TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Editor's
Note
NINKISEI UPDATE
By William Holden
INTERNATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS THE ISSUES GROWS
AGAINST THE PERPETUATION OF BAD SCIENCE
By Shin-ichi Terashima
By Joseph Tomei
WHAT WE SHOULD BE AIMING FOR, PART ONE
By William Holden
HOW DOES YOUR SALARY MEASURE UP?
Courtesy Michael "Rube" Redfield
WHAT WE SHOULD BE AIMING FOR, PART TWO
Courtesy Andy Muller and Thom Simmons
A LITTLE BREAK FROM THE ROUTINE
NINKISEI
UPDATE
Trends in employment practices at Japanese colleges and
universities:
Longer-term effects of the introduction of the Sentaku Ninkisei
system
By Wm R. Holden III
Dept of Foreign Languages, Hokuriku
University
As is by now well known (cf. previous PALE Journals at Archive,
and Fox et al, The Language Teacher August 1999), Monbushou, the Japanese Ministry
of Education (MOE), in 1992 proposed instituting a system of fixed-term renewable
contracts, known as sentaku ninkisei, in national and public universities.
This was explicitly a bid to shake up a sector of the eduction system which
was seen as out of touch and underproductive. While the plan was intended to
eventually apply to all instructors, foreign educators have for the most part
been among the few to have felt its impact. The vast majority of Japanese educators
(sentaku ninkisei has to date been selectively applied) receive automatic tenure
when hired in the form of an open-ended appointment, while foreign instructors
are still most frequently hired on fixed-term contracts renewable (or not) at
the pleasure of their employer, a trend which seems likely to continue for the
foreseeable future. This paper seeks to highlight and explain several trends
in employment practices for Japanese and foreign instructors since the advent
of sentaku ninkisei in 1992.
Despite the fact that, with the passing of the Sentaku Ninkisei
Law by the Japanese Diet in 1997, both public and private universities have theoretically
become free (barring stipulations concerning the hiring of university presidents
and chancellors) to employ who they choose for as long as they choose, a search
of two of the primary sources of Japanese language information on university English
faculty positions, Eigo Kyoiku (Taishukan Shoten) and Gendai Eigo Kyoiku,
(Kenkyusha Shuppan, ceased publication 1998) from 1992 to the present failed to
turn up a single advertisement in which there was a stated a term limit or a renewable
contract offered for a candidate of Japanese nationality. A review of the ads
in these journals failed as well to yield any advertisements seeking applications
from native-speaker-equivalent or foreign faculty, nor were there indications
that those not of Japanese nationality might apply.
Another source of
Japanese-language academic employment information is the National Center for Science
Information Systems Career Information Service (NACSIS) website (http://nacwww.nacsis.ac.jp/directory/index-e.html),
whose stated purpose is:
"to gather and provide information on
advertisement of posts in Japanese universities. NACSIS-CIS contains information
on advertisement of posts (assistants, lecturers, professors, etc.) in Japanese
universities, junior and technical colleges, and inter university research institutes,
etc... Please contact each university, if you would like to inquire about the
application. Almost all the information come from universities is written only
in Japanese, and it's not allowed us to translate it". [sic]
Twenty-six of 380 positions listed by NACSIS were in departments of foreign
language, literature, linguistics, cultural or intercultural studies, e.g. the
type of departments most likely to hire foreign faculty. A breakdown of these
26 positions indicates that 14 vacancies existed at private colleges and universities,
while 12 posts were vacant at national and public universities. None of the positions
advertised stipulated a specific term of employment, though a large percentage
specified minimum or maximum ages. In addition, a number of advertisements (Dokkyo
U, Yamanashi U, Gifu U, U Aizu (computer science) Aoyama Gakuin U, Utsunomiya
U) clearly stated that nationality was not an issue, though the majority of these
schools' ads indicated that candidates were expected to speak Japanese at least
well enough to discharge their professional responsibilities.
Unfortunately,
several of the ads found on this site (Professor of French at Dokkyo U; English
Language Specialist (or else Japanese-speaking part-time foreigners!) at Sophia
U; Professor of Spanish at Waseda U; and Professor of Chinese at Toyo U) were
openly discriminatory in that they stated that candidacy would require Japanese
nationality.
On the other hand, the assumption implicit in most ads is
simply that the applicant will be either Japanese or capable of reading and writing
the language. Any reasonable person applying for a tenured position at a Japanese
university should expect such to be the case. Readers are left to assume, from
the way in which the advertisements are written, that the same employment and
tenure conditions would pertain regardless of nationality. Whether this is the
case, and Japanese-speaking foreign academics are applying for these posts to
find a tenure track, a separate and unequal track, or no job at all, is an open
question.
