Notes from the President's Office No. 12: The 150th Anniversary of the Publication of Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning) and a Trip to Singapore

2022/08/31

Kohei Itoh, President, Keio University

The best view from the window of the Office of the President is the sight of Keio students absorbed in their studies or reading at their desks in the library. The library is always full during the semester, and even during the summer and spring breaks, many Keio students continue to study. There is nothing as seemingly ordinary yet as moving as the sight of our Keio students learning. People must continue to learn—yes, this is the essence of *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*.

*Gakumon no susume Shohen* (the first part of *An Encouragement of Learning*), by Yukichi Fukuzawa and Tokujirō Obata, was published 150 years ago in 1872 (the 5th year of the Meiji era). It preached that with the abolition of the feudal system that had continued through the Edo period, differences based on birth and social status were eliminated, and a person's worth would be determined solely by whether or not they pursued learning. The idea of Yukichi Fukuzawa and his colleagues—to build and develop a modern sovereign nation based on the learning of each individual citizen as a sovereign, respecting the dignity and rights of the people, encapsulated in the phrase "the independence of the individual leads to the independence of the nation"—truly espoused the ideals of democracy. The ideal of *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*—to develop society through learning—inspired young people throughout Japan, and a flood of applicants knocked on the doors of Keio University. *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*, which began with the first part, continued for 17 parts. The complete edition, which compiled all 17 parts into a single volume, remains a timeless bestseller, with modern Japanese translations still being published today.

The wonder of *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)* is that each time you reread it, new advice tailored to the changes in your own life and circumstances magically appears. It offers a diverse range of insights that resonate with people in various situations. Therefore, rereading *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)* periodically is an excellent opportunity to check in on your own goals and daily efforts. From this perspective, I also reread *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)* from my current standpoint and gave a 50-minute lecture summarizing it in May as part of the 70th Human Education Lecture Series (please see the 03:00-53:00 mark of the YouTube video). As a physicist specializing in quantum computers, this is my straightforward summary from reading the original text of *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*, so it contains no commentary or academic analysis. I encourage all of you to take this opportunity to read *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)* and try to create your own summary. It is fascinating to read it with a fresh mind and then read the analyses and commentaries by experts, as you will discover similarities and different perspectives compared to your own interpretation.

Now, as announced in Notes from the President's Office No. 9, "Resuming In-Person Exchanges with Global Research and Educational Institutions," I visited Singapore in early July to attend the Annual Presidents' Meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). Presidents, vice-presidents, and international affairs staff from the association's 60 member research universities in places such as California, Vancouver, Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand gathered at Nanyang Technological University.

The theme of this year's Annual Presidents' Meeting was "Reconnecting in a Sustainable World," and various presidents gave presentations from their universities' perspectives on topics such as "Responses to Crisis in a Diverse Region," "Sustainability and Climate Change," "Preventing the Next Pandemic," and "Reconnecting: The New Urgency for Collaboration."

My role was to discuss "Reconnecting in a Sustainable World" from my position as the President of Keio University, and a Japanese summary of my speech is provided at the end. And for those who have read *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*, you may notice that my speech corresponds to the following passage from Part 5.

"The civilization of a country should not arise from the government above, nor should it be born of the common people below. It must arise from the middle, showing the way for the masses, and only by standing alongside the government can success be expected. Considering the histories of Western nations, not a single path of commerce or industry was created by the government; their origins all lie in the ingenuity of scholars of the middle station. The steam engine was the invention of Watt, the railway was the device of Stephenson, and it was the achievement of Adam Smith to first discuss the fixed principles of economics and transform the laws of commerce. These great masters were what is called the 'middle class' (author's note), not rulers of the country, nor were they the common people engaged in manual labor; they were precisely those who occupied the middle station of the nation and guided the age with their intellect. When such devices and inventions first form in the mind of one person, to make them public and put them into practice, private associations are formed, making the enterprise ever more prosperous and leaving boundless happiness for the people for all generations to come." (From Part 5 of *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*, in Volume 3 of "The Collected Works of Yukichi Fukuzawa")

From that perspective, I hope you will read my speech below.

