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Tokyo middle school leaflet asks students to write down, turn in their social media passwords

Scott Wilson Dec 4, 2021
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The board of education’s excuse doesn’t really hold up.

It’s important for everyone in today’s world, especially kids, to be aware of the dangers of scams and giving out private information.

But what do you do when the one asking for that private information is an official document from your school?

That’s what happened recently at a middle school in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, which reached the attention of the Internet from this tweet:

▼ (Translation below)

ちょっと、アホすぎて人権侵害すぎて言葉がないんだけど💢

中学校からのプリントで、「我が家のSNSルールを保護者と話し合ってかけ」「終わったら学校に提出しろ」ってやつに、
「SNSパスワードを書け」って欄があるんだけど。

なに考えてんだ！？💢
私的領域への越権行為も甚だしい！💢💢💢

— ıɥsnɯoʇnqɐʞ (@kabukabubaby) November 30, 2021

“Excuse me what? This is so stupid and such a violation of rights that I have no words.

On a leaflet that was sent home with middle schoolers that they were told to use “to discuss house rules for social media,” and “to turn in to their school when finished,” there’s a section for them to fill in their “social media password.”

What are they thinking?!

This is an extreme abuse of authority and an invasion of personal space.”

Many online have posted images of the leaflet in question, showing that this wasn’t some simple typo or anything, it’s pretty blatant:

▼ The line in question is the fourth blank down.
(Translation below)

https://t.co/DH4QRvmfzr

おいおいおいおい、パスワード記入欄がある上に、「家族で共有」て記述まであんのに、「ミス」とはちゃうやろが
こういうこと犯っといて、問題になったら「ミスでした」て逃げんの、あまりに汚らしいんちゃうか
まじで教師て屑ばっかりか

— 多田将 (@sho_tada) December 4, 2021

Our House Rules for Social Media
Easy Fill-In Sheet

Usage Time
I will use my smartphone and social media for _____ hour(s) each day.
I will use my smartphone and social media until _____ o’clock each day.

Storage Place
After then, I will put it away in _____.

How Its Managed
The password to my social media is _____.
I share this password with _____ (ie: my family).

The Nerima Ward Board of Education has since responded to the controversy, saying that they passed out the leaflets to students for households to create rules for social media, and asked the students to turn them back in to the school to check that they were filled in.

However, the Board of Education notified each school in Nerima Ward saying that students should turn in the leaflet without filling in the password section. Unfortunately one school did not receive that explanation, resulting in 276 students turning it in as-is. There were no reports of such a mistake happening in the other schools.

The Board of Education has said that they will prevent such incidents in the future by deleting the password section, storing the leaflets that were already turned in inside a “locked up location,” and returning them directly to each family. So far they claim that no passwords have been leaked.

Of course that’s a very strange explanation. If students were meant to turn in the leaflet without filling in that blank… then why was it there in the first place? If students were supposed to bring it back home again and then fill it in, there’s no mention of that. And even if that was the case, writing down your password is what you learn never to do in Internet Safety 101 no matter what anyway!

Japanese netizens were similarly confused and shocked:

“I don’t understand why they asked the kids to turn it in in the first place. Their Internet literacy is lower than the kids’ is.”

“Do not fill that in, do not turn that in, do not share it.”

“We’re taught not to leak our passwords, but as soon as you turn it in to the school, it’s leaked….”

“Did Internet literacy just stop progressing 10 years ago???”

“The only correct answer is writing ‘Our house rule for social media is not writing my password here’ in the blank.”

“Schools are trying to control their private lives. Just like Kanagawa trying to limit kids’ time playing games.”

“The only way I can see this being okay is if it’s a trick question, and when the students turn in the leaflets with their passwords on it, the teacher admonishes them, saying, ‘Didn’t we teach you not to tell anyone your password?’ (Obviously not what happened)”

Hopefully no irreparable damage comes from this incident, and the Nerima Ward Board of Education learns from their mistake.

However, considering Nerima was also where ten students fainted from heat stroke during a non-air-conditioned assembly about avoiding scams, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Source: Bengo4.com via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso (1, 2) (Edited by SoraNews24)
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