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The Significance of Rules

Tokuyama National College of Technology

Hatano: Hello, everyone. We're from Tokuyama Kosen.
Today we're going to talk about rules.
First, we talk about our school regulations as an example.
Next, we look at social events that were caused by breaking rules.
And then, we give you our opinion about the meaning of rules.

Matsuoka: Do you keep every school regulation?
Even if you keep them, don't you feel some of them are meaningless?

Yoshinaga: We have various rules about our appearances or behaviors.
Quite a lot of students feel unhappy about the rules.
You can often see such a scene in our school.

Matsuoka: School is over at last! I'll go home.
Oh, here comes a message from a girlfriend in China.

Hatano: Hey, Shunpei. What a mess! You know, you mustn't keep your shirt untucked, you mustn't use your earphones in school, and you mustn't use your cell phone while you are walking. You've broken three rules, so you will be immediately given a warning from the principal.

Matsuoka: Oh, I've got an important e-mail from my girlfriend, Ms. Hatano!
I wasn't walking when I used my cell phone.
I didn't use my earphones during a class. School is over.
I can use them, can't I? As the maxim goes, “No music, no life.”

Hatano: It's not a maxim. Anyway, you're not allowed to use earphones and …

Matsuoka: Why me? No boy tucks his shirt in.
Everyone uses earphones and cell phones. It's not fair.

Yoshinaga: Ms. Hatano, what's wrong with earphones, cell phones, and shirts?
Who is annoyed at those things? No one cares!
I think these rules are meaningless.

Matsuoka: Yes, these rules are stupid and meaningless!!!

Hatano: Oh, my! How can I make them understand the meaning of school regulations? Well, I'll use this as a last resort. Bibidi-Babidi-Boo!

Hatano: Let us find out the reason why we have rules.
First, we're going to focus on school regulations as an example.
Let us review the school scene. This is Shumpei. Red circles show the rules which he broke. He wore his uniform loosely, he used his earphones,
and he used his cell phone while he was walking. Using these examples, we're going to tell you why we have to obey these rules.

Matsuoka: The first point is our uniform.
Why do we have to wear our uniform properly?
For one thing, you can cause accidents because of your loose clothing.
You can get injured by having your shirt caught in a machine tool,
for example. For another, your appearances affect the reputation
of your school. Visitors and local residents will feel unfavorable
to your school if you wear your uniform untidily.

Yoshinaga: Let's move on to the second point. What do you think of the reason
why you mustn't use earphones while you are walking?
Using earphones can cause safety problems. You can hardly hear the sound
around you or catch any phonetic information when you use earphones.
It can bring about an accident. In addition, using earphones also lowers
the reputation of your school, as it is sometimes regarded as a bad manner.

Yoshinaga: How about cell phones? They can make problems similar to earphones.
They can put you in danger, as you become careless when you use them.
They can also destroy the reputation of your school because how to use
a cell phone is a conspicuous manner issue.

Hatano: From these examples, we can say school regulations protect our safety and
reputation. They have an important meaning.
Now let's look at our society. There are rules to obey in society, too.
Quite a few scandals occurred because people didn't obey them.

Matsuoka: For starters, let's take a look at a scandalous event that happened
at a school. It came to light that the teachers and the staff members
at the school used illegally copied software. The school had to pay a large
amount of compensation. This event inflicted not only a big financial damage
but also a loss of credibility on the school. Other schools and corporations
have the same or similar problem. According to Business Software Alliance,
Japan has a damage of 150 billion yen caused by illegal copying.
This is the 10th worst damage in the world.

Hatano: The next example is a so-called “Aneha scandal” in 2005,
where condominiums were designed and built using false earthquake
resistance data. Buildings built under falsified earthquake-resistance data
endangered the lives and the properties of many people. Architectural office
employees involved in this scandal lost public confidence. Also, after this
scandal, building regulations and the examinations for architects have been
revised. That way, even people who complied with laws and would-be
engineers like us have been affected by this event.

Yoshinaga: The third example is an accident that happened in our city. In November
2011, there was an explosion followed by a fire at a Japanese integrated
chemicals maker Tosoh Corp. This accident made us very worried about our
safety in life. Workers were making a chemical substance in a tank.
But the chemical reaction was so violent that a large amount of inflammable
substance was produced in the tank. The workers didn't notice that and
finally the tank exploded. This accident occurred because the manager
hadn't informed the workers of rules and knowledge necessary for safety.

Hatano: These examples show that if you violate rules, you cannot only receive great
damage but also lose trust from society. Therefore, we can say that rules in
society have the significance of preventing companies and employees from
getting damage and losing credibility.

Hatano: I think this is enough to make them understand the meaning of rules.
So much for the magical lecture. Bibidi-Babidi-Boo!

Yoshinaga: Hey, Mr. Matsuoka! How sloppily you're wearing your clothes!
Matsuoka:Oh, yes! I must keep my shirt tucked.

Hatano: All right, then, let us summarize our presentation.

Matsuoka: Schools and companies have various rules and regulations. And each of
them has its meaning. Rules don't curb our freedom or suppress us.

Yoshinaga: Actually, they have a role of protecting us so that we can act safely and
securely. In order to be world-class engineers, we need to understand
the meaning of rules and comply with them.

Matsuoka: From now on, I'll obey every rule!
Oh, we should stop here according to the rule of this contest.

Hatano & Yoshinaga: Oh, yes!