Work Done for Humanity

by Frances Elizabeth Willard

I WISH 1 we were all more thorough students of the mighty past, for we should thus be rendered braver prophets of the future, and more cheerful workers in the present. History shows us with what tenacity the human race survives. Earthquake, famine, and pestilence have done their worst, but over them rolls a healing tide of years and they are lost to view; on sweeps the great procession, and hardly shows a scar. Rulers around whom clustered new forms of civilization pass away; but greater men succeed them. Nations are rooted up; great hopes seem blighted; revolutions rise and rivers run with the blood of patriots; the globe itself seems headed toward the abyss; new patriots are born; higher hopes bloom out like stars; humanity emerges from the dark ages vastly ahead of what it was on entering that cave of gloom, and ever the right comes uppermost; and now is Christ’s kingdom nearer than when we first believed.

Only those who have not studied history lose heart in great reforms; only those unread in the biography of genius imagine themselves to be original. Except in the realm of material invention, there is nothing new under the sun. There is no reform which some great soul has not dreamed of centuries ago; there is not a doctrine that some father of the Church did not set forth. The Greek philosophers and early Christian Fathers boxed the compass once for all; we may take our choice of what they have left on record. Let us then learn a wise humility, but at the same time a humble wisdom, as we remember that there are but two classes of men—one which declares that our times are the worst the world has seen, and another which claims our times as best—and he who claims this, all revelation, all science, all history witnesses is right and will be right forevermore.

The most normal and the most perfect human being is the one who most thoroughly addresses himself to the activity of his best powers, gives himself most thoroughly to the world around him, flings himself out into the midst of humanity, and is so preoccupied by his own beneficent reaction on the world that he is practically unconscious of a separate existence. Introspection, and retrospection were good for the cloister; but the uplook, the outlook and the onlook are alone worthy the modern Christian. To change the figure, a normal Christian stands in the midst of a great, beautiful and varied landscape. It is the landscape of beneficent work. Above him reaches the boundless skies, brilliant with the stars of God and Heaven. 3

Love and friendship form a beautiful rainbow over his landscape and reach up toward his sky. But the only two great environments of the soul are work for humanity and faith in God. Those wounded in love will find that affection, dear and vital as it is, comes to us not as the whole of life, not as its wide wondrous landscape of the earth, not as its beautiful vision of the sky, but as its beautiful embellishment, its rainbow fair and sweet. But were it gone there would still remain the two greatest and most satisfying pictures on which the soul can gaze—humanity and God.

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REFLECTION:

History is a very important source of wisdom and knowledge. Foolish mistakes, genius reforms, great and not so great individuals, name it. History has it. It provides us the opportunity to not repeat ‘history’ for better people and a better world. It provides us the outlines of past reforms and doctrines that are ready to be improved. Sadly, we are not ‘thorough students of the mighty past’. Thus, we tend to repeat the same mistakes and the same reforms and doctrines over and over again. As a result, our potential of great progress could not be attained.

I was moved and inspired by this. Honestly, I’ am not a fond history although I’ am interested in reading them. I read them out of curiosity—ego of knowing. In short, “Knowledge for knowledge sake.” I never really did understand the importance of history—read it to learn from it—until now.

It was fairly simple; simple words yet attractive, simple examples yet intriguing, and a simple message but great.

The Fool’s Prayer

-by Edward R. Sill

The Royal feast was done; the King

Sought some new sport to banish care,

And to his jester cried: “Sir Fool,

Kneel now, and make for us a prayer.

The jester doffed his cap and bells,

And stood the mocking court before;

They could not see the bitter smile

Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee

Upon the monarch’s silken stool;

His pleading voice arose: “O Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!

Sometimes it takes a fool to remind us of our folly. Full of pride, we refuse to see the things we have done. Before His eyes- rich, poor, educated, uneducated, or fool- are the same. Any prayer—a fool’s or a king’s—are the same. We all need to repent and the mercy of God.

It made me feel disappointed at myself. I was too busy in many things. I couldn’t even give Him 15 minutes. Even during the classroom prayer, I was busy worrying about the tests, requirements and other things that should not come before Him.

It was very simple. Yet, it really affected me. It’s beauty lies in its message or should I say reminder that prayer is prayer no matter who said it.

