that a battle with your mother is happening

made me think that this might be happening
for a reason other than whether it's 'troublesome or not'.

Setting aside for a moment whether or not it causes trouble in daily life.

For example, being able to read kanji
expands the range of information you can access.

You wouldn't want to read a text
filled with characters you can't read, right?
Or maybe that's not the case?

Rather than whether or not you can write kanji,
by knowing kanji, your vocabulary increases.

Since kanji have various readings,
you might make unexpected discoveries.

And, if your vocabulary increases,

you might be able to convey your feelings and thoughts
a little more precisely.

Thinking about it that way, kanji

are things you can live without, but

they might be 'tools for expressing yourself'.

And there is one more thing I thought about.

What is the language necessary
to express yourself? That is the question. ☺️

Japanese?

English?

Or perhaps a language from a completely different country?

I thought that even if you live in Japan,
the languages people need might differ from person to person.

For example, right now,
if you want to convince your mother, it's Japanese.

If you want to master a computer,
or do programming,

maybe English or code (programming languages)?

If you want to interact with people overseas, it's English or other languages.

If you want to deeply appreciate Japanese culture and stories, it's Japanese.

We don't use kanji in conversation, and
we live in an era where even other languages are translated by AI.

Thinking about it that way,
it's not that 'learning kanji' comes first,

but rather what kind of world you want to see.
And what kind of language you need for that.

If you need Japanese,
you might become interested in kanji too ☺️

I'm sorry I couldn't reach a conclusion.

But you know,
the question Ten-san is feeling,

'What is the point of this?'

This is not something to be denied,
and I think it is a very important feeling.

Perhaps the problem
is not 'kanji' itself,
but how kanji are learned.

If it just becomes a task of writing to memorize,
it's natural not to feel the meaning, and

without feeling the need to use them,
it is indeed difficult to continue doing something you have no interest in.

I can't offer any solutions, but

I don't think you 'don't have to do it,'
nor do I think you 'absolutely must do it.'

If there are any teachers out there,
please read Ten-san's article.

The reason why kanji transcription is necessary,
please, tell Ten-san.

Writing out meaningless kanji.
I also want to know the theory that would convince Ten-san!!

At the very least, until about age 6,
children learn language naturally
without being told to "learn kanji."

So, what happens after that?

At school, children learn words along with kanji.

Is that because learning kanji
leads to learning language?

If you didn't learn kanji,
would you be unable to learn language?

How should I explain that reason
to a child?

I found myself thinking about things like that ☺️

[Update]
Thinking about "kanji",
fumimama has also written an article in response to this question!!
Please take a look at it as well ✨✨