Yasushi Omatsu: A Form of School Where You Can Be Yourself

2024/07/18

Suppose a river is flowing. Its flow eventually merges with the sea. On a map, you can draw a line saying "this is the river" and "this is the sea." But does a clear physical boundary between the river and the sea exist? The area where freshwater and seawater mix is called "brackish water," but even then, the boundary of where it starts and ends is always fluctuating and quite ambiguous. I call this ambiguous boundary between the river and the sea a "gradation."

Gradations can be found everywhere in the world. For example, the "engawa" (veranda) in a Japanese house is a place where neighbors can visit and sit down with their shoes on, while the residents can serve tea and entertain them while staying inside the room. This ambiguous space functioned as a device that gently connected the inside and outside of the house.

Also, because there used to be an intermediate area called "satoyama" between the "sato" (village) where people live and the "yama" (primeval mountains), humans and mountain beasts coexisted without interfering too much in each other's living environments. There are endless examples, but the characteristic underlying them all is that "by richly ensuring gradations, the richness of both sides sandwiching it increases." It is precisely because of gradations that a river can be a river and the sea can be the sea.

In places like brackish water areas and tidal flats, unique creatures breed and come and go, and there are many examples where precious ecosystems found only there are built; as a result, the biodiversity of the surrounding rivers and seas becomes richer. Conversely, when satoyama falls into decay due to a lack of caretakers and the gradation between the village and the mountain becomes poor, it leads to problems such as the collapse of ecosystems due to biased vegetation and an increase in damage caused by wildlife.

Humans are often connected by "en" (fate/connections) or "kizuna" (bonds), and I believe gradations exist here as well. From a small connection born from a light nod at first, the distance narrows through shared hobbies or topics, one is stimulated by unique thinking, or kindness that complements strengths and weaknesses is fostered, and a unique gradation where each other's presence blends together takes shape.

Couples, parents and children, friends, children and adults—if we can have interactions where we trust and appreciate each other within all kinds of connections, it directly leads to physical and mental health and a sense of happiness. Conversely, we already know that dominance through violence or power, peer pressure, irresponsibility, indifference, and insensitivity do not create gradations.

If we view the basic academic skills called reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the skill subjects called music, arts and crafts, home economics, and physical education in school education as "attainments useful for enriching gradations," then it might not be an exaggeration to say that the true duty of education is to nurture the power to form and enrich diverse gradations, such as between oneself and others, oneself and the Earth, oneself and the world, oneself and society, and one's own inside and outside.

My name is Yasushi Omatsu, the representative of Sannomori Gakusha, a free school in Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture. The children call me "Yasu-san."

We renovated the barn next to my house ourselves and opened in April 2015. Currently, four junior high school students and 19 elementary school students attend every weekday. The circumstances and background leading to their enrollment vary, but they all attend with the common will of wanting to come here.

Stepping out of the entrance, the calm Karatsu Bay can be seen to the east, and looking back to the west, the mountain behind us, which enshrines the god of childbirth, looms close. Nearby is a river where icefish and sweetfish swim upstream; it is a truly luxurious natural environment. "Free school" is a general term for private institutions and facilities used by children (students) who do not attend "schools" as defined by the School Education Act, and they vary greatly in scale and activity content.

Under the main theme of "connecting living, playing, and learning as one," Sannomori Gakusha values experiential and proactive learning, dialogue, and expression. In the morning, there are two-hour class blocks. Lunch is prepared by the children on duty. After the meal, elementary school students spend their time freely, while junior high school students work on inquiry-based learning called "projects."

At Sannomori Gakusha, we have not used majority rule since we opened. Even if opinions are divided between Plan A and Plan B, we lead to a solution through discussion. Naturally, discussions take a long time, but after listening to each other's opinions, there are many cases where people are convinced that this way is fine "for this time," or a newly created Plan C reaches a unanimous consensus.

Every year, we only set the date for the sports day and recruit "Sports Day Executive Committee" members from the children. During the preparation period, the executive committee members participate in weekly meetings during their free time, and it is a patient job that involves preparation, progression, and guidance on the day of the sports day. If no one raises their hand, the sports day is not held, but so far, we have been able to hold it every year without fail.

In a committee meeting a few years ago, before entering discussions on events and team formations, the children's opinions were split on "whether or not to decide winners and losers." Each had a different orientation following the phrase "I want to make it a fun day, so..." After several hours of discussion, no conclusion was reached. When a staff member acting as a facilitator suggested they talk again next week after hearing the thoughts of others, such as their families, the opinions of all the committee members who gathered for the meeting a week later had flipped 180 degrees, and in the end, they were still split.

Through subsequent discussions, a compromise was proposed by the children: to have some events where winners and losers are decided and some where they are not, and to have a three-block competition to determine a champion. Then, on the day of the sports day, no one cared about the wins and losses of the blocks they had discussed so much by the end of the day, and the event closed with everyone applauding without any announcement of results.

If we had used majority rule, it would have been decided one way or the other on the first day, and we would not have had the opportunity to recognize the logic of each other's opinions and come up with a compromise after being convinced. Being able to "use dialogue for problem-solving" creates a foundation for recognizing differences in thinking and contributes greatly to the enrichment of gradations.

For small children, the gradation with adults is particularly special. Just as the "placenta" delivers oxygen and nutrients from the mother to the fetus, children absorb various things from their interactions with the adults around them. Both adults and children are inherently beings who can "choose" what to learn. Everyone should be able to change and grow while "being themselves." When adults want to convey something to children, they tend to "instruct" or "evaluate," but I believe that it is precisely when adults as adults and children as children each richly foster gradations as themselves that adult culture is "selectively" passed down to the child's personality.

Sannomori Gakusha uses a former cowshed built 80 years ago, which the staff renovated themselves. Sometimes, major work such as replacing floorboards is carried out right next to where the children are spending their time. Both I and the other staff members like woodworking and carpentry, but we make many mistakes and often have conflicts.

At such times, the children observe the adults' attitudes very closely. Messages like "Let's try it first" and "If you fail, you can just start over" are received not through words but through the attitudes of adults, and are passed down as culture.

At Sannomori Gakusha, six adults currently serve as instructors for the morning "class" time. The classes I am in charge of are "Letters" and "Numbers." The content is mainly workshop-like, where children interact with "letters" and "numbers" while making picture books or kamishibai (paper plays), or thinking of new ways to play cards.

What I want to convey to the children is not just "knowledge," but the passion of how I myself face "letters" and "numbers" and what kind of fun I find there. Besides me, adults who love art, adults who love books, adults who love farm work, adults who love calligraphy, and adults who love living creatures each bring what they like and are good at, providing time to convey their passion to the children.

Of course, even if the adult's passion is conveyed, it doesn't mean that the children will immediately come to like "letters," "numbers," or "living creatures," but the sight of adults enjoying the world becomes a "window" for them to peer into the world, and if they become interested, the children will lightly cross that window and begin their exploration. In this way, the gradation fostered between "children and adults" often transforms into a gradation connecting "children and the world."

The smiles of the children who come to school every morning, the greetings we exchange, the casual conversations that start with "Yasu-san, listen to this"—all of these foster the gradation between me and each one of them every day, and I am made to realize that I am incredibly happy. How happy and irreplaceable it is for both adults and children to be able to be themselves as they are. Children who know the joy of being themselves, having their own opinions, and exercising their own power will continue to create new gradations wherever they go.

The wording in the Constitution of Japan, "have the right to receive an education," is part of the determination that "each individual must be valued as an individual living their own life." If we question the meaning from its roots once more, "education" and "schools" should be able to be the heart that continues to send such happy people out into the world.