Totto-chan: The Little Girl in the Window

Summary

Totto-chan and her Mother got off the Oimachi Train at Jiyugaoka Station. (2) Her mother

had a flash back about Totto-chan’s previous school and teacher. (3) They went to a new school,

Tomoe, that had railroad cars as classrooms. (4) The railroad cars attracted Totto-chan and said she like it very much. (5) Totto-chan met the headmaster and was then accepted as a student of Tomoe after the long conversation. (6) The headmaster showed Totto-chan the assembly hall where students ate their lunch. (7) She left the house by herself towards the train station. (8) She arrived before anyone else. (9) She found a new friend named Yasuaki Yamamoto who had had polio. (10) Every lunch time, the headmaster inspects every lunch box if there were something from the ocean and something from the hills (p.33). The students always sang “Chew it well” before eating their lunch and enjoy a pleasant conversation. (12) The class went out for a walk—a time of freedom and play for them (p.39). (13) The children wanted a school song but they didn’t like the song the headmaster made and soon they forgot about wanting one. (14) Totto-chan accidentally dropped her purse in the toilet and tried her best to recover it but failed. (15) Totto-chan’s real name is Tetsuko but her father called her Totsky. (16) Totto-chan loved to listen to rakugo comedians. (17) The children went back to school the night when the new trailer for a library arrived.(18) The headmaster let the children swim without swimsuits to teach the children that all their bodies are beautiful and also to prevent the handicapped children on develop inferiority complex. (19) Totto-chan received her report card and was happy about it although she didn’t know yet whether A was better than B. (20) The children went camping inside the assembly hall and learned how to put up a tent. (21) Totto-chan helped Yasuaki climb her tree and it was the first and the last time he ever climbed a tree (p.64). (22) A bravery test was held in Kuhonbutsu Temple and after it, the children never got afraid of ghosts anymore. (23) Totto-chan loved to peek in at her Dad’s rehearsal hall. (24) The students went on a trip to enjoy the sea and hot spring in Toi . (25) Totto-chan’s class began with training the body to understand rhythm—eurhythmics. (26) Totto-chan made her parents buy cheeks but the cheeks eventually died after few. (27) The headmaster had always asked the parents to send their children to school at Tomoe wearing their worst clothes. (28) A new student arrived from Osaka named Takahashi that had body abnormalities and Totto-chan became friends with him. (29) Totto-chan had the tendency to jump on something she found interesting so her mother reminded her to “Look before you leap” (p.90). (30) The headmaster assigned different children each day to tell something in front of everybody in order to learn how to get up in front of people. (31) When Totto-chan got bitten by Rocky accidentally, Totto-chan didn’t mind the wound but instead was worried that her parents might take away Rocky. (32) November three was the Sport’s Day of Tomoe and Takahashi surprisingly won all the first prizes for winning all the events. (33)The children liked to call the headmaster Issa Kobayashi. (34) Totto-chan found a five-sen and she hid it and then the following they she couldn’t find it anymore on where she left it. (35) Totto-chan saw children talking by the use of their hands and wanted to make friends with them someday but she didn’t know yet about deaf people. (36) Mr. Maruyama and the students went to the Temple of Sengakuji to pay respect to the Forty Seven Ronin. (37) Masow-chaan, a Korean who people spoke ill of because of his native origin but Totto-chan made up her mind that she will become his friend. (38) Totto-chan’s pigtails were pulled by Oe and got scolded for doing so. (39) She met Schneider, a world famous skier that invited her to sit down on his skis. (40) The new railroad car became a library and became their favorite gathering place. (41)The first time Totto-chan saw the headmaster angry is when Totto-chan’s homeroom teacher thoughtlessly asked Takahashi if he had a tail. (42) A boy, one grade above her, was transferred to another school. (43) After watching Swan Lake Totto-chan wanted to become a so she took lessons but later stopped because she loved Swan Lake more than free ballet. (4) A farming teacher taught the students all about farming and let them plant seeds themselves. (45) The students enjoyed the meal they made in the woods. (46) Mr. Kobayashi kept on repeating that Totto-chan was a really good girl (p.141) (47) Tai-chan refused to marry Totto-chan one day because she beat him in a sumo-wrestling match. (48) Totto-chan started to chant that Tomoe was a wonderful school and her fellow students joined her. (49) Totto-chan did not wear anymore the imported hair ribbon to save trouble for the headmaster about Miyo-chan’s pestering about it. (50) Totto-chan went with other children from other schools to visit the wounded soldiers and she sang Chew it Well. (51) A man sold a health bark to Totto-chan and made everyone bite it to know if they were healthy or not. (52) A new student from America named Miyazaki came and shared many things to the other Tomoe students. (53) A first and last amateur drama of Tomoe and Totto-chan was not able to take part in it because of the trouble she would have had caused. (54) The headmaster used the floor of the assembly hall as a big chalkboard for writing rhythms. (55) They went to Yasuaki-chan’s funeral and Totto-chan’s cheeks were wet with tears. (56) Totto-chan wondered about what she would like to be when she grows up. (57) Totto-chan’s Dad refused to play war time music (p.175) and it made their life hard since to concerts were becoming scarce. (58) Totto-chan promised to be a teacher in Tomoe one day.(59) After coming home from Kamakura, Totto-chan was not able to find Rocky that seemed had died. (60) Ryo-chan, the janitor of Tomoe, was given a Tea party (farewell party) and then left to war before the American airplanes arrived with bombs. (61) Incendiary bombs fell on Tomoe School and the citizens of Jijugaoka (including Totto-chan) went northeast via evacuation train.

