Learn Hardcore Japanese: kodomo no koro, watasi ha sensei ni maiasa kyousitu no souzi wo saserarete, sukosi hukouhei da to kanzite ita. - When I was a child, I was made to clean the classroom every morning by the teacher, and I felt it was a bit unfair.

子供のころ (こどものころ)
- Slightly softer, more “when I was a kid / back in my childhood”.
- Often used for a more extended period of time, like “in my childhood in general”.
子供の時 (こどものとき)
- Can feel a bit more neutral or point-like, like “at the time when I was a child” (though in practice it can also refer to a period).

In this sentence, both 子供のころ and 子供の時 would be natural, but ころ is very common for this “back when I was a kid” feeling.

Why is 子供のころ written with ころ in hiragana? Can it be written with kanji?

Yes, it can also be written as 子供の頃.

ころ / 頃 both mean “around the time when / the period when”.
It’s very common to write it in hiragana (ころ) in everyday writing, but 頃 is also correct.
For learners, you’ll see ころ more often in textbooks.

Why is 私 followed by は? Could it be が instead?

私 is followed by は because it marks the topic of the sentence:
子供のころ、私は… = “When I was a child, as for me, …”

は: topic marker (what we’re talking about).
が: subject marker (who actually performs/experiences the action in a neutral, factual way).

Here, the speaker is contrasting or highlighting their own experience (“I was made to clean…”), so 私は is natural.

私が would sound odd or need a different structure; normally you set up the narrative with 私は as topic and then describe what happened to you.

Why is 先生 marked with に (先生に) instead of が or は?

In 先生に毎朝教室の掃除をさせられて, the verb させられて is a causative-passive form.
In such constructions:

The person who is forced / made to do something is the subject/topic (私).
The person who makes them do it is marked with に.

So:

私 (I) = the person who suffers the action (I am made to do it).
先生に (by the teacher) = the person causing it.

This is similar to English passive:
“I was made by the teacher to clean the classroom every morning.”

If you changed the sentence to active causative (no passive), you’d say:

先生は私に毎朝教室の掃除をさせた。
“The teacher made me clean the classroom every morning.”

Here, 先生は is the subject/topic (the one doing the making), and 私に is the one being made to do something. In the original sentence, we flip the viewpoint to 私, so 先生 goes to 先生に.

What grammar is させられて? How is it formed?

させられて is the て-form of the causative-passive of する.

Step-by-step:

Dictionary form: する = “to do”
Causative: させる = “to make/let (someone) do”
Causative-passive: させられる = “to be made to do / to be forced to do”
て‑form: させられて

So 掃除をさせられて = “(I was) made to do the cleaning.”

The て‑form させられて connects to the next clause (少し不公平だと感じていた).

Why is it 教室の掃除をさせられて and not 教室を掃除させられて? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatically possible, but the focus is slightly different.

教室の掃除をさせられて
- Literally: “(I was) made to do the cleaning of the classroom.”
- 教室の掃除 is a noun phrase: “classroom cleaning.”
- Emphasis is on the task / chore as a thing: “the classroom cleaning (task)”.
教室を掃除させられて
- Literally: “(I was) made to clean the classroom.”
- 教室を掃除する is a verb phrase (“to clean the classroom”).
- Emphasis is slightly more on the action on the classroom itself.

In many contexts, they feel almost the same, but using 教室の掃除 often makes it sound more like a repeated duty/chore, which matches 毎朝 (“every morning”) very well.

Why is 掃除 used with を instead of 掃除して or 掃除する?

掃除 is a noun meaning “cleaning.” In Japanese:

掃除をする = “to do cleaning”
Very often this becomes just 掃除する in speech.
With causative-passive, you can say
- 掃除をさせられる, or
- 掃除させられる (dropping the を) – both are used.

In this sentence, we have the pattern:

教室の掃除をさせられて
= “(I was) made to do the cleaning of the classroom.”

So 掃除 is treated as a noun (cleaning), and する is implied inside させられて.

What is the role of 毎朝 in the sentence, and where can it appear?

毎朝 means “every morning.” It modifies the entire action 教室の掃除をさせられて.

Current position:

先生に毎朝教室の掃除をさせられて
= “(I was) made by the teacher to clean the classroom every morning.”

In Japanese, adverbs of time are quite flexible. You could place 毎朝 in several spots:

子供のころ、毎朝、私は先生に教室の掃除をさせられて…
子供のころ、私は毎朝先生に教室の掃除をさせられて…

All of these are natural. The important part is that 毎朝 clearly modifies the cleaning action, not the feeling 感じていた, though context usually makes that obvious.

Why is 不公平だ followed by と in 不公平だと感じていた?

The structure is:

X だと感じる = “to feel that X is …”
Here, X = 少し不公平 (“a little unfair”).

と after 不公平だ marks a quoted/thought content:

「少し不公平だ」 is what the speaker is “saying in their mind.”
…と感じていた = “I felt (that) …”

So 少し不公平だと感じていた means:

“I felt (that it was) a little unfair.”

This is the same pattern as:

高いと思う – “I think (it is) expensive.”
変だと感じる – “I feel (it is) strange.”

Why is it 感じていた and not just 感じた or 感じている?

感じていた is the past progressive / past continuous form of 感じる.

Nuances:

感じた
- More like “I (once) felt” – a simple past moment.
感じている
- “I am feeling” – present continuous.
感じていた
- “I was feeling / had been feeling”
- Suggests a continuing state in the past, not just a single instant.

In context:

子供のころ、…少し不公平だと感じていた。
= “When I was a child, I used to feel / was feeling it was a little unfair.”

This matches the idea that over that period (childhood), the speaker regularly / continuously felt it was unfair, not just in one moment.

Why is させられて in the て‑form and not させられた?

The sentence uses the て‑form させられて to connect two clauses:

Clause 1: 先生に毎朝教室の掃除をさせられて
= “(I was) made by the teacher to clean the classroom every morning, and…”
Clause 2: 少し不公平だと感じていた。
= “…I felt (it was) a little unfair.”

The pattern is:

Aて、B。
- A and B are connected actions/states. Often “A, and then B / so B / and B.”

If you said させられた。少し不公平だと感じていた。, it would sound more like two separate sentences. The て‑form makes it flow as a single, connected experience:

“Being made to clean the classroom every morning by my teacher, I felt it was a little unfair.”

The sentence has 感ていた. Is that correct?

No, 感ていた is not correct as written; it seems to be a typo.

The correct verb is 感じる (“to feel”), so the correct form is:

感じていた

So the sentence should read:

子供のころ、私は先生に毎朝教室の掃除をさせられて、少し不公平だと感じていた。

What overall nuance does させられて give compared to просто “had to clean the classroom”?

させられて (causative-passive) carries a nuance of:

being made / being forced / being compelled to do something, often against your will or at least not by your own choice.

So:

毎朝教室の掃除をした
= “I cleaned the classroom every morning.” (neutral: just a fact)
毎朝教室の掃除をしなければならなかった
= “I had to clean the classroom every morning.” (duty/obligation, but not necessarily someone actively forcing you)
毎朝教室の掃除をさせられた
= “I was made to clean the classroom every morning.”
(stronger feeling that someone else imposed it on you, often with a slightly negative or complaining nuance)

In your sentence, this fits well with 少し不公平だと感じていた – the speaker felt it was unfair, so the causative-passive helps express that sense of being put upon.