The combined number of advertisements carried each year in
the two journals mentioned above never exceeded the number of positions vacant
ads carried by The Language Teacher (TLT), the primary source of English-language
information for non-Japanese college and university educators, nor did the number
of positions on offer at the NACSIS site significantly exceed the number of positions
advertised in TLT. While the majority of foreign language, linguistics and literature
faculty at Japanese universities and colleges are, quite naturally, local citizens,
the disproportionate number of positions which can be assumed to exist at various
universities, coupled with the comparative dearth of "positions-vacant"
advertisements in language-specialist publications both in print on the internet
leads one to wonder: What other sources of information about university posts
exist, who is privy to such information, and does the hiring process for Japanese
candidates differ significantly from that for foreign candidates?
From
the 1992 enactment of this law, the ratio of ads carried monthly in TLT carrying
a stated term limit versus those not doing so is as follows:
1992:
20 positions offered
3 tenured positions (1 in the US for a Japanese national)
at private universities
1 "possible tenure track" position, at a
private university
3 positions whose terms were unspecified (including two
foreign universities in Japan.)
13 term-limited positions
1993:
19 positions offered
2 tenured positions both at private universities
4 positions whose terms were unspecified
13 term-limited positions
1994: 18 positions offered
2 tenured positions at private universities
7 positions whose terms were unspecified
10 term-limited positions
1995: 23 positions offered
2 tenured positions at private universities
11 positions whose terms were unspecified
10 term-limited positions
1996: 13 positions offered
1 tenured position at a private university
6 positions whose terms were unspecified
6 term-limited positions
1997: 19 positions offered
3 tenured positions; 2 at private universities,
1 at a national university
1 "possible tenure track" post, at a
private university
5 positions whose term was unspecified
10 term-limited
positions
1998: 23 positions offered
2 tenured positions at
private universities
2 "possible tenure track" posts at a private
university
1 "possible tenure track" post at a third private university
7 positions whose terms were unspecified
11 term-limited positions
What is perhaps most interesting about the trends evident in the above advertisements
is that they dispel the popular perception among foreign faculty that the number
of jobs, and particularly the number of tenured jobs, has declined dramatically;
nor does it appear to be the case that the number of part-time positions available
is increasing at the expense of full-time positions. What is rather surprising
is the fact that since 1997 (when the 1982 directive, the Special Measures Act
for the Appointment of Foreign Staff at National and Public Universities (kokuritsu
mata wa kouritsu no daigaku niokeru gaikokujin kyouin no ninyou tou ni kansuru
tokubetsu sochihou) governing term-limited employment for foreign faculty
was effectively superseded by the Sentaku Ninkisei law--so that any educator anywhere
regardless of nationality or pubic/private job status could receive term limitation
or tenure) the number of tenured and tenure track position advertisements placed
by private universities for foreign professors in TLT has constituted between
20 and 25% of the annual total, while the number of positions specifying a term
limit versus those not specifying a term limit has roughly evened out. In previous
years, the number of ads specifying a term limit had in almost every case exceeded
the number where terms were unspecified.
However, it is impossible to
tell from the advertisements alone whether this is more obfuscation or an encouraging
trend; in either case, it is little comfort for instructors who have already lost
their jobs or are still on limited-term contracts. Yet the issue here is less
the number of tenured or non-tenured set-asides for non-Japanese faculty, more
the continuation of a practice which bars qualified candidates from gaining tenured
employment on the basis of their ethnicity or nationality. As the situation currently
stands, based on the evidence of seven years of advertisements for instructors,
Japanese scholars still qualify for tenure by dint of their nationality; equally-qualified
Japanese-speaking foreign academics must either wait through a probationary period,
or take up employment under less favorable conditions than their native-born peers.
The sentaku ninkisei drive has, depending on one`s perspective, been successful
-- a full 85% of all "foreign professors" (gaikokujin kyouin or gaikokujin
kyoushi) employed at national and public universities since 1982 have been
employed under some version of term limitation. This is despite the fact that
the abovementioned 1982 gaikokujin kyouin directive was, at least theoretically,
implemented to facilitate the hiring and retention of foreign faculty (Hall, p.88)
by lengthening the terms and not explicitly ruling out tenure. The loophole was,
and remains, that the interpretation of the nature of the contract is in the eye
of the employer, while the MOE is in a position to influence these employers`
interpretations without having to take formal responsibility for them. This is
the same loophole exploited by the 1992 Monbusho directive regarding employment
of foreign faculty. As of 1998, only 66 non-Japanese citizens held tenured positions
at Japanese national and public universities (ibid, p. 95). Thus, foreign
educators, unlike their Japanese counterparts, can be terminated through contract
non-renewal and replaced with younger (or cheaper) instructors, who will quickly
in turn be replaced by yet other "full-time part-time" instructors.
This is not a theoretical construct: there have in fact been over 40 cases of
questionable or prejudicial firings of long-term foreign teachers over the past
five or six years. New cases, like those within The Prefectural University of
Kumamoto (cf. PALE Journals Dec. 98 and Apr. 99), continue to draw attention.
