これまでの原さんとの対話の中で、「対話」の前提には、相手へのリスペクトや偏見のないこと（= open-mindedness） が大切であることを確認しました。もちろん誰しも経験的に分かっている当たり前のことですが、日本の教育現場や社会の中で本当にそれが実践されているかとリフレクションしてみると、心もとない気がします。
原さんが刺激を受けたという「対話」の作法は、イギリスではどのように習得されるものなのでしょうか。教室での対話や議論は、先生によって促されて始まるものとはいえ、テストされるわけでも成績表になるわけでもありません。それなのに、クラスメートがみな自分の意見を述べ合うという状況が生まれるのはなぜか。その疑問に原さんは次のように答えてくれました。
一昨年ケンブリッジ大学に進学した原さんと「対話」について対話しました。「対話」こそはイギリスで学んできた原さんが大切にしている学びのスタイルです。原さんが話してくれた中身の詳細はいずれどこかに掲載したいと思いますが、今回はその一端をご紹介します。
先日ドバイで海外進学説明会を実施させていただきました。ドバイは、アフリカの玄関口でもあり、しかもヨーロッパにも近いということで、企業のグローバル最前線基地となっています。これからの社会の変化に対応できる教育を期待される方が多く、「21世紀型の帰国生教育とは」という説明会のテーマがうまくマッチしました。
Originally I had never imagined I would choose Caltech. I imagined Caltech to be a place that only nerds went to, and that it would be way too difficult for me. I didn’t think I would ever get in, so I almost didn’t even apply! After I was accepted, however, I realized that I had the wrong impression of Caltech. I thought that they only accepted super smart, but kind of anti-social math geniuses. The fact that they accepted a more well-rounded and not so strongly scienceoriented a student such as myself made me realize that Caltech actually does have a diverse student body. Their students are still interested in literature and politics and history and music etc. However, despite being interested in those things, they choose to major in science fields. I felt like I fit in well with those types of students. Even though I liked the humanities, I would never want to major in a humanity because you simply can’t find good jobs with humanity degrees in America. At a school like UChicago or Harvard, there are so many students majoring in really specific and really useless degrees like comparative literature. I didn’t really want to be around students like that.
Also, even at Ivy League schools, there is a huge party culture in American colleges. Many students go out drinking and partying and don’t focus on schoolwork at all. Even at MIT, that type of culture exists. However, Caltech is completely different because of its sheer difficulty. It doesn’t have that same type of party culture, everyone is focused on their major and their career. I really admire how focused and dedicated to learning Caltech students are.
Originally I had never imagined I would choose Caltech. I imagined Caltech to be a place that only nerds went to, and that it would be way too difficult for me. I didn’t think I would ever get in, so I almost didn’t even apply! After I was accepted, however, I realized that I had the wrong impression of Caltech. I thought that they only accepted super smart, but kind of anti-social math geniuses. The fact that they accepted a more well-rounded and not so strongly scienceoriented a student such as myself made me realize that Caltech actually does have a diverse student body. Their students are still interested in literature and politics and history and music etc. However, despite being interested in those things, they choose to major in science fields. I felt like I fit in well with those types of students. Even though I liked the humanities, I would never want to major in a humanity because you simply can’t find good jobs with humanity degrees in America. At a school like UChicago or Harvard, there are so many students majoring in really specific and really useless degrees like comparative literature. I didn’t really want to be around students like that.
Also, even at Ivy League schools, there is a huge party culture in American colleges. Many students go out drinking and partying and don’t focus on schoolwork at all. Even at MIT, that type of culture exists. However, Caltech is completely different because of its sheer difficulty. It doesn’t have that same type of party culture, everyone is focused on their major and their career. I really admire how focused and dedicated to learning Caltech students are.
Sophomore year (2nd year) I took AP European History and AP English Language and Composition. This English class is about analyzing rhetorical devices and literary devices and how they affect the reader. We read a lot of speeches, letters, and novels. However, we do not discuss themes in this class; rather, we discuss how the language of a text conveys the meaning or purpose of a text. It’s a very analytical class and most of us hated it. However, it’s considered the easier of the two AP English classes because there is less freedom in the analysis. Once we learn a certain way to analyze a text, we can apply it to pretty much every text. To read the full article, you need to join GAW (Global Admission Web).
