英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 23
EDITORIAL: LDP should not meddle in school textbook selection process
（社説）自民と教科書　政治は採択に関わるな

The process is under way for local governments to select textbooks that will be used in junior high schools from next spring.
　来春から中学校で使われる教科書の採択が、各自治体で進んでいる。

Given that, a league of lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has compiled a brochure that compares social studies textbooks issued by various publishers, and has distributed it to local LDP assembly members across the country.
　そんななか、自民党の議員連盟が社会科の各社の教科書を比べるパンフレットをつくり、全国の地方議員あてに配った。

The action is purportedly aimed at encouraging boards of education, through questions by local assemblies and other means, to select textbooks with a strong conservative slant.
　議会での質問などを通じて教育委員会にはたらきかけ、保守色の強い教科書を選んでもらうのが狙いだという。

Selections, after all, belong to the authority of education boards, which are supposed to make them on the basis of discussions from educational viewpoints on which textbooks are the most suitable for the children and schools of their communities.
　採択はあくまでも教委の権限で行うものだ。我が街の子どもや学校にふさわしい教科書は何か、教育の観点から議論して選ぶことになっている。

Political parties are free to have their own perceptions of the textbooks issued by different publishers. But they should refrain from encouraging the selection of textbooks that are more in line with their philosophies.
　各社の教科書をどう受け止めるかは、政党の自由である。
　だが、政党が自らの主張に近い教科書を選ぶよう、はたらきかける行為は慎むべきだ。

Local assembly members are there to approve the appointments of education board members. They should exercise self-restraint so that their actions will not be perceived as applying pressure. What they should do is to serve as a monitor to ensure that education boards can fulfill their primary functions.
　地方議員は教育委員の人事に同意を与える存在だ。行為が圧力と受け止められないよう自重してほしい。教委が本分を果たせるよう見守ってもらいたい。

The brochure, certainly, contains no text that explicitly recommends any particular publisher.
　パンフレットには、たしかに特定の社を推薦する明確な表現はない。

But the issues being taken up in the brochure include the national flag and the national anthem, the right to collective self-defense and constitutional amendment--pet issues of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe--as well as the Nanking Incident and "comfort women," which the LDP has argued some textbooks contain “self-deprecating” statements about.
　だが、取り上げた論点は、安倍政権が重視する国旗・国歌、集団的自衛権、憲法改正や、自民党がこれまで「自虐的な記述がある」などと指摘してきた南京事件、慰安婦などだ。

Concerning the national flag and the national anthem, for example, the brochure presents strongly conservative textbooks in a favorable light, saying that one contains “detailed descriptions on a feature page.” Some other textbooks are portrayed in a negative light, as seen in a statement that “some textbooks contain no reference in the index” to the issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea.
　たとえば国旗・国歌では、保守色の強い教科書について「特集ページで詳しく記述」など好意的に紹介。それ以外の教科書は、拉致問題で「索引に載っていない教科書がある」など否定的に評している。

School textbooks are not tools for inculcating arguments of a political party.
　教科書は、政党の主張を教え込む道具ではない。

Education board members should ensure they are making independent judgments and, even if they are asked questions at local assemblies, they should only regard these queries as the opinions of individuals.
　教育委員は、議会で質問されても、１人の意見として参考にしつつ独自に判断してほしい。

The education board system was reformed so that, starting this spring, the heads of local governments should set up a “general education council,” a forum for exchanging views with education boards.
　教育委員会の制度改革で、各自治体ではこの春から首長が「総合教育会議」を設け、教委と協議することになっている。

The education ministry has said the selection of school textbooks should not be a subject of discussions in the council, because it is believed that political neutrality is de rigueur in the textbook selection process.
　文部科学省は教科書採択について、この会議の議題にすべきではないとした。教科書採択は政治的中立性が強く求められると考えているからだ。

The LDP has proposed--and has realized--a revision in textbook screening rules so that textbooks must mention the government’s official position, wherever available. As 18-year-olds will be given suffrage from next year, the party has also proposed to Abe that law could be revised to punish senior high school teachers who have deviated from political neutrality.
　自民党は、教科書で政府見解があるものは取り上げるよう検定のルールの変更を提言し、実現させた。１８歳選挙権に合わせ、政治的中立を逸脱した高校教員に罰則を科す法改正を安倍首相に提案してもいる。

We cannot accept the sequence of these moves, whereby the political sector is meddling in public education.
　政治が教育現場に踏み込む一連の動きはいただけない。

The selection process throughout the nation will continue through the end of August.
　各地の採択は月末まで続く。

The LDP brochure is titled, “To deliver better textbooks to our children.”
　自民党のパンフレットの題は「より良い教科書を子供たちに届けるために」。

Thought should be given again to what should be done and not be done by a political party and assembly members if that goal is to be achieved.
　そのために政党や議員は何をすべきで、何をすべきではないか。改めて考えてもらいたい。