The future bodes worse: The Fourth Advisory Report of the University Advisory
Council (dai yon-ki daigaku shingikai toushin/houkoku-shuu) published in
November of 1995, proposed the imposition of a contract employment system on foreign
educators employed at private universities (over which MOE currently has less
mandate) as well, coupled with a system of sentaku ninkisei for their Japanese
colleagues; the panel, however, recommended at the same time that the means of
implementation again be left to the discretion of each institution. Nevertheless,
the writing is clearly on the wall, and the creation of yet another separate and
unequal track is afoot.
Only one Japanese university, Hokuriku Japan
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has to my knowledge openly stated
that Japanese faculty are on an "up or out" performance-review-based
tenure system, with 10 years for associates to reach the rank of professor or
move on. This, however is apparently open to interpretation or manipulation. The
status of the full-time foreign faculty, however, still varies from person to
person; several instructors are on renewable contracts, and others on specified-term
contracts. Like most other national universities, there are two systems in place.
Since the introduction of this system, Hokuriku JAIST has had difficulty attracting
faculty and researchers, has failed to secure an adequate number of positions
at other universities for its own graduates and post-doctoral researchers, and
has, ironically, begun planning to import more foreign researchers and professors
on term-limited contracts to make up for the shortfall in applicants. This is
particularly ironic in light of the fact that this was the flagship institution
chosen by the MOE for the introduction of sentaku ninkisei for Japanese faculty.
If this is the MOE`s idea of how the system should work, it has--wittingly or
not--put into practice what amounts to yet another parallel system of institutionalized
discrimination based on nationality, in which foreign academics are used as temporary
replacements until qualified local candidates can be found.
Sentaku
ninkisei, if eventually applied to all university faculty in Japan as initially
proposed in November 1995, is still far more likely to have the effect of encouraging
the retention of local faculty while rendering foreign faculty dispensable. If
implemented in the same fashion as it has been thus far, it will place Japanese
scholars on a less secure tenure track while putting their foreign colleagues
on notice that their services are no longer required. Foreign staff on contracts
at national universities will be the first to go, followed by foreign instructors
at private universities placed on contracts under the new sentaku ninkisei system,
followed by their Japanese colleagues at public, then private, universities. Private
universities able to reduce their retirement and pension obligations through forced
attrition and the use of part-time or temporary faculty are those which will reap
the greatest financial rewards. Universities which continue to extend tenure will
in doing so place themselves at a competitive disadvantage in a market where the
student will soon be able to choose among universities. Japan`s citizens and government
will eventually be forced to bear the increased social and economic costs this
policy engenders. Recent changes in the Labor Standards Law, making it much easier
for corporations (here read: universities) to absolve themselves of obligations
to their employees regardless of nationality, will exacerbate this situation,
complicating or denying dismissed instructors' attempts to win compensation.
While the trend toward the elimination of full-time, tenured teaching positions
and the use of part-time or temporary teaching staff is by no means limited to
Japan, the difference is that the economic issues driving this cost-cutting overseas
have, accidentally or not, occurred across racial lines. The systematic targeting
a particular group of educators for dismissal based on their age and/or nationality,
and the elimination through sudden and systematic non-renewal of contracts of
senior foreign faculty may well be unique among developed countries. While other
nations which practice institutionalized discrimination against foreign academics
(such as Italy) have been the target of complaints, protests and lawsuits, surprisingly
few foreign educators in Japan have lodged similar complaints or joined the ranks
to support those seeking a redress to their grievances.
However, there
are some supporters of the systems both past and present who indicate that there
should be no surprises here. Cases have been made by both foreign apologists and
Japanese educators that foreigners should have known all along that they are "visitors"
in Japan by the way in which they have been treated, that they are here at the
whim and leisure of the host country, that Japan is not a country of emigration,
that foreigners--as the most visible and vulnerable--were simply and predictably
the thin end of the sentaku ninkisei wedge, that foreign instructors are in some
fundamental way "less qualified" than their Japanese counterparts, that
the number of Japanese graduates of overseas masters degree programs have the
requisite skills and experience and constitute a labor pool large enough to meet
the staffing demands of Japan`s colleges and universities, or that, if one doesn`t
like it, one should vote with one`s feet. Rather than tilt at windmills, one may
simply ask which of these positions is not at its heart implicitly discriminatory.
And then there are the conspiracy theories. Speculations on reasons why the
sentaku ninkisei system was adopted have included a desire by the MOE to extend
its political and ideological control over more systematic territory, the desire
to curtail the influence of an intellectual class that is perceived as westernized
and thus suspect, an antiquated witch-hunt for subversives in the universities,
resurgent nationalism, deepening economic recession, the first faint stirring
of popular political dissent, the dictate that descendants of the victims of Japan`s
recent colonial past be kept out of positions of influence, the desire to protect
the Japanese university system from scrutiny or comparison, the ability of Japanese-speaking
foreign professors to portray an image of Japan to students as well as to the
outside world which contradicts the sanitized "official" view, jealousy
on the part of government officials who view the lives of their academic colleagues
(recall that national and public university faculty are, like bureaucrats, civil
servants) as insulated and cushy, or simply the unwillingness to pay retirement
benefits to foreigners when the government will soon be hard-pressed to meet its
pension obligations to its own citizens. While Occam`s Razor has grown famously
dull in Japan, it may well cut straight to the last of the above arguments: Japanese
institutions simply do not feel obligated to reciprocate where foreigners are
concerned.
