Back to study

芸術の秋、文学の秋。。。いい感じに盛り上がってきたので、早く次のレポートもとっとと提出したいところ。
秋は結婚式も多い。元ウェディングのフローリストなので、この季節になると個人的な花の注文がいつもより増える。日頃から何が本職か分からないほど常に花を触っているけれど、秋は特に忙しく、勉強時間を確保するのに苦労する。

まだまだ時間はあると思っていたら、次の科目試験ですら１ヶ月後である。。
今回は以下の３科目を受験。

政治学(A)
文学
19世紀のフランス文学

ちゃんと履修計画を立てずにスタートしてしまった為、E群に集中してしまった。政治学は採点が厳しいらしい。同じくE群で、既に２度落ちた西洋史は、次回受けようと思う。学校に確認したところ、テキストが改訂されない限り、科目試験については期限なしで何度受けてもOKらしい。２度も落ちてるので、戦略を変える必要があると思い、１月の試験では西洋史、西洋史概説、近世英文学史と史がつく科目を全部一緒に受ける計画をたてた。これで全落ちした時には・・・あー、怖い怖い。。。

とりあえず総合科目を早く終わらせることが短期的な目標。レポートは、残すところ哲学とフラ語の２科目。でも試験が・・・苦手なのですよぉ。。

福澤諭吉 Fukuzawa Yukichi

Among the students studying at the Correspondence courses at Keio Uni, it is well known for its strict grading, in particular English and Western studies. During the Ⅲ period of the summer school, I took a class called "Modern Japan and Fukuzawa Yukichi" and figured out why those areas are so special for this University.

Fukuzawa lived in Edo and Meiji era for 33 years each, then became a true leader of Meji restoration who brought completely new ideas during the transition period. One of his remarkable accomplishments was Western studies, needless to say, the English language. When he first went to Yokohama right after the opening the port, he badly disappointed like a drowned rat because his Dutch was not understood by any European merchants. He had studied Dutch for years like hell but when he went to Yokohama, he could not even read any signs in town nor could he read a word of what a drink bottle says. He discovered the language spoken by them was English, and on the next day, he determined to devote himself to study English all on his own by using Dutch-English dictionary. He later introduced an English-Japanese dictionary which was translated from a Chinese-English dictionary. You see he was a pioneer in English language in Japan. This was just a part of his contribution, there were more....

Everyone knows his face because his portrait appears on the largest note of our nation 10000 yen. This proves that he is regarded as one of the most important persons in history.
Every Japanese knows his famous quote 「天は人の上に人を造らず、人の下に人を造らず "Heaven doesn't make a man better than others, nor does it make a man worse than others"」He advocated all human beings were equally created and the hierarchical society would no longer exist.

There is another one,「独立自尊 "Independent and self respect" (My trans.)」 Keio Uni instills this principle into students through the entire course of education. He claimed that personal independence would bring the nation an independence. He also said an individual need not to depend on the strength of another. To be independent, education is crucial, said Fukuzawa. 「ペンは剣よりも強し"The pen is mightier than the sword" "Calamvs Gladio Fortior (Latin)"」comes form this thought.

To be honest, I had never thought of studying at Keio before ( it all happened accidently) nor did I know anything about this school philosophy, nothing about Fukuzawa Yukichi, however, I am now so proud of being a student of this school since I learned all these and feel so fortunate to be given this opportunity. I now know why Keio's door is open for everyone, no matter you are poor, old, or uneducated but willing to study and enable yourself to think about things on your own. I can also explain why the tuition is extremely low in spite of its fame and popularity.

Fukuzawa Yukichi's philosophy has truly been handed down by alumnus over 150 years and will live on forever in this University and in Japan.


......OK, this is enough, let's get back to reality....need to start working on a report!!

ネルヴァル

キツかった(＞＜;)　今日一日、一歩も家から出ずに仕上げた19世紀のフランス文学1のレポート。

お題はネルヴァルの『オーレリア』を選んでしまった。本の薄さに騙されてしまったわけだが、最近のレポートでは一番苦労した。こんな難題をレポート課題にするなんて、どれだけ文３って難しいんだ～

この作者ネルヴァルは、精神病で入退院を繰り返していて、この書の第一部が雑誌に出て間もなく首を吊って死んだそうだ。それほどのギリギリの精神状態で書かれたものであるから、理解に非常に苦しむ内容であることは想像つくであろう。間違っても「面白い」本ではない。読み手の私のほうが病んでしまいそうだ。。。文学というより哲学のレポートをやらされている感じだった。事実、去年の夜スクの「哲学」のレジメを取りだしたくらいだ。本当にキツかった。。。

そういえば早速、夜スクの英語Rの予習用レジメが送られて来た。ちゃんと予習してくるように、と１ヶ月前からリマインドされる通信生達(;^_^A　
学費はめちゃめちゃ安いけれど、内容はスゴく濃い。本当にお得でキツいと思う（笑）