#520: Is the space between "dislike" and "like" really just "neutral"? (4th grader from Tokyo)

I think there are all kinds of feelings between things you dislike and things you like. For example, when it comes to school subjects, I'm not good at PE, but I really like math. In between are subjects like language arts and social studies. I think social studies feels "neutral," but language arts feels more like "I don't care." So, what's the difference between "neutral" and "I don't care"?

To me, "neutral (ふつう)" feels a bit positive, but "I don't care" really means I don't care at all. Even if I study language arts or not, it probably won't make much of a difference in my life. In other words, whether it's there or not doesn't really matter. But if social studies, which feels "neutral," were to disappear, I think I'd feel a little sad.

So, for me, the real midpoint between "dislike" and "like" isn't "neutral" but rather "I don't care." But maybe that's different for everyone. What's the midpoint between something you like and dislike for you? Let's take some time to think about it!

抜粋:

苦手と好きの間は本当にふつう？（東京都、小４）

苦手なものと、好きなものの間にはいろいろな気持ちがあると思う。たとえば、学校の教科で言うと、私は体育は苦手だけど、算数はとても好き。その間は国語だったり社会があるんだけど、社会は「ふつう」と思えるのに、国語はどちらかといえば「どうでもいい」かな？じゃあ、「ふつう」と「どうでもいい」はどうちがうのだろう？「ふつう」の方はちょっとポジティブに感じるけど、「どうでもいい」は本当にどうでもいい感じかな。国語は勉強しても、しなくても自分の人生はあまり変わらないかも。つまり、あってもなくてもどうでもいい。でも、「ふつう」な社会科がなくなってしまったら、ちょっと寂しくなる。言い換えると、私にとって苦手と好きの本当の中間点は「ふつう」じゃなくて「どうでもいい」だと思う。でもこれって、人それぞれかもしれない。あなたにとって、好きと苦手の中間点は何？じっくり考えてみよう。

Disclaimers
I wrote the original post in Japanese for the Mainichi Children’s Newspaper. Read here for more information on the project. 
I generated a portion of this English translation using ChatGPT. Although I always read everything I post and add my final edits, I would like to be transparent about the translation process.