CHARACTERS

• Tetsuko Kuroyanagi (Totto-chan) à the “good girl” that promised to be a teacher in Tomoe School someday.
• Mother à the caring and understanding mother of Totto-chan
• Father à the supportive father of Totto-chan and took pride of his ideals as a musician.
• Sosaku Kobayashi à the headmaster of Tomoe School and the one who made a big influence to the life of Tomoe students
• Rocky à a German shepherd and close friend of Totto-chan
• Akira Takahashi à a dwarf; won all prizes on Sports Day
• Miyo Kaneko à third daughter of the headmaster
• Sakko Matsuyama à girl with large eyes who was wearing a pinafore with rabbit on it

• Taiji Yamanouchi à the one who said he wouldn’t marry Totto-chan
• Kunio Oe à the one who pulled Totto-chan’s pig-tails
• Kazuo Amadera à he loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian
• Aiko Saisho à a very sedate and proper young lady
• Keiko Aoki à the one who said that her chickens could fly
• Yoichi Migita à boy who kept promising to bring funeral dumplings
• Ryo-chan à the janitor who ent off to war but survived

GLOSSARY

• Adamant (p. 165) à very hard
• Connoisseur (p. 168)à critical judge
• Torrent (p. 139) à violent stream
• Affably (p.87) à kindly
• Dilapidated (p. 71) à decayed

REVIEW

The book is all about a little girl named Totto-chan during the time of her stay in Tomoe School before the Second World War. Tomoe School was established by Sosaku Kobayashi. The educational system he used was doubted by some and was also superficially judged. He believed that all children are born with an innate good nature. His aim was to uncover their good nature and develop it so that the children would grow into people with individuality (p. 191).

The whole book itself is unique. Except for the fact that there are few educational books written for adults, particularly parents and teachers, that are actually read by children from the age of seven, its uniqueness is also determined by the true life experiences of the author—Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, renowned actress of Japan, hoped that the book would be instructive for schoolteachers and young mothers to know that there was once a headmaster like Mr. Kobayashi (p. 191.) More than she had been expecting, the book gave a great impact not just throughout Japan but also throughout the world. The book does not only show different philosophical depth but also what proper education should be. It also shows what many schools in the Philippines lack—touch of passion and creativity. Its only weakness is that it lacks creative description of the events

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is clearly not Shakespeare or Alexandre Dumas when it comes to style in writing but this book just proves that a person is not required to be such poets and writers to touch the hearts of the people. The book inspired me and taught me what education should be and what I should be as a teacher. Frankly, I don’t like the book. I love it.

by: Carandang, Ma. Theresa B.

Issues and Problems That Surrounds the School as an Institution

The school as an institution faces conflicts and issues politically and socially. One of the major conflicts of the school is the low budget of the Department of Education. Due to the low budget of the Department of Education, the implementation of a better system of education is restricted or limited. This conflict affects greatly the public schools in both urban and rural areas.

Social issues and problems surround the school directly and indirectly. Direct social issues cover the teachers, students, parents and family, and culture and religion. Due to lack of importance of the society to produce efficient and better teachers, many teachers in both private and public schools lack skills and ability to teach students efficiently. Juvenile students face conflicts on their own because of biological and mental transition. If these delicate juvenile students are not guided properly at home and school, they may rebel and lose the motivation to study and learn. Parents or the family themselves may become a conflict of the school as well. There are parents who lack cooperation with the school and parents that demand too much of the school. Culture and religion differences determine the adjustment of the school in its curriculum. It is the schools responsibility to respect each of the students’ culture and religion in order to attain the appropriate environment for the student’s holistic development.

Meanwhile, indirect social issues cover the media, and society itself. We all know the big influence of the media to the people: from the latest product to the latest brand; from the latest fashion to the latest gadgets; from the latest words to the latest phrase. The media contributes greatly in the student’s behavior which affects the school as well. The society’s expectations and assumptions based on the social status and achievements of an individual or even an institution like the school create a wall to prevent the school to do what is technically right for the students.

The school’s primary job is to provide a healthy and appropriate learning environment for the students. Due to the said conflicts, the school as an institution of learning could not give its ‘whole’ abilities and potentials for the benefit of the students.

By: Carandang, Ma. Theresa B.