However, there is room for improvement should non-Japanese
academics become better informed. Despite claims by many schools that foreign
instructors can only be hired on one-year rollover contracts, and despite the
number of advertisements which carry the caveat that "hiring policy conforms
to MOE guidelines", all Japanese institutions of higher learning had in fact
been empowered under the 1982 gaikokujin kyouin directive to hire whom
they like (qualifications pending Ministry of Education approval), at whatever
status they like (other than top-level posts in the national and public universities).
Although this decades-old law was rarely interpreted to permit tenured foreign
educators, the 1997 Sentaku Ninkisei Law, as was stated above, makes it clear
that job-statuswise anything goes now for anybody anywhere, which includes foreigners
as full-time, tenured educational civil servants. Any school official who claims
otherwise (i.e. something like "foreign nationals by law may not be employed
permanently in Japan as national civil servants, only on a renewable-contract
basis") is simply in error.
Still, the 1997 law is merely a fig
leaf to further cover up the already systemwide MOE reach through administrative
guidance (gyoseishidou). The best example of the power of this policy tool
is what is referred to as the "Great Gaijin Massacre" of 1992. This
is where the MOE demanded that senior foreign faculty at national and public universities
be replaced with younger faculty, or summarily terminated if they had reached
the top two pay grades. This "guidance" was delivered to the national
and public universities by phone, avoiding written records in order to preserve
its ability to deny that such guidance had ever been given. The existence of a
hand-written copy of the directive taken, down by a diligent employee at a university
where one foreign instructor was later dismissed, produced the "smoking gun",
which demonstrated not only that the MOE wished to avoid blame for this policy
but also that they wished to obscure their own role by placing responsibility
for its implementation on the shoulders of colleges and universities.
Despite the clearer possibilities of tenure implicit in the 1997 law, the chilling
effect that gyoseishidou can have is clear. The power of MOE to lean on
universities is undiminished, while the power of the university to dismiss faculty
is strengthened. To see the system in practice, one need only look at the number
of foreign faculty (estimates in Hall, 1998) who have been dismissed since 1992
without just cause and denied redress or compensation, or at the number of current
advertisements for employment of native-English-speaking university faculty which
stipulate (or purposely obscure) a term limit.
Moreover, it is easy to
see the threat this policy represents from the perspective of a public-sector
Japanese academic. The precedents for foreign labor for employment as temp staff
in the national and public universities are currently being made, and with it
the potential destruction of an intellectual class by removing the assurance that
one will be able to earn a living and support oneself and family through a career
in the national or public university system. Similar moves by the government toward
companies in the private sector would meet with incredulity and harsh union retaliation.
One cannot help but wonder what the reaction would be if a government agency in
a western country were to begin examining the credentials or experience of a certain
sector of its own employees--employees whose credentials had previously been vetted
and who had been hired by that organization itself--and determining on the basis
of age or economic cost (moreover, in our case, ethnicity or nationality coupled
with age) which employees were qualified to remain in their jobs.
Several
things have become increasingly clear over the last five years. The first is that
the government, in particular the MOE, will not respond meaningfully without external
pressure. Despite the much-heralded start in 1982, MOE from 1992 made sure that
this directive producd no changes on the ground. The 1997 law provides no assurances
that this will change.
The second is that the Japanese courts, which
have in the past been of limited assistance to victims of nationality-related
job dismissals, are no longer going to be a vehicle for social change, if ever
they were seen as such. Instructors at public-sector universities are almost completely
without legal recourse, for when contracted they can be fired the same as any
part-time laborer, yet as civil servants they will be denied any rights under
the Japanese Labor Standards Law (roudou kijun hou). Hence legally they
will be considered "full-time part-time". Instructors at private institutions
are protected under the roudou kijun hou, though anyone who signs a contract
(with or without a term limit) has probably sealed his or her own fate.
The last and perhaps the most difficult issue is the nature of the MOE, in my
opinion an entrenched, self-referential, techno-nationalist bureaucracy which
is incapable, despite its purported espousal of internationalization, of conceiving
of, let alone try to encourage, a heterogeneous, pluralistic society. One can
only hope that similar sentaku ninkisei standards will eventually be applied to
the employment tenure of the non-elected bureaucrats responsible for shaping government
educational policy.
