2019 Hiroshima University / Japanese / Question 1 / Answer and Explanation

[2019 Hiroshima University / Japanese / Question 1 / Answer and Explanation]

<Understanding the Text>
The source is "The Essence of Conservatism" by Susumu Nishibe.
Paragraph 1: When discussions turn to social confusion, regional decline, or the collapse of the family, people almost always say, "Education is to blame." The author has always resisted this practice of dumping responsibility onto schools. The author himself has remained an escapist regarding school. However, just because he had little connection to school, he "cannot help but think it is misguided to hold schools responsible (for the collapse of morality)" (underlined part (1)).
Paragraph 2: "Gaku" (learning) means "a fledgling bird imitating its parent to learn how to flap its wings," and "ko" (school) means "to impose a yoke." Of course, in English, "school" comes from "schole" (leisure), referring to thinking and discussing various things, but that is a stage when education has reached a high level; until then, education must be based on compulsion.
Paragraph 3: [Actually,] strictly speaking, while "kyo" (teaching) means "to whip in order to teach morality," "iku" (nurturing) means "a child being born from a woman's womb." In other words, education inherently contains a contradiction, and it is inevitably accompanied by opposing tasks: whether to impose compulsion on the child or to assist the child's spontaneity. Considering this, while escapists are troublesome, there is also "a problem" (underlined part (2)) with continuing to follow a teacher's instructions. Even more problematic is the social trend of making a fuss that the decline in Japanese students' deviation scores is the responsibility of school education. First, it is logical to start from the premise that "schools are merely within society." And when one considers that this social trend is driven by irresistible social dynamics, one must conclude that the achievements of school education are limited.
Paragraph 4: [However,] having a 16-year moratorium from age 7 to 22 is extremely important in the course of life. There, children are given the freedom not only to vaguely know what their qualities and abilities are, but also to make efforts to improve them, even if only slightly.
Paragraph 5: [But] the most decisive factor in that effort, since humans must carry a nationality, is considered to be the study of the national language in elementary education, the study of national history in secondary education, and the study of moral history ("genealogy of morality" (underlined part (3))) in the first half of higher education. --For the record, "moral" originates from "mores" (customs), which are shared practices among people--.
Paragraph 6: What needs to be explained here is the genealogy of morality. Having a perspective on what kind of religion, philosophy, and politics humanity and one's own nation have developed regarding morality is the essence of the genealogy of morality. Through these, young Japanese people will seek the source of their vitality as linguistic animals and dig into their own spirits. The vitality as a Japanese citizen comes from knowing what the Japanese language, history, and morality are.
Paragraph 7: Furthermore, without fear of extreme statements, if children have the vitality for study, self-study is the most effective. Teachers' sloppy, clumsy, and repetitive classes are, at least for children with spiritual vitality, a hindrance. In that sense, school classes that follow textbooks are promised to be ineffective from the start.
Paragraph 8: [But] the problem starts there. The isolation that accompanies self-study deprives children of sociability and gradually drains the vitality of humans as social animals. Children cultivate vitality through activities such as showing up at school and talking or fighting with other children and teachers. Since humans are "zoon politikon" (Aristotle's "political animal"), even if a school is like a zoo, humans cannot increase their vitality without going there.
Paragraph 9: Isn't the most important thing for this cultivation of vitality the "personal figure" shown by the teacher? This is because the true nature of the vitality of students is nothing other than the formation of integrity (comprehensiveness, consistency, sincerity) in their personality development. In that sense, "intellectual and physical education cannot be unrelated to moral education" (underlined part (4)).
Paragraph 10: [Nevertheless,] at least according to the author's experience, a teacher's act of "acting like a person of character" is quickly exposed. The maximum personal expression a teacher can show is limited to including their own morality in the "way" they teach intellectual subjects. In extreme cases, even if it is a way of expressing a sense of despair on their back, such as "I know that this intellectual education is of no use in life, but my job is only to serve as a teacher in ineffective intellectual education," students can gain great suggestions about what "living" is from that.
Paragraph 11: From the teacher's figure of half-despair in the way they teach, children perceive that extraordinary difficulties await them in their future lives, and they predict and imagine that solitary decision-making and effort are necessary to prepare for them. In that sense, the paradox that "education is impossible, yet without education, humans cannot find a way to live" (underlined part (5)) governs what a school is. Since a school is such a place, parents must send their children to school with a very deep sense of resignation and insight.

