Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:58:31 +0000

<

I’m Yoko Kono and I am a graduate of the undergraduate class of 2007.  After graduating from SUA, I attended Stanford University’s master’s program in International Comparative Education.  Academics were extremely demanding, considering it being a one year program and my teachers were top researchers in the field.  However, SUA prepared me well to excel in graduate school. At SUA, my concentration was Social and Behavioral Sciences, and as my interest in education developed, I took courses and Learning Clusters related to education, such as Sociology of Education, Politics and Education, and Developmental Psychology.

I appreciate how SUA professors, regardless of the subject, strongly emphasized reading, research and writing skills.  These skills that I developed through coursework became the foundation for not only the level of writing that was expected in graduate school, but also for my current job.  Moreover, rather than simply absorbing knowledge, graduate students are expected to produce research and contribute to a field through a thesis.  The Capstone project during the fourth year at SUA, which introduced me to the process of a full research cycle, prepared me to be able to form a more advanced thesis in graduate school.  I am very grateful for the rigorous curriculum at SUA and the constant effort of professors to provide a first-rate education to students.

Also, through the help of the Career Center, I found volunteer and internship opportunities that exposed me to different types of schools and issues in education.  Through this experience during the school years and summers, I was able to narrow down my interests in the field.  These extracurricular activities complemented my academics and helped prepare me for life after SUA. Even if graduate school is not in your future plans, I would strongly advise current SUA students to take advantage of the academic opportunities and resources provided at SUA.

After graduating from Stanford, I moved to a small town in semi-rural Hunan Province, China, to teach English as a C.J. Huang Fellow.  I was selected as one of two Stanford graduates to go to a secondary school built by a Chinese-American philanthropist, who discovered that there was no school for the local youth when he visited his hometown 25 years ago.  Ou Yang Yu Middle School (OYY) is in Xintang Town, serving roughly 3,000 junior high and high school students from around the county, many who are from rural areas and/or from poor families.  OYY is a boarding school where all students, except for a small percentage that walk home every night, live in the campus dormitory.  The students have class every day including, Saturday and Sunday, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and roughly only three holidays per month to return home.  Xintang Town consists of one main street with roughly five side streets.  Though you couldn’t find the urban luxuries of coffee, Western food, or packaged meat; local fruit and vegetables, mom-and-pop shops, and small restaurants were in abundance! In other words, Xintang represents a typical semi-rural town in China.

Initially, adjusting to a new diet, culture, housing, and life in semi-rural China was difficult, but my study abroad experience in Nanjing gave me a pretty good idea of what to expect.  I wasn’t afraid of living in a foreign place, but I was nervous about teaching.  Moreover, I was nervous about how the community, especially students, would receive me as a Japanese-American teacher.  My supervisor of the non-profit organization affiliated with the fellowship informed me that the school had wanted an “American-looking” teacher.  I was also aware that in rural areas like Xintang there would be negative dispositions towards Japanese people due to the tragic history of the Japan’s military aggression in China during World War II.  Later, I learned that many of the teachers at OYY also possessed hatred towards the Japanese as a result of what they had learned through their schooling and the stories passed down by families and friends who experienced the Sino-Japanese War firsthand.  Due to these circumstances, although I felt uneasy, I knew that I had a very big opportunity and responsibility to bridge the people and cultures of China, Japan, and the U.S.  For many of these students and even teachers, they had never seen an American or Japanese person, except for on television.

There were indeed a few incidents at the beginning that made me uncomfortable as a Japanese American, but in the end, these things weren’t important to me.  I knew that I needed to concentrate on being a good English teacher, contribute to the school community, and be true to myself, regardless of my ethnicity.  In matter of no time; however, I started forming connections with students and teachers and the worries that I previously held faded away.

As the months went on, teaching English to students proved to be my biggest challenge.  I taught 13 classes a week to 7th and 10th graders, which ranged from 35 to 45 students per class. Trying to get 40 13-year olds to sit down definitely tested my patience!  Moreover, as many of the students graduated from rural and low quality primary and secondary schools, English proficiency was very low and many students were not motivated to learn.  Despite these obstacles, the other foreign teachers and I continued to do our best to teach and encourage students to take interest in English.  We often introduced Western and international holidays and culture through class and other activities, such as the tri-weekly English Corner sessions, a Halloween party and a Christmas Talent Show.

In addition to teaching, as a Fellow, the other Stanford graduate and I received a budget to plan and implement service projects to meet the needs of the school community.  We were able to carry out a number of projects including, inviting health experts to promote smoking cessation and educate students about HIV/AIDS and nutrition, fundraising for distribution of eye-glasses, and publishing a magazine of student writing and artwork in both English and Mandarin.