As long as the educational role of the university
in this society remains undefined while the fundamental goal of secondary schooling
remains entrance into a university, Japan will face a conundrum. As long as the
goals of the education system remain at odds with both socio-economic reality
and the aspirations of society, there will be friction, tension and confusion
in the schools. While it has been clear for at least a decade that educational
reform, particularly the liberalization of public school K-12 education, should
be made a national priority, the MOE has resisted changing what it already controls
and instead sought to induce change, both literally and figuratively, from the
top down. A concrete, transparent and equitable system of employment and peer
or faculty review of research, classroom performance and student evaluation for
tenure, would be laudable step toward addressing some of the problems that plague
Japan`s universities, and would bring employment practices into line with the
policies of universities in many other countries. Unfortunately, this is not even
on the MOE's radar screen, and it seems that the policies instituting term limitation,
first with foreign educators and now across the board, has had the intended effect
of rendering it increasingly difficult for non-Japanese to find secure employment
in Japanese universities. Thus foreign academics have been the first, and certainly
not the last, victims of this policy.
Bibliography
Readers
interested in further information regarding the issue of institutionalized discrimination
against foreign educators in Japan may refer to the following sources:
Publications:
On the internet:
PALE-Journal of Professionalism and Languge Education. V.1 No.1 (1995) - from
1998 to the present available at Archive
http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/dnews
http://www.kumagaku.ac.jp/teacher/~masden
http://www.issho.org/faj
http://www.debito.org/activistspage.html#ninkisei
William R. Holden III works for the Department of Foreign
Languages in Hokuriku University.
THE
RISE OF INTERNATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS THE ISSUE
TESOL RESOLUTION
ON DISCRIMINATION WORLDWIDE
AGAINST FOREIGN RESIDENT EDUCATORS
(Courtesy
of William Holden)
The following resolution was passed at TESOL
`99 in response to the egregiously discriminatory treatment received by foreign
resident English teachers in Italy. This resolution has been covered in the Guardian,
the Wall Street Journal, on CNN etc. The abuse and exploitation described herein
is well documented and this phenomenon is getting an increasing amount of attention.
Hopefully TESOL will address Japan's similar systematic treatment of the its non-Japanese
educators in the future.
TESOL Resolution Against Discrimination
on the Grounds of Nationality
Whereas, up to 700 mother-tongue
teachers of English employed in Italian universities are suffering from widespread
and prolonged discrimination on the grounds of nationality, receiving different
treatment from their Italian colleagues with respect to the duration of contracts,
increments for years of service, maternity leave, and social security rights;
and
Whereas, Article 48 of the Treaty of Rome provides for the
freedom of movement of workers and the abolition of any discrimination based on
nationality as regards employment, remuneration, and other conditions of work
and employment; and
Whereas, The European Court of Justice has
ruled twice and the European Parliament at plenary sessions has twice passed resolutions
condemning illegal discriminatory practices in Italian universities regarding
non Italian teaching staff; and
Whereas, these conditions and
practices are common worldwide; and
Whereas, this discrimination
on the grounds of nationality places a financial and psychological burden on these
non-nationals and their families by rendering it difficult to sell their labor
as teachers without constant and extremely protracted recourse to the courts;
and
Whereas, TESOL has previously adopted resolutions regarding
discriminatory practices; and
Whereas, TESOL's Vision Statement
calls for a "coordinated, knowledgeable response at the international, national,
and local level to issues affecting institutions that foster the development of
effective human communications"; therefore, be it
RESOLVED,
That the membership of TESOL recommend that the Board of Directors address the
issue of discrimination against teachers of English on the basis of national origins
that affects the "employment and
professional lives of the TESOL membership"
(Standards Objectives in the Forward Plan, revised 1999) by:
a. Recruiting
support against this discrimination by searching out other like-minded organizations
to take further action thereby enacting its Mission Statement that "promotes
advocacy to further the profession"
b. Lobbying support against the aforementioned
discrimination in appropriate governmental agencies internationally
c. Educating
TESOL members regarding the issue and principles involved through various means,
such as TESOL publications and web site
d. Facilitating discussion of this
issue through various means, such as panels and forums.
AGAINST
THE PERPETUATION OF BAD SCIENCE
On Language and Japanese Rational
Thought Processes
Guest Forum: Where there's no 'will' there's
no way
By Shin-ichi Terashima, University of the Ryukyus
(Courtesy
of The Japan Times, December 19, 1998)
Foreigners have made a point
of telling me that the Japanese seem unable to express any opinions of their own.
If that is true, how can our educators help their pupils develop an opinion-forming
faculty? The emphasis on the cram-learning of facts is undoubtedly a major weakness
in our philosophy of education. Memorized knowledge is not in itself a vehicle
for making judgments, and an endless accumulation of information tends to become
both the means and the end of study. Thus students conclude that study is a dangerous
thing, much less valuable than getting on with a career.
The general
lack of opinions means there is little discussion or intellectual leadership among
the Japanese. Even university researchers tend to aim at formulating some generalized
statement in their publications. This helps explain why higher education is not
effective in this country. Although there are many colleges abroad suitable and
ready to receive young people, most Japanese students make no effort to apply
to them, because their main aim in life is to achieve high status at home. The
Japanese mentality allows little room for the consideration of other intellectual
dimensions, preoccupied as it is with dreams of ascent through the hierarchy.
