Middle School Entrance Exams and the 80,000 Hatamoto Cavalry
The shogunate was supposed to have a military force so strong it was called the "80,000 Hatamoto Cavalry." However, during the long-lasting peace of the Edo period, the hatamoto, who were originally warriors, became aristocratic and soft. In Ryotaro Shiba's "Kochō no Yume" (Dream of the Butterfly), Vol. 3, p. 327, a bizarre scene is described where, just as they are about to enter the battle of the Second Choshu Expedition, they complain that they cannot sleep without their crepe futons and have their subordinates carry these luxurious items to them.
On the other hand, in the Choshu Domain, Shinsaku Takasugi and others established the Kiheitai (Irregular Troops) together with farmers and townspeople, training warriors who transcended class boundaries. The soft hatamoto of the shogunate could not win against this wild energy, no matter how many of them banded together, and the result left an impression of the shogunate's decline.
In the Tokyo metropolitan area, many parents and children aim for middle school entrance exams, calmly saying things like "public schools are rough" or "your life is over if you go to a public middle school," while looking down on the children and parents who choose to attend public schools. Of course, every family has its own circumstances for taking middle school entrance exams. For example, there are almost no private high schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area that girls can take entrance exams for. Because of this, if a girl goes to a public middle school, she cannot use a private school as a safety net and must rely solely on the public system. Since that is considered high risk, girls are forced to consider middle school entrance exams as an option.
Also, depending on the region, there are cases where public middle schools are truly rough, and there are children with desperate circumstances, such as having actually been bullied and not wanting to go to the same school. I think it is natural for such children to seriously consider middle school entrance exams.
On the other hand, I have also heard of many cases that make one tilt their head in confusion. In one public elementary school that was rough, the children causing the trouble were actually the ones aiming for middle school entrance exams. I have heard multiple cases where the pressure from their parents was so severe that they acted out at school to vent that stress, and once they moved on to private middle school, the public school became very peaceful because those children were gone.
Another reason for a class being rough was that children aiming for middle school entrance exams, likely mimicking their parents' tone, would mock and look down on classmates who planned to go to public middle schools, saying "your life is over if you go to a public middle school," leading to fights with children who pushed back. I have received multiple testimonies of this, and it has become clear that there are cases where the cause of "public schools being rough" is actually the middle school entrance exam group, a fact that cannot be ignored. At the very least, even if it is true that a public school is rough, one should keep in mind that there are cases where it is not the children going to public school who are the problem, but rather children who are not allowed by their parents to play enough because of entrance exam preparations, and who create the trouble by taking out their frustrations at school.
Now, among the voices saying they were glad they put their children in private school, I often hear, "There are no children who cause trouble, and it's comfortable because everyone is from a well-educated family." I feel a tinge of anxiety at this statement. I wonder if they are following the same path that turned the 80,000 Hatamoto Cavalry into useless figures.
There were hatamoto who played a major role even at the end of the Edo period. Kaishu Katsu. However, his great-grandfather was from a farming background, and his father was famous in Edo for being a brawler. Because he was a person with that kind of wild spirit, he drew a line between himself and the hatamoto who were always soaking in a lukewarm bath; he studied Western learning, mastered swordsmanship, associated with townspeople, and built a system where, in an emergency, firefighters would run all over Edo for Katsu's sake. This was a feat the lukewarm gokenin (lower-ranking vassals) could not perform.
Parents who openly say "public schools are rough" or "your life is over if you go to a public middle school" and try to push their children toward middle school entrance exams are, unfortunately, sending a message to their children to "live in a lukewarm bath." Of course, there is the trial of "studying" waiting in middle school entrance exams. But it is not as if the "80,000 Hatamoto Cavalry" did not have trials. They had to hone their political sense to navigate a samurai society full of jealousy. But that is only a skill that works within a lukewarm bath. School studies, depending on how you look at them, also risk being a strength that only works in a "lukewarm world."
The emergence of President Trump may indicate that the quality of intelligence required by the world has shifted from "academic intelligence" to "social intelligence." Academic intelligence values scientific, meticulous precision that seeks accuracy, but it is weak against irregular situations and tends to be almost powerless against people with a wild spirit. On the other hand, social intelligence has the boldness to read the room, manipulate group psychology effectively, and be resilient to scandals.
Until very recently, both America and Japan had perfected a society where people with high "academic intelligence," who achieved excellent grades in school, attained social success, and those deemed lacking in it were looked down upon. Because current parents have lived in such a society, they think "honing academic intelligence is the surest path to social success," which is likely why the number of people aiming for middle school entrance exams has increased, centered in the Tokyo metropolitan area. However.
