公共機関の座席は全部優先席にすべきである。賛成か、反対か？
Let's be social thinkers this time.
Did you know that 2023 will be 50th year anniversary for priority seats?
According to the website above, the first priority seats were introduced in 1973 in Japan. Back then, there had been a priority area for women and children so that they could avoid morning crowds on trains. Some time passed, and their focus shifted from the protection of women and children to that of elderly people.
Well, it is quite understandable that we have a part of public transportation as priority seats. There are some people who would appreciate kind support from other passengers. You may be surprised, but we see priority seats everywhere in the world, not just Japan. There are priority seats in London subways too, though not as many as ones in Japan.
Now, let's get to the point of this debate.
We all know that we should have priority seats.
Then, why don't we make all the seats priority seats?
Those who need priority seats, such as pregnant women, disabled or injured people, and elderly people, would need seats anywhere. Then why do we limit priority seats just into a small part of public transportation?
Please imagine a case that you are on your seat in a train and find a pregnant woman standing in front of yourself. If your seat is a priority seat, you probably would offer your seat. But what if your seat is not? Does whether your seat is priority seat or not make any difference in your behavior?
I guess most of you would answer, "I would offer mine in both cases." And if this is the case, meaning that priority seats may not cause more people to offer their seats, we should just make all the seats priority seats, don't you think? There is no doubt that we should offer seats whenever we feel like we should. If so, some people may insist that priority seats today are no longer doing their job.
Thus, the debate topic would be: Should all the seats in public transportation be priority seats?
Just to note, in this debate, we assume that all the seats become priority seats when we discuss the pros and cons about this topic.
Please let me know if you have any questions!