In Japanese, there are no auxiliary verbs equivalent to the English "will"
or "shall, " because there is no future tense that requires such verbal
adjuncts. Traditionally, the Japanese have no intention and no point of view that
needs to be expressed in terms of a future tense. They see their aims in a real
or immediate form.
"It is the way of the world that . . ."
("Yononaka wa . .") is a classic Japanese utterance, similar to the
English phrase "Generally speaking. . ." If need be, we can term this
Japanese way of uttering things a "real tense" comparable to the English
simple present tense. To formulate this kind of statement, the Japanese have to
memorize many facts unerringly as yononaka at school. The discourse runs:
"So-and-so declared such-and-such to be the case, and then some other person
holds a different view. . ." and so on. Yononaka is considered the
only source of truth in our society; consequently, for the Japanese, the truth
is never universal. This form of discourse is used for general statements, and
the hierarchical structure existing in Japan is also based on it. A lecturer does
not state his personal opinion, but merely demonstrates his need to "do in
Rome as the Romans do' in his own society.
So, lacking a future tense,
the Japanese only believe in the present reality, "utsutsu," what is
right before our eyes, i.e. something that corresponds to the present tense. If
someone says anything that eliminates considerations of reality, "utsutsu
wo nukasu," he is regarded as absent-minded. It is therefore not surprising
that notions of future and past tend to be seen as insignificant.
By
eliminating close consideration of things past and future, we see ourselves as
concentrating on reality. Those still concerned about their past affairs speak
about them in the present tense. Even the dead speak in the present tense when
communicating through a medium. For the Japanese, the past is not a completed
past, but the past surviving into the present. By the same token, the future is
also present, though, of course, everybody understands that this logic is not
convincing. Nevertheless, the Japanese feel very unsafe when imagining an unforeseeable
future, and instead are inclined "to save money for a rainy day." They
believe salvation should be achieved in the real world and that saving money is
for a specific purpose.
Because everything must be stated in a tense
conveying reality, people generally tend to resist talking about matters that
lie in the future. They do not want to seem liars, and they will not believe a
speaker who talks of another world in a future tense. Many foreign missionaries
who came to this country failed for that very reason.
The Japanese are
always waiting for the future to become reality in order to describe any actual
change in the present tense. This is because they want to sense the atmosphere
of the present, "imayou."
Another problem with the Japanese
education system is that adults are inherently unable to teach rational thinking
because of their own position in relation to their students. In Japanese, there
is a grammatical hierarchy, and honorific terms are taught as a means of conveying
deference. In fact, the grammatical hierarchy is not only a means of ensuring
deference and general courtesy, but of constantly reaffirming a fixed social hierarchy.
This hierarchy takes precedence over rationality. People are obliged to use "gomuri
gomottomo" (yielding under protest), a practice that may be unreasonable
but has to be accepted in daily life in the name of hierarchy and because it is
the only way for decisions to be made in a world devoid of opinion. It follows
that there is little sense of responsibility in society as a whole, which is what
led to the development of a powerful bureaucratic system based on a hierarchy
of superiors and inferiors.
Westerners generally believe that human beings
are bound to advance from barbarism to ever-higher levels of civilization and
that this constitutes human progress. They can thereby see themselves transforming
future aims into reality. There is an English saying, "Where there's a will
there's a way." Since the Japanese find it so hard to develop their own opinions,
this proverb has to be altered in Japan to say that, in conversation, where there
is no will, there is no way. The Japanese are linguistically restricted from becoming
revolutionaries.
These fundamental factors should be taken into consideration
whenever Japan's education problems are discussed.
Shinichi Terashima
teaches In the department of physiology of the University of the Ryukyus
School of Medicine.
COUNTERPOINT
Blame the Usage, Not the Language
By Joseph Tomei, Kumamoto Gakuen
Daigaku
(Courtesy of The Japan Times, January 3, 1999)
As a
linguist, I am always disappointed when someone holds misconceptions about language
and what language can and can't do, especially to the extent that Professor Shin-Ichi
Terashima exhibits ("Where there's no 'will,' there's no way," Dec.
19). But my feelings move from disappointment to distress when such misconceptions
become the basis for recommendations of how education and society should function.
I know of no linguist who would support the view that Japanese, by virtue
of the fact that they speak Japanese, are unable to discuss the future or hold
a viewpoint about the future. But even when linguistics are set aside, Terashima's
argument fails to withstand the scrutiny of common sense. For instance, after
he begins with the common complaint that Japanese education is too fact-oriented,
he then makes the astonishing implication that somehow, the students are responsible
for this state of affairs. Students come to the conclusion that "study"
is a dangerous thing and these students don't "make an effort" to study
overseas. It is as if, the students have demanded that their teachers and the
education system give them litany of memorizable facts. The last time I checked,
it is the teacher who determines how a class is taught and how students are to
be evaluated.