Although our primary job was to teach and manage service projects, the greatest aspect of being at OYY was the interactions outside of the classroom and becoming an integral part of the school community.  At the same time, being an older sister for many of the students.  For me, the connections that I made with students, and the fact that they shared their lives with me is the greatest treasure.  Over the year that I was at OYY, I learned that most students want to receive a higher degree of education and knew that it was a privilege for them to get an education.  They came from humble backgrounds, and despite financial instability, parents were investing in their children’s education.

Being cognizant of this, my students often felt a lot of pressure.  Nonetheless, they felt responsible and motivated to excel in their academics so they and their families can have a brighter future.  They possessed big dreams despite the realization that many of their classmates either drop out from high school or don’t make it into college.  Although the odds are stacked against them, such as inequitable access to quality learning, larger class sizes (average of 60), and poorer diet compared to their urban counterparts, I found students very resilient.  I believe that this was the source of their compassion, thoughtfulness and twinkle in their eyes, which I couldn’t find in other youth.

Observing this, my love for the students grew and I became even more motivated to bring a smile to their faces.  We, foreign teachers, made sure to be outside during the students’ limited free time to play sports or just talk and joke around.  Students often dropped by our apartment on campus to practice their English, play games, or even cook Chinese food for us.  These encounters and exchanges with students brought a lot of joy and meaning to my work and they became the greatest memories from this experience.  I am very appreciative that I could have such a rare opportunity to see, live, and internalize the realities of common youth in China.  And in terms of my career direction, this experience solidified my enthusiasm for education and international development.

As an SUA graduate, I was also pleased to learn that many Chinese have a deep understanding of Soka Education and are familiar with the founder of SUA, Daisaku Ikeda.  While in China, I was able to meet with a few friends, who are graduates of Soka Women’s College and the Soka University in Japan Distance Education Program.  They are currently graduate students at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou and doing their graduate studies on Soka Education.  Their advisor, Ms. Wang who I had the opportunity to meet with, is the head of the Daisaku Ikeda Research Center at that institution.  She told me that there are over 20 research centers focused on studying the philosophy of Dr. Ikeda in China!  And I’ve also heard before when I had studied abroad in Nanjing that Dr. Ikeda was widely known among intellectuals.  Not only was I surprised to hear this but it made me reflect on Dr. Ikeda’s promotion of Sino-Japanese friendship, for the 1970s was when he was criticized from all sides for visiting China, a communist country.  I remember reading that despite all the protests, Dr. Ikeda said that he will go to China because “there are people there”.  That astounded me considering the political circumstances of that time, but it also motivated me to return to China and build bridges with the Chinese people.

Currently, I am interning at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Bangkok’s Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau, working for programs related to secondary education.  UNESCO’s Education division offers support to Education Ministry officials and policy planners regarding education reform in the region.  It has been an eye-opening experience as I see how my academic training, work in semi-rural China, and work at an international organization complements one another.  This experience allowed me to look at different angles of education and international development.  I hope to continue in this field of education and development in the future and contribute to improve the quality of education for youth internationally.

The values, world outlook, and hopes that I cultivated while I was a SUA student continue to be my source of the strength and passion to want to work for the happiness of humanity through education.  I look back at my days at SUA and I’m so grateful that I attended the school.  In those four years, I created lifelong friendships, received a great education, and developed the life philosophy and values that I hold today.

Thank you for letting me share my life thus far after Soka, and I look forward to the day I can visit the beautiful campus again!

       


On January 26, 1975 the Soka Gakkai International was established and Daisaku Ikeda was inaugurated as SGI president. 

The SGI was formed when the First World War Peace Conference was held on the island of Guam. Today the Mystic Law has spread to 192 countries and territories, where the SGI has become a vehicle for peace, culture and education. The quintessence of Nichiren Buddhism lies in "establishing the correct teaching for the peace of land."  Our noble mission as Buddhists lies in striving for the happiness and peace of all humanity, based on the Buddhist philosophy of the dignity of life. 

As I stated at the First World Peace Conference: "Rather than seeking after your own praise or glory, I hope that you will dedicate your noble lives ti sowing the seeds of peace throughout the entire world. I shall do the same." I have maintained this devotion to constructing peace in the world.

I ask each of you to practice this great philosophy of humanism and continue to sow the "seeds of peace" by sharing it with as many as possible. Your lives will surely shine brightly as you create victorious lives, with all of your prayers fully answered.
(World Tribune- 1/10)