As public education faces multiple issues, including the surfacing of children's struggles in society and the formation of capabilities suited to the times, free schools are tasked with expectations for their role as a supplement to public education, leading to a change in the onetime structure of opposition. However, attention must be paid to the risk of forcing free schools into the position of troubleshooters for the issues in public education, given that their position in regard to school education remains unbalanced. Will the Act on Securing Educational Opportunities be able to bring about a "cultural/symbolic revolution" in public education? [This article was originally published, in Japanese, in "Kyoikugaku Kenkyu" ("The Japanese Journal of Educational Research") v85 n2 2018. It was translated by Nadezhda Murray.]