🚽 K’s COLUMN 048 : 体罰の代償は大きすぎた
弟が小学校に入学し、1年生になった年、私は3年生になった。
1年生は午前中で授業が終わるが3年生になると5時間目とか日によっては6時間目があった。
その頃は週休２日制ではなく、土曜日は半ドンだったから、全学年の生徒は午前中の4時間授業、そして帰宅が普通だった。
ある水曜日、15時ごろ帰宅すると、弟が帰宅していないことに気付いた。
弟の部屋の机にランドセルがないのだ。
どうしたものかと思った。
弟のことだから、もしかすると学校帰りに友達の家にでも寄ってあそんでいるのではないのか。
初めはそう軽く考えていた。
しかし17時になっても18時になっても弟が帰宅する気配がない。
19時ごろ、母がようやく帰宅した。
私は母に弟がいないことを告げた。
以前、妹の誘拐騒動があってから、結局妹は母の友人が預かっていることが判明し、みんなホッと一息ついたことだったが、今度は一人息子がいなくなったことで母は大騒ぎだ。
学校では連絡網というクラスの生徒の電話番号を控えたものがあり、それを頼りに電話をかけたり、弟のいそうな場所を探し回った。
まさか弟が学校にいるわけがないと思いながら、念の為母は車で学校へ出かけた。
用務員に説明し、学校へ入れてもらい、母は弟が学校の１階のベランダにポツンと一人立っていた弟の姿を見つけた。
そして弟は無事に帰宅した。
さて、なぜ弟が20時近くまでそんな場所に立っていたかというと、トイレに行くまでに漏らしそうだったので、思わずベランダへ出て花壇の付近で立ち小便をしたと言うのだ。
それを担任に見つかって、罰としてベランダに立たせられたと言うのである。
いくらなんでも、下校時間には許してやればいいものを、担任の教諭も立たせているのを忘れて自分はさっさと帰宅してしまった。
ことの次第を母は自分の母へ電話で話していた。
祖母は昔教育委員会の委員をやっていたので、そのことを教育委員会へ告げた。
弟は翌日に何事もなかったように学校へ登校した。
担任も特別何も悪びれるそぶりもなく、普通に授業をしたそうだ。
翌年、その教諭は全校生徒が10人にも満たない小さな小学校へ飛ばされてしまった。
弟もトイレに間に合わなかったのは悪いかもしれないが、その体罰はあまりにも重すぎたのである。
🇬🇧 English version below
🚽 K’s COLUMN 048 : The Price of Corporal Punishment Was Too High
The year my younger brother entered elementary school as a first grader, I became a third grader.
First graders finished school before noon, but third graders had five classes a day, and sometimes even six.
Back then, Japan did not have a five-day school week. Saturdays were half-days, so every student attended four morning classes before going home.
One Wednesday, I came home around 3:00 p.m. and realized that my brother was not home.
His schoolbag was not on his desk.
At first, I was not too worried. Knowing him, I thought he had probably stopped by a friend’s house after school.
But as the hours passed, something felt wrong.
Five o’clock came.
Then six.
There was still no sign of him.
Around 7:00 p.m., my mother finally came home.
I told her that my brother had never returned from school.
Some time earlier, our younger sister had once caused a kidnapping scare, only for us to discover that one of my mother’s friends had been looking after her. Everyone had been greatly relieved then.
Now, however, it was my brother who had disappeared, and my mother immediately began searching for him.
At that time, every class had a telephone contact list for all the students’ families.
My mother called one classmate after another and searched every place where my brother might have gone.
Although she thought it was unlikely that he was still at school, she decided to drive there just in case.
After explaining the situation to the school caretaker, she was allowed inside.
There, on the first-floor veranda, she found my brother standing all alone.
He finally came home safely.
The reason he had been standing there until nearly 8:00 p.m. was unbelievable.
He told us that he had desperately needed to use the restroom, but thought he would not make it in time.
In a moment of panic, he stepped out onto the veranda and urinated near the flower bed.
His homeroom teacher saw him and punished him by making him stand on the veranda.
The punishment itself was one thing.
What made it far worse was that the teacher forgot he was there.
Even after school had ended and all the students had gone home, the teacher simply left for the day, leaving my brother behind.
My mother explained everything to her own mother over the phone.
My grandmother had once served on the local Board of Education, so she reported the incident to the education authorities.
The next day, my brother went back to school as if nothing had happened.
His teacher showed no sign of apology and carried on with class as usual.
The following year, that teacher was transferred to a very small elementary school with fewer than ten students.
My brother may have been wrong not to make it to the restroom in time.
But the punishment he received—and the consequences that followed—were simply far too severe.