<Question Explanation>
Question 1 (Kanji)
a. Collapse b. Delay c. Study d. Gradually e. Suggestion

Question 2: It is stated, "I cannot help but think it is misguided to hold schools responsible (for the collapse of morality)" (underlined part (1)). Why does the author state this? Extract a part from the text within 20 characters (excluding punctuation) that briefly indicates the reason, focusing on the nature of schools.

<Answer> Schools are merely within society

Question 3: It is stated, "there is a problem" (underlined part (2)). Why does the author state there is a problem? Extract an appropriate part from the text within 15 characters (excluding punctuation) to fill in the ( ) in the following sentence explaining this.

Education has a ( ) aspect.

<Answer> assisting the child's spontaneity

Question 4: It is stated, "genealogy of morality" (underlined part (3)).
1. What does "morality" mean here? Extract within 10 characters from the text (excluding punctuation).
2. What kind of study is the "genealogy of morality" here? Explain within 40 characters using the term answered in 1 (excluding punctuation).

1. <Answer> shared practices of people

2. Content explanation question. Incorporate the answer to sub-question 1, "morality = shared practices of people" (from the last sentence of paragraph 5), to specify what kind of study "genealogy of morality" is. The basis is clearly the second sentence of paragraph 6: "having a perspective on what kind of religion, philosophy, and politics humanity and one's own nation have developed regarding morality (that is the essence of the genealogy of morality)." Summarize this into "~ study" (do not include punctuation as requested).

<GV Answer Example>
A study that has a perspective on what processes humanity and one's own nation have gone through regarding the shared practices of people (40)

<Reference S-dai Answer Example>
A study that has a perspective on religion, philosophy, and politics regarding the shared practices of people that humanity and one's own nation have gone through. (40)

<Reference K-juku Answer Example>
A study that seeks to obtain a historical perspective on the shared practices that humanity and the Japanese people have created. (38)

Question 5: It is stated, "intellectual and physical education cannot be unrelated to moral education" (underlined part (4)). Why can they not be unrelated? Explain. (Three lines: about 30 characters per line)

Reason explanation question. The underlined part is in the last sentence of paragraph 9, following "in that sense." Tracing paragraph 9 from the beginning, it says, "The most important thing for this cultivation of vitality is the 'personal figure' shown by the teacher / The true nature of the vitality of students is the formation of integrity... in their personality development." From this, it can be summarized as "Moral education is forming the child's vitality, that is, the integrity of their personality (A) / and it is shown in the teacher's 'personal figure' (B)." Then, by connecting B to "intellectual and physical education," one can show that "intellectual and physical education" relates to "moral education" (G). The basis is the description in paragraph 10: "The maximum personal expression a teacher can show is limited to including their own morality in the 'way' they teach intellectual subjects." In other words, teachers do not preach morality directly, but cultivate the child's vitality by suggesting the "morality" contained in the "way" of intellectual education, which is itself the teacher's personal expression. This is where intellectual education is discussed, but it is acceptable to apply it to physical education. I will revise B to: "A / and it is cultivated by receiving suggestions from the morality contained in the attitude of intellectual and physical education, which is the teacher's personal expression (->G)." Also, regarding the "vitality" in A, based on the content of paragraph 8, I added that it is usually cultivated through social interaction with teachers and other children at school.

<GV Answer Example>
Moral education is forming vitality, that is, the integrity of personality, through children's social interaction at school, and it is cultivated by receiving suggestions from the morality contained in the attitude of intellectual and physical education, which is the teacher's personal expression. (90)

<Reference S-dai Answer Example>
Even if it is intellectual or physical education, which is different from moral education, the teacher's personal figure shown to students through the way these are taught contributes to the formation of integrity in personality development, which is the true nature of students' vitality. (90)

<Reference K-juku Answer Example>
School is a place to cultivate the vitality of humans as social animals, but the formation of comprehensiveness, consistency, and sincerity as a person, which is the source of that vitality, should be carried out by the teacher showing their personal figure to children even in scenes of intellectual and physical education apart from moral education. (103)

Question 6: It is stated, "education is impossible, yet without education, humans cannot find a way to live" (underlined part (5)). What does this mean? Explain within 80 characters while clarifying the difference between the two "educations."

