Graduation | Joichi Yoshino (Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care)
2005.03.17
The theme of the last entry ( "Okashira's Diary" 2005.2.10 ) was "entrance examinations." I described the reality that our Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, despite being brand new, must meet the demands of society and SFC by offering a wide variety of entrance examinations—including general entrance exams, bachelor's degree transfer exams, third-year transfer exams, and AO (admissions office) exams. Because these are held at different times, we are busy with entrance exams all year round. And since the faculty was newly established, all of this had to be started from scratch.
This time, the topic is "graduation." Fortunately, it only happens once a year, but this will also be our first experience with it. What adds even more pressure to this being our first time is the announcement of the results of the national nursing examination, which takes place the day before. This is the unavoidable fate of a professional school, just like for the School of Medicine.
So, what does this "graduation" mean for me as the dean? In a word, it means, "One more speech to give. And this speech is the very first in the faculty's history." Thanks to this diary, I was able to quickly form a rough plan for the speech. My thanks to the editor for choosing such a timely topic!
A long time ago, in a speech by the President at a Juku University graduation ceremony, it was said that the English word for graduation ceremony is "commencement," and that its meaning is not completion, finality, or conclusion, but "beginning." I was impressed, thinking, "Wow, that's a great thing to say." Apparently, I wasn't the only one, as I later heard this word used at various graduation ceremonies outside of the Juku. But I'm happy that the first time I heard it was at the Juku. According to the dictionary, a graduation ceremony is indeed "commencement" in American English, but "graduation" itself is also listed as "completion of a course." I'm very curious how Americans themselves distinguish between these seemingly contradictory terms. Do they think of graduation and the graduation ceremony as two completely separate things? Well, I suppose many Americans are probably as casual about it as Japanese people are with the Japanese language.
The greatest strength of a private school is its school motto, which has been passed down and embellished since it was first proposed by the founder. In the case of the Juku, these include "Heaven does not create one person above or below another...," "independence and self-respect," "source of honorable character...," "be a leader...," "follow in the wake...," "the pen is mightier than the sword...," and so on. It could be said that it is the Juku style (or Mita style?) to generally include one of these in a ceremonial address. One might think this makes it easier to come up with the content for a speech, but on the contrary, it's surprisingly difficult. This is because it is not easy to be confident that one has fully digested these written mottos.
Still, on this occasion, as the one in charge of the first ceremony, I feel I must say something clever. I'll include one of the school mottos. And perhaps I'll go with my own motto (?): "Unless you're a genius, life is a matter of ability and luck. Ability comes from effort, and you can increase your chances of getting lucky with a smile and humility."
In a few hours, I'll be on a plane to New York for university business. Feeling like a popular author?
End
(Date of publication: 2005/03/17)