Terashima suggests that "for the Japanese, truth is
never universal." Does this mean that when he teaches physiology, he teaches
that the functions of the pancreas are this and this, but may change tomorrow,
because he's not really sure what is going to happen? Perhaps this is where the
idea arose that Japanese intestines are different and so Japan can't import U.S.
beef.
Terashima's next point is that somehow, Japanese, because of the
lacuna in their grammar, are more grounded in the present and this is evidenced
by the failure of many foreign missionaries in Japan. I live in Kumamoto, near
Shimabara, where two Christian uprisings in the 1600s were brutally suppressed.
I should not have to tell Terashima that many Japanese Christians refused to renounce
their religion, even after undergoing torture. Perhaps the Kyushu dialects of
Japanese have some sort of future tense not permitted in standard Japanese. I'm
also sure that many Buddhist scholars will be surprised to find this out, as several
schools of Buddhist thought in Japanese history concerned the nature of salvation.
It is not because of some deficiency in Japanese grammar that Japan's education
system has problems, but rather because of the refusal to use the language clearly.
Terashima, in his use of suspect and spurious linguistic "facts" to
argue for the status quo, reveals this better than any litany of facts could ever
do.
Joseph Tomei is a tenured assistant professor at
the Department of Foreign Languages, Kumamoto Gakuen Daigaku
WHAT WE SHOULD
BE AIMING FOR, PART ONE
Goals of Democratization at Japanese Universities
(By William Holden)
At the national level
1) Remove
the gaikokujin kyoushi and gaikokujin kyouin systems and titles.
2) Abolish the practice of issuing limited term contracts solely to non-Japanese
citizens.
3) Provide a fair and honorable resolution of the issues surrounding
non-Japanese faculty being denied tenure or dismissed as a result of the introduction
of the sentaku ninkisei system, which has since superseded the kokuritsu mata
wa kouritsu no daigaku ni okeru gaikokujin kyouin no ninyou tou ni kansuru tokubetsu
sochihou.
4) Introduce an open and transparent system of hiring, promotion
and tenure based on clearly- stated qualifications rather than nationality.
5) An unequivocal statement by the MOE that all universities are encouraged to
freely employ, without reference to nationality, the person best qualified for
a particular post, under the same principles as private enterprises now operate.
At the university level
1) Democratic election (or short listing)
of members of university steering committees, chancellors and department heads
by the faculty. (The Japanese courts in a recent case involving Hokuriku University
issued a ruling which upheld the right of Japanese private university administrations`
steering
committees (rijikai) to appoint their presidents without either
the benefit of a democratic vote or the consent of the faculty.);
2) Control
of hiring, tenure and promotion (or short listing) by faculty committee. Implementation
of a clear and reasonable process of peer review for tenure and promotion. Hiring
faculty under the same conditions irrespective of nationality;
3) Appointment
of qualified independent ombudsmen to oversee university administrative affairs.
The quid pro quo
1) Classroom performance evaluations of instructors
by students;
2) Scholastic and research review by independent committee/peers;
3) Community service or continuing education work in addition to research;
4) Development of language ability commensurate with professional responsibilities
(foreign language ability for Japanese foreign language faculty, Japanese language
ability for foreigners);
5) Development of comprehensive, integrated, transparent
curricula and educational policy which respond to the needs and aspirations of
the students and the society;
6) Assisting students in meeting real-world
needs such as obtaining qualifying certificates and seeking employment.
PALE JOURNAL
THIRD ANNUAL SURVEY:
"HOW DOES YOUR SALARY MEASURE UP?"
1998 Kansai Area Teacher Salary Scales
Courtesy Michael "Rube"Redfield
Osaka University of Economics
The following is the 1998 Kansai area
college teacher salary scale, complied by the Kansai Private Universities Labor
Union. The three highest paying schools are listed at the top of each table, the
thirty school average in the middle, and the three lowest paying colleges at the
bottom. The yearly salary includes all bonuses but does not include additional
sources of revenue, such as research budgets and travel allowances.
WHAT
WE SHOULD BE AIMING FOR, PART TWO
ADMINISTRATOR EVALUATION
A SAMPLE SURVEY
(Courtesy Thom Simmons)
What follows is
a form developed for administrators at the American Cultural Exchange (A.C.E.)
Language Institutes:
(from Andy Muller, Director, A.C.E. Language Institute,
Benedictine University, Lisle, IL, <amuller@ix.netcom.com>)
ADMINISTRATOR EVALUATION
Evaluated Administrator _________________
Program ________________ Date __________
Please rate the administrator
with a number from 0-4 in the blank provided.
Not applicable = 0, needing
improvement = 1, adequate = 2, good = 3, and outstanding = 4.