In America, the anger and resentment of the white poor, who were considered to have low "academic intelligence" and were socially looked down upon, accumulated. Sensing that dissatisfaction, Mr. Trump gained popularity and became president by appealing that he would "deal a painful blow to the smug wealthy people and immigrants in New York and Silicon Valley." Harvard University and Stanford University, the symbols of American "academic intelligence," have had their subsidies significantly cut and are being "retaliated" against. Statements by people with high "academic intelligence" are all dismissed as "fake" and ignored. Media reports that try to maintain high ethical standards are mocked as "twisted reports by smug wealthy people and immigrants in Silicon Valley." "Academic intelligence" should have been the weapon of those who continued to achieve social success by mastering academics, but America is transforming into a society that buys into the resentment of those not blessed with it, mocks academics themselves, and ignores them.
And Japan is also strengthening that trend. When former Prime Minister Suga rejected members of the Science Council of Japan, the discourse that spread on social media was one that mocked university professors who were supposed to be called intellectuals. At the root of this, I think, lies resentment and anger toward those who have achieved social success using "academic intelligence" as a tool. It is better to see that anger and resentment toward "academic intelligence" are accumulating in Japan, just as in America.
In America, the world's leading country, the status of "academic intelligence" is declining, and "social intelligence" is coming to be highly valued. Japan, though a lap behind, has the potential to become the same. In such a situation, aiming for a "lukewarm bath" might mean aiming to be a "boiled frog." Like a frog that thought the water temperature was nice, only to find it had become boiling water before it knew it, and by then it was boiled and unable to move.
Perhaps, to survive in the coming era, it will be necessary to retain some "wild spirit." In a society where "social intelligence" becomes central, it might be necessary to be equipped with the power to go toe-to-toe with such people to some extent. Kaishu Katsu calmly met and talked with Ryoma Sakamoto, who had come to kill him. Later, Katsu responded to a samurai who asked him to introduce him to Takamori Saigo, and since he was asked to write a letter of introduction, he did so. He wrote, "He seems to intend to kill you (Saigo), so please meet him." The Meiji Restoration had many such people with nerves of steel. There was almost no talent among the 80,000 Hatamoto Cavalry that was useful, and people who would have been considered savages in the past played a major role.
America, the world's leader, was the first to enter an era of chaos. Japan will likely be caught up in that flow as well. If that happens, the "promise" that you can live in a lukewarm bath if you only polish your "academic intelligence" may no longer hold true. Some people in the middle school entrance exam group may have realized this, but parents who are trying to push their children toward middle school entrance exams because "public schools are rough" may end up unknowingly conveying the hidden message: "Stop trying to compete with people with high 'social intelligence' and escape to the world of 'academic intelligence.'" However, that path risks leading to a dead end in the future.
Future society may require honing "social intelligence" to some extent. To "hone" it, it cannot be too lukewarm or too strict. If it is too lukewarm, muscle will not be built, and if it is too strict, the muscle will become necrotic. To "hone" it, it is necessary to provide stress to the extent that vitality can be recovered while adding moderate rest.
It is no good to let children soak in a lukewarm world. It is no good to crush them by being too strict. It is necessary for children to hone themselves through trial and error, figuring out how to endure stress while under moderate pressure.
In that respect, except for cases where the situation is truly terrible, I think public schools are a good place. There are people of various positions, occupations, and ways of thinking, and there is something to learn from each of them. Kaishu Katsu fiercely mocked people who had high social status despite being incompetent, but he loved associating with ordinary people and preferred to interact across class lines. The reason Katsu was able to hone his spirit was likely because he was able to associate with various people.
After going through middle school entrance exams, how can one retain a wild spirit in a school life where homogenization is progressing? Of course, there are schools that value such a perspective. However, in some cases, there may be schools that have become a "lukewarm bath" isolated from society. If they can avoid being tossed by rough waves in there, that might be fine, but if they are raising people who cannot even withstand ripples, then I don't know what they are doing.
Of course, I repeat, if you are going to spend time in an environment that is too harsh, it is better to escape from it. If that path is middle school entrance exams, there is no need to deny it at all. Also, even in an era where "social intelligence" is praised, a path where "academic intelligence" is useful will remain to some extent. When the ancient Roman Empire collapsed and the Germanic peoples conquered Western Europe, a small number of people survived as aristocrats and managed the country because they could read, write, and do arithmetic. However, only a very small number were able to follow that path.
In the era of the ancient Roman Empire, many people could read and write, but when the empire collapsed due to the Great Migration of the Germanic peoples, "academic intelligence" became almost useless. The aristocrats could no longer live in the cities and returned to their own territories to farm. And for hundreds of years, the culture of ancient Rome was forgotten, and Western Europe turned into a society where the majority of people could not read.
Perhaps the era that humanity is about to enter will be comparable to the collapse of the ancient Roman Empire. The Germanic peoples mocked "academic intelligence" and suppressed it with military force (though there were exceptional individuals). For this reason, academics declined rapidly in the West. Only monks with religious purposes barely passed on academics, but naturally, that learning became completely dyed in Christianity. A society with almost nothing that could be called "academic intelligence" in the pure sense continued for hundreds of years.
The world is on the threshold of that. There is a risk that the world will change significantly from here on out. In that, each person needs to think seriously while looking at their own aptitude for how to swim through it.