Prayer In Medicine Survey
I had a brain aneurysm concerning this unscientific hogwash of a survey, but I think that everyone should take the survey as an example of the state of conversation in the US. In short, my problem is with the style of questions. The questions assume that it is okay for a doctor to advise you on anything but medical matters. Sure there is an argument here that people with faith use that faith to help overcome emotional problems, but giving the medical doctor the leeway to "approach healing holistically" is bunk nonsense. Doctors are trained to deal with medical problems. Asking them or being hold by them about faith or spirituality on the hospital bed seems like a bad idea to me. It is like going to a mechanic to get your car fixed and while he is trying to fix your transmission asking him to give you legal advice on your upcoming divorce. "Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor. Not a spiritual advisor."
The silly part of the whole survey is that you have choices for some questions (Very likely, likely, unlikely, N/A) which don't even correspond accurately to the questions. When the question says something to the effect of, "Will you seek spiritual or faith based information from an information packet?" Where is the "No Fucking Way" button? 'Unlikely' and 'N/A' don't satisfy my survey destroying blood-lust.
I was turned on to this survey by the science geeks over at Pharyngula.
Perhaps I will find some inspiration and write something of my own today after lunch. Maybe...
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Rap I Can Get Behind
Now this is an artist I could get behind, though it isn't exactly my style of music.
A New Direction for This Blog
This blog started 2+ years ago as a way for me to share my experiences in Japan with my family and friends who cared to read my dribble. Seeing as I have been very busy lately and have not had the time to go out and have adventures worthy of repeating, I am going to try a different direction. In addition to the occasional stories about my life, I am going to also be posting commentaries, articles, and comics which I find interesting for one reason or another. This will be a useful way to spark up more comments and interaction on this blog and perhaps increase readership.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/11/15/ilist.japan.englishization/index.html
It is certainly a unique idea coming from a Japanese. It certainly would force internationalization.
As someone who teaches English in Japan (or attempts to) there is something to be said about the "Japanese complacency" to which the CEO quoted in the article alludes. Of the perhaps 1000 students I have taught over the past 2 years I can remember maybe 10 that planned to use English in their daily lives. Nearly all of my students have resigned themselves to the idea that English is too hard and if they never leave Japan and join a typical 9am-8pm office job they won't ever have to learn any other language because Japanese people speak Japanese.
A Japanese friend of mine calls this, "The Complex." The Complex is, according to him, a fear of speaking English. It is a silly fear, but one I am rather acutely aware of in its reverse, i.e. my fear of speaking Japanese and Spanish. But the Japanese complex with English is rather, to risk stating the obvious, complex. English as a foreign language, though it has changed and adapted over the many years, has been taught in Japan for nearly 60 years at the junior high school level. (I cannot be certain of the validity at the moment, but this article seems to point to a long history of English in Japan). This relates to "The Complex" because even though modern Japanese have a long history of learning English, in some cases more than 8 years of formal instruction, many feel as though they cannot speak a word of it. There are many reasons for this but the main one being that Japanese English education is focused on the grammar and vocabulary of the language and not the speaking.
For those unfamiliar with the Japanese education system, everything is based on test scores. To get into high school, you must take a test. To get into a university, you must take a test. So in a response to shoddy international English test scores, the Japanese government will force elementary school students to learn English in an attempt to boost English education. But who knows if that will work? It might have the opposite effect and make students hate school and English even more than they already do by high school.
As a side note, I have come across many wonderful English speakers in my travels and bar hopping in Kyoto. Many of whom had no interest in English as students but learned English through day to day interaction with foreigners. The focus on an international business language could lead more people to seek English as a second language as a way to better themselves in the business world. It could be a good step to revitalizing Japan, though the implementation of this will undoubtedly be met with resistance.
The comments on this CNN article are hilarious, which is to be expected from people who comment on CNN articles. Somehow the mandatory speaking of English in the office of one particular business became the supplanting of the Japanese language and culture in all things throughout the country. One thing I would like to see happen within the Japanese language is the removal of katakana-ized English loan words. Sometimes it is impossible to understand what they are. Then again, in English we say, "carry oh key" and "car a tee" instead of "ka ra o ke" and "ka ra te".
These ideas are pretty interesting to me. Of course, as I already speak English, they are inherently selfish.
---
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/11/15/ilist.japan.englishization/index.html
It is certainly a unique idea coming from a Japanese. It certainly would force internationalization.
As someone who teaches English in Japan (or attempts to) there is something to be said about the "Japanese complacency" to which the CEO quoted in the article alludes. Of the perhaps 1000 students I have taught over the past 2 years I can remember maybe 10 that planned to use English in their daily lives. Nearly all of my students have resigned themselves to the idea that English is too hard and if they never leave Japan and join a typical 9am-8pm office job they won't ever have to learn any other language because Japanese people speak Japanese.
A Japanese friend of mine calls this, "The Complex." The Complex is, according to him, a fear of speaking English. It is a silly fear, but one I am rather acutely aware of in its reverse, i.e. my fear of speaking Japanese and Spanish. But the Japanese complex with English is rather, to risk stating the obvious, complex. English as a foreign language, though it has changed and adapted over the many years, has been taught in Japan for nearly 60 years at the junior high school level. (I cannot be certain of the validity at the moment, but this article seems to point to a long history of English in Japan). This relates to "The Complex" because even though modern Japanese have a long history of learning English, in some cases more than 8 years of formal instruction, many feel as though they cannot speak a word of it. There are many reasons for this but the main one being that Japanese English education is focused on the grammar and vocabulary of the language and not the speaking.
For those unfamiliar with the Japanese education system, everything is based on test scores. To get into high school, you must take a test. To get into a university, you must take a test. So in a response to shoddy international English test scores, the Japanese government will force elementary school students to learn English in an attempt to boost English education. But who knows if that will work? It might have the opposite effect and make students hate school and English even more than they already do by high school.
As a side note, I have come across many wonderful English speakers in my travels and bar hopping in Kyoto. Many of whom had no interest in English as students but learned English through day to day interaction with foreigners. The focus on an international business language could lead more people to seek English as a second language as a way to better themselves in the business world. It could be a good step to revitalizing Japan, though the implementation of this will undoubtedly be met with resistance.
The comments on this CNN article are hilarious, which is to be expected from people who comment on CNN articles. Somehow the mandatory speaking of English in the office of one particular business became the supplanting of the Japanese language and culture in all things throughout the country. One thing I would like to see happen within the Japanese language is the removal of katakana-ized English loan words. Sometimes it is impossible to understand what they are. Then again, in English we say, "carry oh key" and "car a tee" instead of "ka ra o ke" and "ka ra te".
These ideas are pretty interesting to me. Of course, as I already speak English, they are inherently selfish.
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