Summary of the Lecture by President Kohei Itoh at The 26th APRU Annual Presidents’ Meeting on July 7, 2022

(Japanese Summary)

I am grateful for the opportunity today to speak about our connections for achieving a sustainable society, within the framework of The Mission of Keio University. One of The Mission of Keio University is to provide a place of learning for Keio students to shine (become luminaries) for the development of a better society. As our school motto, "independence and self-respect," indicates, we believe in democracy and are committed to considering and reforming the nature of democracy in line with the development of future society. The luminaries indicated in The Mission of Keio University are not self-righteous, strong leaders. A luminary is someone everyone wants to work with. They are global citizens who are admired by all, cooperative, and contribute to global development based on an international and progressive perspective. Looking around the world, because many educational institutions advocate for leadership development, there is a tendency for young people to mistakenly believe that becoming a leader is a ladder to the upper class. On the other hand, Keio University focuses on fostering citizens (the "middle class" in Part 5 of *Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)*) who are hardworking, admired, and capable of driving innovation. I believe this very way of thinking will lead to the future collaborative and healthy development of the world.

In the society of the future, to enable students to be active across borders, university education must also be constantly updated. In education up to now, we have focused on imparting knowledge to students and building the fundamental skills necessary for success in society, such as planning, execution, and reporting. However, in today's global society, various unexpected events also occur. Therefore, the ability to respond to them swiftly and appropriately has also become a necessary skill. To respond to unexpected events, one needs imagination, creativity, teamwork, and decisiveness that break away from a reliance on precedent. For this, rather than autocratic processes or entrusting everything to a few strong leaders, daily team-building and cooperativeness as citizens are important. We believe that it is through cooperation that we can become stronger. What must be avoided most is factionalism and division, such as clashes between strong leaders. We, the members of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, are gathered here to build this new kind of cooperation. Keio University is determined to play an important role in this endeavor.

(Original English Speech)

It is my honor to present our view of how to reconnect in a sustainable world within the context of the mission of Keio University, namely to educate students to become luminaries who will contribute to the betterment of all society. As our school motto－independence and self-respect, or dokuritsujison in Japanese－implies that we believe in democracy, and aspire to improve or even transform the configurations of such in accordance with the needs of the future. Instead of creating strong leaders, we aim to educate students to become people with whom anyone would want to work. Such people are progressive, capable, likable, and cooperative. In this regard, Keio University aims to imbue citizens with knowledge, a sense of personal responsibility, global perspectives, and an inclination as citizens to undertake major roles in global development. There is a strong tendency in the educational sector to encourage students to become so-called “leaders,” with many students naively believing that doing so will be a means to joining the upper-classes. Rather, our purpose is to fortify the proportion of citizens who are hardworking and sincere, with the capacity for innovation. This perspective, I believe, is the key to collaborative global health and sustainability.

To facilitate students capable of working together across borders, we must reconsider what it is to teach at the university level. Traditionally, we have instilled students with knowledge to enlighten their lives and equipped them with the tools to succeed in their future professions. However, in today’s world, in which myriad unpredictable scenarios are likely to arise, the ability to respond promptly and appropriately to unexpected events is of equal importance to the conventional wisdom of strategic planning, execution, and reporting. Universities around the world should focus more on preparing students for the unknowable. To achieve this, stimulating and cooperative teamwork-building is much more effective than authoritarian or bureaucratic approaches involving institution of a small group of leaders and having everyone else follow them. We strongly affirm that, “together, we are stronger.” The last thing we want is factionalism or division caused by head-to-head encounters between so-called “strong leaders.” We, as universities of the Pacific Rim, are gathering here to foster this new direction of collaboration. Keio University is distinctly proud to count itself among you and determined to play a major role in reconnecting in a sustainable world. Thank you.