A content explanation question. Although there is a condition to 'clarify the difference between the two types of "education"', based on the underlined part, one type of 'education' is 'something impossible in itself' (A), and the other is 'something that becomes a condition for human existence' (B). The structure of the sentence containing the underlined part is 'In that sense (C) / A, but B (underlined part) / a paradox that governs what school is (D)', and it should be noted that the referent of C relates to D, and the underlined part is content independent of that.
Therefore, looking at the entire text and seeking the author's explanation regarding the two aspects of education (A/B), we can focus on the second sentence of paragraph ③: 'Education inherently contains a contradiction, and it is inevitably accompanied by opposing tasks such as whether to impose compulsion on children (E) or to assist children's spontaneity (F)'. Considering that the author frequently mentions the ineffectiveness of the 'teaching' aspect of education throughout the text (end of paragraph ③ / paragraph ⑦), it can be understood that E corresponds to A, while on the other hand, since the necessity of the 'nurturing vitality' aspect of education is mentioned from paragraph ⑧ onwards, it can be understood that F corresponds to B (here, the 'teaching' aspect of education is said to contribute paradoxically (⑩)).
Based on the above, I summarized it as: 'Education in the aspect of teaching children (E) is ineffective in itself because schools are under the influence of social dynamics (end of ③) (A), but education in the aspect of fostering spontaneity (F) allows children to gain vitality through social interaction with teachers, etc. (⑧⑨⑩), and becomes a condition for living (B).'

<GV Answer Example>
Education in the aspect of teaching children is ineffective in itself because schools are under the influence of social dynamics, but education in the aspect of fostering spontaneity is something that becomes a condition for living as children gain vitality through social interaction with teachers, etc. (80)

<Reference: S-dai Answer Example>
While intellectual education through textbook lessons is ineffective, the figure of the teacher's despair in the way of intellectual education makes children perceive future difficulties and anticipate and imagine the necessity of solitary decisions and efforts. (79)

<Reference: K-juku Answer Example>
While the practice of intellectual education by teachers is ineffective, as moral education, through the figure of the teacher despairing of it, it is possible to show the importance of solitary decisions and efforts to overcome life's difficulties. (79)

Question 7: In this text, adversative conjunctions are frequently used at the beginning of paragraphs, as shown in [ ]. Explain the characteristics of this development of the argument within 80 characters.

An expression intent explanation question. There are five adversative conjunctions enclosed in [ ] at the beginning of paragraphs: paragraph ③, paragraph ④, paragraph ⑤, paragraph ⑧, and paragraph ⑩. Usually, adversative conjunctions are used when moving to the main argument after confirming opposing terms such as general theories in the preceding part. However, the adversative conjunctions in this text do not negate the preceding sentence or paragraph, but rather adopt a style of approving the content of the preceding part, then adding reservations and repeatedly examining it. For example, 'Education aims at compulsion (②)' -> 'No, strictly speaking, education inherently contains a contradiction (③)', 'The results of school education are limited (③)' -> 'However, the moratorium is important / where the freedom to know one's own qualities and improve them is given (④)' -> 'But, the most decisive thing in that effort is ~ (⑤)', and so on.
This characteristic of the development of the argument can be said to reflect the author's stance of avoiding dogmatism and attempting to construct the argument cautiously and multi-facetedly. Also, the effect of involving the reader in such development of the argument and encouraging their multi-faceted understanding can be recognized. Such a descriptive policy of the author may also have much to do with the fact that he has admitted to being a conservative himself. Of course, it is a conservatism based on skepticism toward human reason and relying on E. Burke, who takes a position of gradualism, and not the 'conservative' that overflows in the streets these days.

<GV Answer Example>
The author's stance of attempting to construct the argument cautiously and multi-facetedly while being skeptical of dogmatism and avoiding definitive statements can be read, and by showing that process, it encourages readers to deepen their understanding through hesitation. (80)

<Reference: S-dai Answer Example>
The adversative conjunctions in various places have the characteristic of highlighting the ambiguity of the argument by showing contradictory content in the latter part while acknowledging the antecedent, rather than simply denying or criticizing a specific topic to develop the argument. (79)

<Reference: K-juku Answer Example>
By digging deeper into what was stated before or partially reserving it, it suggests the paradoxical nature that education itself possesses through its writing style while presenting various perspectives to the reader. (77)