#529: Why are there meaningless rules at school? (6th grader from Nagasaki)

What do you mean by “meaningless rule”? Is it a rule that doesn’t benefit anyone? Or is it something that “doesn’t have a proper reason”? Suppose, for instance, that a school sets the following rule: “Everyone’s hair must be black” because allowing diversity in hair color might distract students with fashion and make it harder for them to focus on their studies. This rule makes it easier for teachers to manage students. In this case, there’s a reason for the rule. But I still don’t feel convinced.

But how do we decide what is convincing? One way to think about it is whether the underlying reason is actually true. Does diversity in hair color really cause students to lose focus on their studies? If the answer is true, then the rule of “everyone’s hair must be black” seems to have some reason behind it.

However, somehow, I’m still not convinced. The idea that someone with naturally brown hair has to dye it black for the sake of others’ studies feels strange. It’s a difficult question.

Note: the hair color rule example comes from an actual school rule implemented in a high school in Tokyo. 

抜粋：学校に意味のない決まりがあるのはなぜか（小６）※長崎県

意味のない決まりって何だろう？みんなが得をしないルールのこと？それとも「ちゃんとした理由がない」ってこと？例えば、かみの毛の色の多様性を許してしまうと生徒がおしゃれに気を取られて勉強に集中できなくなるから、という理由で「全員黒」という決まりをつくってしまうと、学校の先生にとっては生徒の管理がしやすくなる。この例は、理由が（一応は）あるルールだけど、何だか私は納得がいかない。でも「納得がいく」なんてどうやって決めるんだろう？一つの考え方としては「背景にある理由が真実であるかどうか」かな。かみの毛の色の多様性は、本当に生徒の勉強への態度を悪くさせてしまうのだろうか？答えが真である場合、「全員黒色」という決まりは理由がちゃんとあるものになる。だけど、それも何となく私は納得がいかない。「自然と茶色の人は、他の人の勉強の集中のために自分のかみの毛を黒色に染めないといけない」って何だかおかしい。難しいね。

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.