I wasted high school...

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I know this is small potatoes in the game of life, but it still hurts…</p>

<p>I studied Japanese in high school, six years worth, under a teacher who won the national Japanese teacher of the year award (and mentioned me in her acceptance speech). By the time many students got to her program (having taken 1-2 years of the language; I had taken three), many failed or dropped out of the program. I got straight A’s. I participated in Japan Bowl, I placed in state speech contests, I took in (and communicated well) with exchange students. I was certainly not the best, but I was one of the stars of the program. I loved the language, and I lived it.</p>

<p>Then I went to college, a college I choose partially for the Japanese program. I have a disability that affects my handwriting and speech among other things. My high school Japanese teacher (who taught me neither to speak or write) had no problem with reading or understanding me. Neither did the exchange students or contest judges. The department said I couldn’t learn Japanese because of my handwriting, and after much duress (with me, my family, and disability servbices involved) placed me in a level far below what I knew. Said I could type tests and then refused. Said they could read my tests then returned them, ungraded, saying they couldn’t. It was a nightmare. After a semester, I gave up.</p>

<p>This semester (2.5 years later), I thought that maybe I would try Chinese, ITalked to the teach after class. Wrote some kanji (Japanese and Chinese have many shared kanji). He said my handwriting wasn’t good enough, nor was my pronunciation (after one day). Said I could never get a good grade.</p>

<p>Some of you may say (as many people here have insinuated), that my high Japanese teacher didn’t have standards. She did. Insult me all you want, but she did. Her students have long placed in speech contests and Japan Bowls. They often go to college and complain about the ease of poor quality of the Japanese programs at their universities. My teacher was on the AP Japanese Development Committee. She’s nationally known, nationally recognized. She didn’t go easy on me. I learned.</p>

<p>What hurts is that I’ve been told I can’t learn an East Asian language. But I already have. I loved it. I lived it. And I miss it so much. I miss reading and translating and speaking. I miss those classes and those contests. I miss it.</p>

<p>I wasted my four years in high school. I wasted my teacher’s time. I wasted my energy and effort. I wasted so much.</p>

<p>I’ve taken Spanish and Arabic and done well. I will take more Spanish. It’s a useful language, much moreso than Japanese, a good language. And yet it feels somehow incomplete. Simple. Missing a piece.</p>

<p>I want to write kanji. I want to speak Japanese. I want to take those classes.</p>

<p>My heart is on the ground.</p>

2

<p>Such a bitter disappointment, so crushing and so demoralizing to be wrongly and unfairly rejected.</p>

<p>I’m sorry.</p>

3

<p>I’m also very sorry - but you know what - those years are far from wasted. You can continue on outside of that particular college program. There are other ways to learn and other ways to progress. Use those mechanisms!!! Don’t let a few naysayers get in the way of what you love!!! So you don’t get college credit - in the long run that won’t matter.</p>

4

<p>This is a very disheartening story, and I’m sorry. I hope you’ll be able to make alternative plans.</p>

<p>What about a summer program in Japan?</p>

<p>Or can you plan to teach English in Japan, with an eye to learning Japanese?</p>

5

<p>My D is taking Japanese at high school and completely loves it. I understand what you said.</p>

<p>As a multilingual person, I’d say you’re not wasted your time at all. The ultimate purpose of learning a language is to be able to speak, write, and listen. At least that’s for me. I know some Russian, some Chinese, some French, and some English. Can you guess which one appears on my high school or college transcript? Really, does it matter? Not in the least. The point is, if you love the language, keep it up on your own. These days, it’s so easy to improve your speaking/listening skills on the net. BTW, I took English in high school and was at the bottom of my class. My sister/teacher told me I have no affinity for the language. Maybe she’s right, but I’ve managed to… abuse it everyday for the past 30 or so years:-) I took Russian in college and dropped the formal courses after a long while due to time constraint. My professor convinced me to stay. She thought I could be a linguistic analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency (where she used to work). I thought she over-estimated my ability. The others I pick up along the way in life.</p>

6

<p>You did not waste high school. Your college is wasting you.</p>

7

<p>Can you take it somewhere else? People are taking classes all over the place, some have credits from 3, 4 colleges. I always tell my D, why to try to break thru closed door, when there are plenty that are open? The other side of coin, you did not waste anything. My D and many others out there study some languages for many more years without any kind of plan to “use” them much. In my D’s case it was 12 years. She/we never considered it waste. How about other subjects, math, sciences, history? It is education and everybody has something special in his/hers. Yours was Japanese. You should be proud of it and find the way to further study it if your heart desires so. Best wishes!</p>

8

<p>I think a Japanese language major is probably not the best idea for you, but I think keeping up with your Japanese is a great idea. I think studying abroad in Japan would be wonderful for you. I think if the college where you are now does not support your continued work in Japanese, you might want to go elsewhere.</p>

