7 December 2001 (22 Kislev 5762)
Recently, especially after I read the book The Dominance of English as a Language of Science: Effects on Other Languages and Language Communities edited by Urlich Ammon (Mouton de Gruyter 2001) this week, I started wondering whether it would really be necessary to force university students to study a second foreign language as an obligatory subject in addition to English. This seems to be a good example of lack of flexibility of Japanese universities, many of which fail to adjust themselves to the changing situations and demands of the society.
Of course, I am not claiming that they should stop offering the courses of all the foreign languages other than English. Rather, I am claiming that these languages, which are German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese in most Japanese universities, should be taught not obligatorily but as elective courses to students who want to study more foreign languages after they have attained sufficient proficiency in English. In the present system of foreign language education in Japan the majority of students are simply forced to chase two hares and catch neither.
I am familiar with all the possible claims that teachers of these languages may make to defend their continued teaching as obligatory subjects. One of them would be that learning a second foreign language would widen the world view of the students. If they really believe what they claim, they themselves should study an additional foreign language. Most of the teachers of these "world languages" generally do not take the trouble of learning other languages, so if there are people who should widen their horizon first, it is not students but these teachers themselves. Their fundamental mentality is a competition with English for the hegemony as one of the "world languages", using the "glorious" culture and history of their respective language.
Whether we like it or not, English is becoming more and more dominant even in the countries where these "world languages" are spoken. Whether this is a desirable thing or not is a separate issue. One of our duties as teachers should be to prepare students for the future, whether as researchers or business people, and not to try in vain to stop further infringement of their vested rights. If the main goal of teaching second foreign languages is something cultural rather than utilitarian, the languages taught do not have to be restricted to these "world languages". And if it is utilitarian, it seems wrong to allow students to decide for themselves which second language to study when they are freshmen because they do not know what they are going to major in exactly and what languages are important in their respective area of future specialization. All in all, I have to conclude that the present system of obligatory teaching of second foreign languages other than English in Japanese universities is nothing but inertia whose main purpose is to secure continued employment to teachers of these languages.
14 December 2001 (29 Kislev 5762)
I am worried about and scared at the fact that what I call "human robots" seems to constitute a nonnegligible percent of those who are admitted to universities in Japan. By "human robots" I mean those who have no opinion about anything serious, or probably about anything at all, and have no facial expression. I wish I were wrong, but according to my experience as a university lecturer in the past eight years, as many as five to ten percent of university students are "human robots". There seems to be a unidirectional correlation: those who have no opinion have no facial expression, but not necessarily vice versa.
They may be good at the subject they major in or the neighboring areas, but if I were an examiner, I would not allow them into any university. I consider someone who has no opinion about him or herself and/or the society where he or she lives as intellectually and socially defunct, whatever the reasons may be, and hence as noneligible to be a university student. After all, a university is neither a nursery school nor an asylum for psychotherapy.
Although I encounter these "human robots" every year, I cannot help being surprised every time I see new ones in class. If they have no opinion, I wish they had at least facial expressions, but they do not move the muscles on their faces even a millimeter, so I have absolutely no clue to make even a wild guess about what is in their minds. I have never had more frightening experience in my life than seeing these "human robots". Every time I see them, I cannot help fearing that Japan is crumbling from inside. I wish I were wrong. Or is Japan going to be the first "robotocratic" country in the world?
21 December 2001 (6 Tevet 5762)
Since I had my notebook computer stolen by someone who broke into my flat in early September while I was davening in shul, I have been using a computer which an acquaintance of mine in Kobe kindly allowed me to use. Although I am not sure whether she will read this page, I would like to thank her for her benevolece here. Various circumstances, however, compel me to return her computer to her though I have not purchased a new one yet simply because the manufacturer I like has not released new models I want.
So I am going to be with no computer, hence no Internet connection, for a while again until I purchase a new one. It is ironical that precisely under such circumstances I have just received not only a notice that my application for 8MB ADSL connection was approved but also an ADSL modem itself. Anyway I seem to have been supposed to wait a while until I can able to fully enjoy a faster Internet connection as I am going to visit my parents, who have but a slow telephone connection, from the middle of next week for about ten days.
I feel that in a sense I am closing a circle. On the last day of my previous visit at my parents' a year ago my stolen computer, which was still with me then, got broken suddenly. Now I am visiting my parents in a similar condition, with no computer. Fortunately, I have no urgent job that requires the use of a computer now, so it may be a good thing that without my own computer I will be able to have more time to have dialogs with my parents and myself.
28 December 2001 (13 Tevet 5762)
Since last evening I am visiting my parents in Akita. My sister and her husband, who live in Tokyo, are joining us next Sunday to spend their winter vacation here as always. Having witnessed a harsh quarrel between me and my parents, my sister's husband seems quite worried what quarrel may happen this year. Actually, since I visited my parents about a year ago, and had my harshest quarrel with them, I feel that our relationship has become far closer. The quarrel seems to have been a good catalysis, and now we speak much more freely and openly about personal and social issues.
Not having seen each other for about a year, we stayed up speaking until quite late at night though three of us keep quite early hours. We discussed about some social problems in Japan more extensively than we always do on the telephone from time to time, and none of us could help concealing our concern about the present and future of this country. Just like the country where I live now, I am probably at the most crucial crossroad of my life now since some fateful decision I am going to make may have irreversible consequences on my later life.
Naturally, we came to this topic at the end of our midnight conversation. When I first disclosed the possibility of making this fateful decision several years ago, my parents had a hard time digesting it. Little by little, however, not only I but also they have come to realize that there cannot be any other way if various factors are taken into consideration. This is probably the most difficult decision in my life, and I am sure that it must also have been very difficult for them to become reconciled with it. I was therefore filled with the feeling of deep gratitude when they expressed their readiness to fully support me morally and even economically in spite of the fact that their own lives as pensioners may not be so easy economically. I also felt more strongly as ever before that I owe what I am more to them than to anyone else.