Murphy's Law raises stink in Oita Prefecture

There was a time about 15 years ago when people in Japan were really into Murphy's Law, the old Western adage that "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." I recall reading a popular book about such truisms and nodding vigorously at this one about driving in a traffic jam: "The other lane always moves faster. Corollary: As soon as you switch lanes, your old lane speeds up."

One truism today seems to be that the "children of schoolteachers often become teachers themselves."

Many parents and guardians of schoolchildren are actually saying that now. Ripples of mistrust are spreading since scandals involving the rigged recruitment of schoolteachers came to light in Oita Prefecture.

Reportedly, education board officials in many prefectures leaked the names of those who successfully passed hiring examinations to interested heads of municipalities and prefectural assembly members, even before the applicants themselves were informed of the test results.

Officials insisted such leaks were routine and not underhanded, but even so, I believe education authorities should be the last to act in any way that invites suspicion. They have set in process a vicious cycle of mistrust, and added to the number of people who cannot contradict the truism that teachers' children become teachers.

The Oita prefectural government has decided to dismiss all teachers hired through favoritism and provide redress to applicants who were rejected despite having passed a hiring exam.

The prefecture is finally doing the right thing, but this is small consolation. It will certainly leave emotional scars on the teachers being fired, not to mention their pupils. And I doubt those applicants being given a second chance feel good about this, either.

Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901), the founder of Keio University and an Oita native, once decried nepotism as something he was determined to fight to the death. Put another way, Fukuzawa championed equal opportunities for all people. He yearned for a society where hard work would be rewarded.

The irony is that this overpowering stink of corruption has risen from Fukuzawa's own home prefecture.

A corollary of Murphy's Law also says to the effect that once an exception has been made to a rule, the next person will claim it as his inalienable right. I suppose this is how a small misstep can turn into widespread corruption.

Across Japan, hiring exams for schoolteachers will peak during the summer. I hope that deserving applicants lacking "powerful connections" won't be treated unfairly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 18(IHT/Asahi: July 19,2008)