#部活　教員として見た高校野球の光と影 - (英語版) The Light and Shadow of High School Baseball from a Teacher’s Perspective

My own experience as a student in club activities was full of dedication, but the clubs I observed as a teacher showed a very different face. In one city’s municipal commercial high school, the baseball team was at the center of school life, and some male students were admitted despite low entrance exam scores simply because they were on the baseball team. I was deeply frustrated by this contradiction.

Alumni and former students often recruited strong players, leaving teachers with little choice but to comply. Some students even said, “I don’t need to study, I just came for baseball,” and left the school with resentment. I still remember the disappointment when the principal, who had previously justified gender-based differences, confessed one morning, “Actually, I wanted to end this practice,” right after media scrutiny.

Because I spoke out against these practices, I was transferred to other municipal and city vocational high schools, where I continued my teaching career. At the city school, I guided students in TOEIC preparation and commercial English while also confronting the baseball team’s polite outward behavior and the hidden tensions behind it.

High school baseball involves a large flow of funds, and even as student populations decline, the system seems unlikely to disappear. As a teacher, I have continued to question and struggle with this reality.


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