Case

A student used an anonymous social media account to critique specific school rules at their institution, arguing they were arbitrary. The post spread widely. School administrators identified the account, called the student in, and told them the posts constituted “behavior damaging to the school’s reputation.” The student was asked to delete the posts. They complied.

Generalization

This is a direct confrontation with the question of free expression within the school context.

Article 21 of Japan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. This protection extends to minors. Yet the school, as an institution, frequently becomes a space where this right is curtailed under the name of “educational guidance.” When speech is deemed “inappropriate,” the standard applied is rarely made explicit — or subject to challenge.

Argument

A student’s public critique of their school’s institutional rules and policies is, as a general principle, speech that should be protected.

If the criticism is factual, directed at institutions or policies rather than individual persons, then suppressing it through administrative guidance constitutes something close to a violation of free expression. The fact that a school feels its reputation is damaged is not grounds for silencing criticism. Institutions that hold power have an obligation to withstand scrutiny.

One qualification applies: when criticism names individual teachers or staff by name, defamation risks and questions of factual accuracy arise. Institutional critique and personal attack are different things and should be treated differently.

Counterargument

“Students are members of a school community, and internal problems should be resolved internally,” the counterargument holds.

This framing functions as pressure to keep criticism from going public. But when internal channels for raising concerns are blocked or ignored, external expression becomes a legitimate recourse. Moreover, schools are not purely private spaces — as institutions of public education, they carry an obligation of accountability to society at large.

Question for readers

Have you ever written publicly — on social media or elsewhere — about something you believed was wrong at your school? Or did you want to, but stopped yourself? What held you back?