<p>There are kids in Japan right now who have learning disabilities or physical disabilities that keep them from writing. They can read, speak, and type Japanese - they are fully fluent and fully functional in Japanese - but they can’t hand write it. You can become fluent and fully functional in Japanese. That is a great goal.</p>

9

<p>Does your college have language themed lunch tables? Some colleges set aside tables where only the designated language is spoken. At my daughter’s college they even have designated housing floors for languages, but these are difficult to get into because of demand.</p>

<p>Have you checked out the website (remove the spaces) All Japanese All the Time dot com? It has some resources and information that you may like.</p>

<p>I am so sorry that the college wouldn’t let you type your tests or papers. It seems so wrong to me. Good luck in trying to continue your study of Japanese.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for your kind words. I still keep in touch with my high school Japanese teacher, which keeps me on my toes a bit, but I’ve pretty much exhausted what one can learn on their own. By the end of high school, we were reading, translating, and writing essays on authentic materials (actual Japanese books, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc.), and the Japanese 5 and higher classes were basically intensive, semi-independent tutoring in which the teacher would guide us through our chosen material and critique our work. I’ve learned pretty much all of the basic grammar (verb forms, etc., some keigo), so what I would need is intensive, seminar-style coaching at this point.</p>

<p>I know people with physical disabilities can learn Japanese–I did! It’s just that my university doesn’t.</p>

<p>I suppose that, logically, it’s no great loss. Japanese, though I love it, is fairly useless. Spanish is far more useful…</p>

<p>It’s just that Japanese was (and still is, to some extent) part of me for so long, and to be told that I can’t do something that I already did, well, that just hurts…</p>

11

<p>Do you know what brings this injustice painfully to your attention now, some significant time after it occurred?</p>

12

<p>(It was trying Chinese and being told he couldn’t study Chinese either that just happened)</p>

<p>Japanese is certainly not useless. Being able to read and speak Japanese could be a very useful career skill, and could be the hook that gets you hired or the hook that gets you promoted someday. As I said, I think keeping up with your Japanese is a great idea and I think studying abroad in Japan would be wonderful for you.</p>

13

<p>Sounds to me like it’s time to go over the department head’s head. Time to talk ADA with the counseling office and keep on right on up to the President of the College if nec. If you have folks, they can probably help you. You are there to learn. You want to learn and they are making it impossible. Therefore, it’s time to stop taking no for an answer. Nobody has the right to tell you ‘you can’t.’</p>

14

<p>Have you thought about switching your major to International Business, Foreign Relations, or Bilingual Education? In any of those fields, your advanced reading, speaking, and listening skills would be an asset. You might then get the degree and move on to continue your Japanese studies in an environment that doesn’t emphasize the handwriting aspects so much. Just a thought.</p>

15

<p>Truly, this is one of the strangest things I have heard. Are you at the military language academy in Monterey, California?</p>

<p>I say, name names and tell us the name of this school.</p>

<p>Because it sounds so friggin unreal!</p>

16

<p>I was trying to figure this out, too. She is certainly at a highly authoritarian institution. A religious college, maybe? A place there they are used to making pronouncements about what a student may or may not study, and used to hearing no objections from the students or their families?</p>

17

<p>Actually, I’m a “she”… ;)</p>

<p>Two years ago, I tried <em>everything</em>–disability department, Japanese department, higher administration, etc. Nothing worked. They argued that writing kanji is a vital part of the curriculum (which is it, but I could do it… not beautifully, but still…) and therefore did not require modification under the ADA. It got to the point where it was suggested that I could sue the department, but I figured that wouldn’t exactly win me any friends, so I dropped the issue.</p>

<p>I’ve never wanted to study Japanese vocationally (I want to go into clinical psych or social work. Orginally wanted to go into medicine but figured my non-SCI/non-paralysis quadrapalegia would probably present major stumbling blocks), but I loved studying it avocationally, and it is still very much a part of how I think and view the world, and I do miss it.</p>

<p>And I’m at public, flagship (but not particularly highly ranked) university. PM me if you want the name.</p>

<p>I’ve also been told by my advisers that after two years of studying multicultural/Native American psych that I can’t/shouldn’t go into that field because I’m White (I’ve been told this by both a Native and a white professor, even though I’ve met other White people who have encouraged my work in the area). They have a very valid point and I don’t begrude them that in any way, but sometimes, it feels mind-numbingly frustrating-- I can’t study Japanese because I’m disabled. I can’t study medicine because I’m disabled. I can’t study Chinese because I’m disabled. I can’t study multicultural psych because I’m White. </p>

<p>Sorry for venting. It’s been a long week.</p>