UWC ISAK Winter 合格おめでとう!　13歳の主張 エッセイのテーマは「差別と偏見」「いじめ」ぜひ大人たちに読んでほしい意見です！

Torata Tsuji 13歳
Short essay：  What is a local or global issue that you are concerned about? What do you think needs to be done to solve it?

Discrimination and prejudice are two global issues the world has always dealt with. This is concerning because it negatively affects people. Those who are affected lose several opportunities in life. Everyone will be happy if there is no bullying and no harassment in the world.
For example, the homeless and how people view them as dirty, violent, and useless. Because of that, no one wants to help them recover. Homelessness is connected to more social issues, for example, not enough food or money and bad sanitation. They live in harsh environments, and there are different circumstances for being homeless, but in the end, they all live in danger. We cannot judge homeless people because we do not know their life stories. All we know is that they need our help.Unfortunately, bullying also exists in the world. There is no merit here, as bullying makes no sense. Those who bully are not happy people. Everyone wants bullying to stop, but schools don’t do much about it. Bullying can result in injuries, stress, and depression. Everyone says, “it’s not so bad” or “it’s no big deal.”I feel strongly about bullying because when I was in kindergarten, I was a victim of bullying. However, I never hated my bully, as I knew that I was better than them. The most important thing is that everyone needs to stop and pay attention, see what’s going on, and ask, “are you okay?”, “can I help you?” Prejudice against bullying must stop.If you see someone bullying, you should get involved and stop it because our actions speak louder than words. The world is filled with problems waiting to be solved. I want to be a person that helps solve them. 

直訳
課題：グローバルまたは、ローカルな問題であたなが大切だと思うものはありますか。また、どうすれば解決できると思いますか。

ーーーー
差別と偏見は、世界が常に対処してきた2つのグローバルな問題です。この問題は、人々に悪影響を及ぼすため、懸念されます。影響を受けた人は、人生においていくつかの機会を失うことになります。世の中からいじめや嫌がらせがなくなれば、誰もが幸せになれるでしょう。

例えば、ホームレスが、汚く、暴力的で、役に立たない存在だと思われていることです。そのせいで、誰も彼らの復帰を助けようとしない。ホームレスはもっと社会的な問題につながっていて、たとえば食べ物やお金が十分でないとか、衛生状態が悪いとか。ホームレスになる事情はさまざまですが、過酷な環境の中で生きているわけですから、結局はみんな危険な中にいるのです。
私たちは、ホームレスの人たちの人生のストーリーを知らないので、判断できませんが、分かっているのは、彼らが私たちの助けを必要としているということです。

残念ながら、世の中にはいじめも存在します。いじめは意味をなさないので、ここにメリットは何もありません。いじめをする人は、幸せな人ではないのです。
誰もがいじめをなくしてほしいと願っていますが、学校はあまり対策をしてくれません。いじめは、怪我やストレス、うつ病の原因になります。

みんな、"たいしたことない "とか "気にすることではない "って言います。僕がいじめについて強く感じるのは、幼稚園の頃、いじめの被害者にあったことがあるからです。
でも、僕はいじめっ子より自分の方が優れていると思ったので、いじめっ子を憎むことはありませんでした。一番大切なことは、誰もが立ち止まって注意を払い、何が起こっているかを見て、"大丈夫ですか？"、"何かできることはないですか？"と尋ねることです。いじめに対する偏見はやめなければならない。

もし誰かがいじめをしているのを見かけたら、関わってそれを止めるべきです。私たちの行動は言葉よりも価値がある。世界は解決されるのを待っている問題でいっぱいです。私は、それらを解決するために行動する人間になりたいです。

Long essay：Describe an incident or time when you took initiative in the face of a challenge, but that did not work out as you had hoped or expected. What actions did you take? What have you learned from the experience?

Last fall, in my class at the junior high school I attend, one boy, A, stopped coming to school because he was bullied by some boys in the class

In life, there have been several incidents that I have faced. The most stressful incident that occurred to me was last fall during one of my junior high school classes. It all started when a classmate of mine, whose name I will not mention, instead I will call him "boy A," stopped coming to school because some boys in the class were bullying him. Eventually, the school director got involved and ended up making a decision. The school made the decision to change and mix every first year student's classrooms without asking our opinions about this situation. The reason for this decision was so that boy A could begin to attend school again. However, I felt that that was one issue we all needed to discuss at this time. However, the real problem was when the school did not believe my classmates and me. We were allegedly called bullies when in reality, we were trying to stop boy A from making noise during math class and from bothering everyone. I am not a bully, though I was made to appear like one. I saw the situation with my own eyes. Therefore, I needed to stand up for myself and my classmates and tell the truth to the teachers, principals, and parents. Which is what I did, I took action.

As I took action against boy A, I prepared a list of 5 suggestions that needed to be taken into consideration by my school's faculty. Firstly, the school should notice that the only student they respect is boy A, who ended up hiring a lawyer. They did not appreciate the students and me, which we still think is wrong. It extremely bothered us that the only opinions the school was adopting were boy A's. Secondly, rather than changing everyone's classrooms, why did the school not just think about only moving boy A to a new classroom? If they thought about how to help boy A, they must have also tried to listen to the other side of the story in order to understand the situation clearly. Eventually, during this issue, my homeroom teacher got fired. However, we never fully understood why, and it never helped solve the problem. I remember what my teachers told my classmates and I when we first entered the school. They said that since we are the very first first-year students this school has ever seen, we will be building this school together as a team. Though this situation made me lose faith. Lastly, when something like this happens, both sides have rights and wrongs, and both can have their own opinions. Which is what diversity is all about. The problem with my incident is that my school only took one side into consideration. This caused my classmates and I and our parents to feel we were not being protected at school.

Once my proposed suggestions were submitted to the school, I created a google form to get students to sign the petition not to have our classrooms changed. Resulting in the collection of signatures from two-thirds of the students, and 66% were "against the class change," so I quickly submitted the petition to the school. However, the situation did not change since the school was brand new, they did not want an issue like this to be on the school reviews. There was never a discussion with the students, and in January of this year, the classroom change was forced into action, and all the students and I were disappointed. All I could think about was why? Why didn't the school listen to us? Were the proposal and my friends' signatures meaningless? Boy A is still not coming to school, which makes me wonder what the solution is.

Overall, I am sure that this kind of thing will appear to me again and again as a "problem" in my adult life. Although the result this time was sad, I learned from this experience the importance of not turning away from the "problem" but facing it, thinking about it, and exchanging opinions with my parents and friends. The result is important, of course, but I learned that getting there is also important.

課題：あなたが困難に直面したとき、率先して行動したが期待通りにはいかなかった出来事や時間について説明してください。あなたはどのような行動をとりましたか？また、その経験から何を学びましたか？