Professional
Characteristics
1. Knowledgeable in area of specialization. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
2. Offers
useful feedback on performance of others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . ____
3. Recognizes good work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
4. Encourages
new ideas and helps implement them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . ____
5. Respects colleagues and staff. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
6. Creates a professional
atmosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . ____
7. Discriminates between issues that have far-reaching impact and
those that are superficial . ____
8. Considers others' perspectives when making
decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
9. Seeks out
and considers all factors and variables related to a blem. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .____
10. Uses appropriate analytical and group processes to solve
problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
Personal Characteristics
1. Offers alternative solutions in response to feedback from others.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
2. Uses skill and tact in taking appropriate
steps to resolve conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
3. Places a high
priority on needs and welfare of the program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. ____
4. Demonstrates high energy and enthusiasm for the task. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .____
5. Receptive to new ideas and change,
yet understanding a need for stability . . . . . . . . ____
6. Projects a
professional appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . ____
7. Clearly presents facts and ideas verbally, both in individual
and group situations. . . . ____
8. Initiates activities rather than just
reacting to situations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____
9. Performs
appropriately under pressure and during opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . ____
10. Encourages innovative ideas and solutions from others . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .____
Comments and Recommendations:
(You may type your comments to ensure anonymity. Use reverse side if necessary.)
CORRECTION
ERRATUM
IN PREVIOUS PALE JOURNAL, APRIL 1999, WHICH STATED ON PAGE 21:
Paul
A. Beaufait, like Daniel T. Kirk above, is a Gaikokujin Kyoushi with
a three-year appointment at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto. Despite his
five plus years of continuous employment at PUK, he too was recently passed over
for promotion to Associate Professor (jokyouju) without a verbal or written explanation.
His appointment, like Dan's, expires on March 31, 2000, less than one year from
now.
PAUL REPLIES (Edited): "Dan and I have just entered
our sixth years as _'sennin koushi'_ at the PUK in the Administrative Studies
faculty; those "five +" years are on top of three years each as gaikokujin
kyoushi at Kumamoto Women's University before it went co-educational. For
the record, please correct the bio-blurb job title for me when the next 'hard'
issue of the PALE newsletter comes out?"
For the record,
Professor Paul A. Beaufait is a Sennin Koushi at The Prefectural University of
Kumamoto. The PALE JOURNAL Editor regrets the error.--David C. Aldwinckle
HUMOR
"DOUBLESPEAK"
(Courtesy Dan Bisgaard )
I looked up the term "doublespeak"
on the Altavista search engine and was rewarded with more than I could ever read
- not suprising is it? Here's a bit from NASA's European rivals on spin-doctoring
the Ariane-5 launch:
[Editor's Note: The Ariane 5 was a rocket
that exploded on its first launch. The following is a "translation"
of the press release that followed the explosion.]
"The first
Ariane-5 flight did not result in validation of Europe's new launcher."
Translation: It blew up.
"It was the first
flight test of an entirely new vehicle each of whose elements had been tested
on the ground in the course of the past years and months."
Translation: It never blew up on the ground.
"Of an
entirely new design, the launcher uses engines ten times as powerful as those
of the Ariane-4 series. Its electronic brain is a hundred times more powerful
than that used on previous Ariane launchers. The very many qualification reviews
and ground tests imposed extremely tough checks on the correctness of all the
choices made. There are, however, no absolute guarantees. A launcher's capability
can be demonstrated only in flight under actual launch conditions."
Translation: It was bigger and prettier than our previous toy. But
it still blew up.
"A second test already scheduled under the
development plan will take place in a few months' time. Before that, everything
will have to be done to establish the reasons for this setback and make the corrections
necessary for a successful second test. An inquiry board will be set up in the
next few days. It will be required to submit, by mid-July, an entirely independent
report identifying the causes of the incident and proposing modifications designed
to prevent any further incidents."
Translation: We
have 6 weeks to come up with a good excuse or they won't let us blow up another
one.
"Ariane-5 is a major challenge for space activities in
Europe. The skills of all the teams involved in the programme, coupled with the
determination and solidarity of all the political, technical and industrial authorities,
make us confident of a successful outcome."
Translation:
We haven't figured out which poor bastard to fire for blowing the damn thing up,
yet. -
-RJ "After you try selling to NASA, this all makes sense"
Johnson
POETRY
Food for Thought
By Tim Newfields
If educational institutions
were restaurants
what sort of food would they serve?
Would most dish
out tasteless slop
and dull recipes
expecting students to eat
what's
on the menu
since no one was permitted to leave
til their plates were
clean?
How many teachers would cook
with passion and originality?
Would they take the time
to prepare special dishes well
when most students
just wanted
fast food that was clean?
How many students would feel
nurtured
by the generic stuff they eat?
Would any be bold enough
to
refuse to take another bite
and tell the cooks,
"This junk is made
for sheep.
What's inside the stuff you're cooking?
Is there really any
meat?"
T Newfields
1999
Tim Newfields
is an educator at the English Language Centre, Ming Chuan University, Taipei,
Taiwan (email: newfields@yahoo.com,
URL http://www.geocities.com/~newfields/ivy/food/htm)
.
THE PALE JOURNAL OF PROFESSIONAL ISSUES, AUTUMN 1999, ENDS