Rin Tōsaka
Rin Tōsaka | |
|---|---|
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| Minister of Education and Research of Gylias | |
| In office 2 January 1958 – 5 March 1976 Serving with Sakura Tōsaka | |
| Prime Minister | Darnan Cyras |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 June 1930 Zaul, Xevden |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Rin Tōsaka (Miranian: 凛 遠坂; born 9 June 1930) is a Gylian teacher and politician. She was Gylias' education minister in the Darnan Cyras government, alongside her sister Sakura Tōsaka. The two had a fundamental impact on Gylian education, and are considered the "mothers of Gylian public education".
Rin was born into the Tōsaka family, later a prominent political family. She and Sakura worked as volunteer educators in the Free Territories before joining the Darnan Cyras government.
As education ministers, the sisters brought revolutionary and profound changes to Gylian education. Building on the anarchist heritage of the Free Territories, they oversaw the creation of Gylian public education on progressive and democratic foundations, and consolidated the autonomous, free schools into a decentralised and radically student-focused system.
Notable achievements of their tenure included abolition of illiteracy, establishment of the Open University, and most importantly, the successful construction of an experimental, anti-authoritarian educational system that encouraged the cultivation of broad knowledge, interests, and skills.
Gregarious, charismatic, and energetic, Rin was one of the cabinet's most popular ministers. She had a reputation for talented oratory and witty self-confidence that made her a public icon. Her service raised the reputation of the Ministry of Education and Research, making it one of the most prestigious posts in the Gylian cabinet.
Early life
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Rin was born in Zaul on 9 June 1930. The Tōsaka family were a modestly well-off Miranian Gylian family that later became a political family with a legacy of public service.
Rin grew up with her sister Sakura and cousin Tomoko, forging a lifelong bond. The sisters were first educated at home and later in volunteer classes in the Free Territories. They differentiated themselves in childhood: Rin was outgoing, self-confident, and charming, while Sakura was soft-spoken and low-key.
Volunteer classes refined the sisters as a team: Rin excelled at liberal arts subjects and became fluent in English and German, while Sakura had a talent for working with numbers and figures.
The sisters began working as volunteer teachers in their twenties. They prepared classes as a team, but Sakura left Rin to mainly handle presentation and discussions. Influenced by their parents, they adopted distinctive outfits for work, which Rin later joked made them "Levystile before Levystile existed". They remarked themselves for their diligent research, wide knowledge, and Rin's talent for communicating clearly.
Rin and Sakura became itinerant teachers, traveling around the Free Territories to provide their services. They participated in local revolutionary assemblies, but concentrated on education foremost. Their politics crystallised during this time: they were broadly libertarian socialists, and joined the Socialist Party.
The sisters' successful teaching career came to the attention of Darnan Cyras. Rin and Sakura were guests of honour at Democratic Communist Party congresses in 1956 and 1957, making a strong impression of leading party figures. At the latter one, Darnan asked them to join the Executive Committee he was planning for after the war, with responsibility for education. They accepted the offer.
Minister of Education and Research
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Rin and Sakura took office with the rest of the Executive Committee on 2 January 1958. They were two of the youngest members, only surpassed by Eoni Nalion. Their post was retroactively renamed "Ministers of Education and Research" when the Constitution was adopted in 1961.
Rin and Sakura worked to systematise and spread the Free Territories' educational model throughout Gylias, and ensure universal and equal access to education. Most educational institutions became public, symbolically adopting conventional names while keeping their methods unaltered. Education received the greatest share of federal budgets, and was prioritised in Eðe Saima's massive public works program.
Alternate methods of education were provided ample support: public places were open for volunteer classes and free schools. Official recognition and support was given to community classes, evening classes, night schools, and adult education. Community markets and "popular libraries" remained a significant means to exchange information, knowledge, and lessons. The sisters strongly supported distance education and drove the creation of the Open University, which Rin identified as one of her proudest achievements.
Public education became autonomous and nonhierarchical, based on principles of freedom without license, experimentation, and learner-responsibility. Teacher–student relations were equalised, and educational institutions organised on the basis of direct democracy. Interdisciplinarity and narrative evaluations became standard. Class sizes were dramatically reduced and education came to be dominated by cooperative, ludic, and experiential methods.
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Students received generous financial assistance, free school meals and milk, and subsidies for youth clubs and organisations. Teachers benefited from high wages and government-subsidised training. Programs encouraged talented graduates to go into teaching, and prioritised their placement in disadvantaged schools and special education.
The educational system played a significant role in the Golden Revolution. By instilling experience with direct democracy at an early age in a non-hierarchical environment, it perpetuated the energy and enthusiasm for social revolution and experimentation that defined the period. The introduction of comprehensive, explicit, and student-tailored sex education, taught in a joyful context emphasising the diversity of human sexual activity, was a great benefit for the spread of liberated norms of gender and sexuality.
Rin and Sakura's role in shaping the education system was recognised as one of the government's greatest achievements. Even anarchists who criticised the failure to deliver a stateless society recognised it as a monumental example of "anarchy in action". One historian writes:
"Newer generations of Gylians on average reported feeling happier, more confident, more content, more informed, and more fulfilled than ever before. Gylian children felt looked after and valuable, they had the freedom to discover for themselves, learned how to live and shape society from an early age, and showed greater sensitivity to the needs of others and the harms of prejudice and discrimination."
Public image
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Rin won public admiration for her personality, which was self-assured and relaxed. She was an eloquent orator who used common words and analogies to explain and advocate her policies, a trait honed as a teacher. She discussed her boldest ideas in a light-hearted manner, and was possessed of an understated playfulness that could wrong-foot and disarm her opponents.
Highly energetic, she sustained a high level of activity in office. She was friendly and approachable to the public, and enjoyed regularly visiting educational institutions, where she spoke with students and teachers, and occasionally took part in classes herself.
She was passionate about education, and condemned ignorance as a "spiritual poverty" comparable to the material one. While campaigning in the 1962 federal election, she delivered a famous speech seen as epitomising the ethos of Gylian public education:
"Education must be a celebration of life. It must enhance a person's appreciation of the world, allow them to see it with mature eyes—not losing the wonder and joy of childhood but refining them—and help grant them the ability to delight in life, of all stripes, marvelling at its magnificence and tackling its troubles."
Rin's sunny personality, animating passion, and energetic activity made her one of the most popular cabinet members. She was widely seen as an eloquent champion of progressive education and socialism, and in many ways succeeded in embodying the ideals of anarchist education in her person.
Rin cultivated an elegant image. She tied her long black hair in twintails and publically wore a "Tōsaka suit" consisting of a white shirt, light brown waistcoat, black skirt, red bowtie, and red coat. Her outfit made her easily recognisable and a style icon among Gylians. In private, she didn't tie her hair and wore simpler clothing. She enjoyed opera, ballet, art music, and fine art, and possessed gourmand tastes in food and drink.
She was supportive of aristerokratia and embraced the label of champagne socialist, remarking: "The goal of socialism isn't to lower everyone to an equal level of misery, it's to raise everyone to an equal level of plenty."
Miranian identity
Rin was proud of her Miranian heritage, adroitly invoking existing Miranophilia among Gylians in her public profile. Cultural commentator Hanako Fukui notes that Rin drew on Kisekidō imagery of purification and kami, conceiving of public education as "an ōnusa waved to cleanse Gylias and direct it to a higher plane".
She was an ardent advocate of close ties with Kirisaki and Akashi, playing a role in the government's prioritisation of close ties with the former. As one of the most high-profile Miranian Gylians, she strengthened Miranophile sentiments among the public, and spoke in cabinet "with the weight of the Miranian community behind her".
In government
Rin's closest relationship was with Sakura. They forged a strong partnership out of their complementing strengths, worked together closely and shared equal credit for their achievements. Rin was famously protective of her sister and would not tolerate insults at her expense. She enjoyed light-heartedly embarrassing Sakura with lavish displays of affection and praise in public, playing on Sakura's well-known shyness.
Within the cabinet, Rin was representative of "the lucky group" — younger cabinet members who had not endured harsh upbringings in Xevden or suffered during the Liberation War. Colleague Akane Tsunemori described Rin and Sakura in cabinet as "superbly well-adjusted, happy, and loving people".
Rin developed several close friendships in government, most notably with Aliska Géza, Eoni Nalion, Sae Chabashira, Julie Legrand, and Eðe Saima. Several of her colleagues joked that Rin, Aliska, Eðe, and Julie formed a cartel that shaped cabinet meetings and agenda, acknowledging their vital contribution and high esteem among the cabinet. Rin also mentored Makiko Nishida during her term as minister without portfolio.
In Parliament
Rin was elected to the Popular Assembly in 1958, and to the Chamber of Deputies from 1962 and 1976, representing a circonscription in Mişeyáke. She won a record 79% of the first preference vote in 1969, which remains unsurpassed to this day.
Rin was a formidable debater and dominant presence, who had in Parliament a stage fit for her stature. Although she disapproved of Iulia Edver's approach, the two formed the government's "parliamentary phalanx". Emilia Malandrino commented that "Rin was so far on top of things you couldn't get the better of her."
Parliament afforded Rin the opportunity to display her cutting wit, which she mainly deployed against the reactionary Conservative Coalition and Front for Renewal of Order and Society. Observing the adversary–enemy distinction, she was more respectful of adversaries, going "easier" on the Centre Group, the National Bloc, and many Non-inscrits. She found ARENA ridiculous, but enjoyed her verbal sparring with Emilia Malandrino, commenting that "she would've made a great kendōka."
Later life
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Rin and Sakura retired from government at the end of their term in 1976. They were disheartened by the 1976 federal election and the formation of the Aén Ďanez government. They despised Aén Ďanez for her controlling and overbearing personality.
Out of politics, Rin and Sakura moved back to Zaul with their families and resumed teaching together. They kept a low profile, refusing to be interviewed and politely asking colleagues and students to think of them as teachers rather than former ministers.
Rin publicly welcomed the appointment of Patricia Götterwald as education minister in the Filomena Pinheiro government. The two had worked before in the 1960s, when Patricia was the president of the Gylian Federation of Students' Unions. Patricia travelled to meet with the sisters and seek advice, which became an unofficial tradition for new education ministers.
Rin and Sakura retired as teachers in 1994, and largely live quietly with their families. They collaborated with a biographer to produce a "definitive" biography, published in 1996 to critical acclaim, and were interviewed for the 1999 documentary series Nation Building.
Legacy
Rin is considered a towering and transformative figure of the Golden Revolution, and remains respected in Gylias for her achievements as education minister.
She brought an important contribution to Gylian political culture, being renowned for her accomplished fusion of policy and complementary public image. Her public image helped establish public service as attractive, glamorous, and exciting careers for Gylians.
Outside of politics, Rin has also influenced popular culture. She remains an enduring style icon for combining radical politics with sophisticated presentation, and has been often referenced in Gylian pop culture, her personality being homaged in various fictional characters, and her speeches being sampled by musical artists. She famously took part in Project Nous, and was the subject of several portraits by Annemarie Beaulieu.
Private life
Rin married a fellow Miranian Gylian teacher in 1952. The couple have three children.
An avid reader, Rin was renowned as one of the most widely-read members of the Darnan Cyras government, and commented once that she enjoyed "having more time to read" in retirement. She attributes her robust health to lifelong fondness for Kirisakian cuisine and regular physical exercise, particularly cycling and swimming.
She is a practitioner of Kisekidō. She generally does not comment on religion, but occasionally expressed support of the Law on Religion of 1959 and Bureau of Religious Affairs.