Thursday, December the 27th, 2007

Good morning, in a hotel room. With the brand name of Sheraton, the hotel has improved itself a lot. The furniture in the room is much fashionable. The Japanese restaurant I dined last night was much better than those I used on the previous chances. This, however, might be because the Japanese restaurant itself has been better than the Chinese restaurant and the Western restaurant. Today is the second day of the medical checkup. No breakfast again! I'm waiting for the taxi at the front lobby, and the good aroma of coffee is hanging in the air thereby. It is just unbearable.
Last night, I finished an essay. I started composing it before dinner over a cup of coffee, and brushed it up after dinner. I can be so productive when I stay out.

Wednesday, December the 26th, 2007

I'm in the Ikuwakai hospital for a medical checkup. On my way from the hospital to the hotel, I found a Korean area. It was rather broad.

Tuesday, December the 25th, 2007

Merry Christmas.
In one's 50's, at the end of the middle-age and the start of the old-age, their labour productivity starts to decline, and their employability gets estimated to be a nil. How can I maintain and develop my employability in my 50s? I could have, and maybe should have, kept trying to be a member of the management, but I didn't. I have no time to repent of that.

Monday, December the 24th, 2007

I carried out some 'nenmatsu oh-sohji', a general house cleaning at the end of the year, in the morning.
"(T)he categories" can only "afford us any cognition of things ... in so far as they can be applied to empirical intuition."(p.85, Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 2003, Dover Publications, New York) Here we have the basis why the cooperation between the university and the industry is needed. Of course, the cooperation is needed in the educational industry too.
How can I maintain and develop my employability in my 50s?
Without any XXX, there could exist no YYY.

Sunday, December the 23rd, 2007

Should I write 'nenga-jo'?
As "the conjunction of representations into a conception is not to be found in objects themselves,"(p.78, Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 2003, Dover Publications, New York) so anyone can cognize things and matters in their own selfish way. "One person connects the notion conveyed in a word with one thing, another with another thing,"(p.81, ibid.) and what one cognizes is "not necessarily and universally valid,"(ibid.) so it is the power that decides which cognition will enjoy hegemony.
The deciding power used to include, in educational societies, bureaucratism power and majority power; the former has been enjoyed by the management, and the latter by the unionists. Independents have had no way but just 'do it yourself.'

Saturday, December the 22nd, 2007

"(T)he conjunction of representations into a conception is not to be found in objects themselves, ... but it is ... an operation of the understanding itself,"(p.78, Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 2003, Dover Publications, New York) So without a biologically built-in "operation of the understanding itself," we cannot cognite an object. But how have we developed the "operation of the understanding itself?"
The volition differential society is well named. Even teachers' society is differentiated by the volition. By manifolding work-life balances, we are to reconstruct educational communities. Or are we? Is it so simple?
Is the volition differential in proportion to the differential among individuals' ideal work-life balances? Can the wage differential be determined according to the volition differential? Does that policy stabilize and vitalize educational societies?
I wonder whether the wage differential policy works or not. The volition should be rewarded with other means. The problem is if the management have such means.

Friday, December the 21st, 2007

The figure the complex number function draws on the real plane has self-similarity. Is that it?

Thursday, December the 20th, 2007

It seems that the increase of the number of oversea study tour participants is not caused by the enrollment from the ex-8th-school district. It may be worthwhile to investigate the possible reason to make the marketing or recruiting process more effective and time-saving.
As Keane put it: "the standard production system has a limited working memory that parallels the limitations of human working memory. Thus, by limiting the number of items working memory can hold, the effects of information loss in a cognitive task can be simulated."(p.290, Mark T. Keane, 'production systems', "The Blackwell Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology", 1990, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK) So students' working memory is limited. "(B)y limiting the number of items working memory" hold, they can simulate "the effects of information loss in a cognitive task," or how many points they would lose in a test. In other words, they can examine the limitation of their working memory by doing "cognitive" tasks, each of them with the different number of items.
I have been studying "nonlinear system" for a couple of days with a journal I borrowed from a math teacher. Fractale and complex number seem to be key words. "i" is an imaginary number. If "a" and "b" are real numbers, "a+bi" makes a complex number. An equation with a complex number draws a fractale.
We have a transcendental framework of cognition, or a biological framework of cognition, which is a priori, and an acquired framework of cognition, or a cultural framework of cognition, which is a posteriori.

Wednesday, December the 19th, 2007

Should I make a synthesizer? A synthesizer here implies a collaborator, or a coordinator with more positive commitment.
The society has been being dissolved. Individuals have appeared as players on the stage. No matter whether he/she is ready for it or not.
I have proceeded to p.67 of "Critique of Pure Reason."

Tuesday, December the 18th, 2007

The collaboration with research institutes is inevitable. Here, research institutes include not only universities but also crammers, professional schools, and such.

Monday, December the 17th, 2007

A severely cold morning. The red leaves of the rowan left their tree. The Autumn is clearly giving its way to a Winter. What Winter will it be like?
As I read "Critique of Pure Reason," my anticipation that it might be connected with cognitive science has been proven true. It is surprising that he could think about the cognition so deeply and precisely, with all the misunderstandings caused by the lack of neuroscience, a little more than 2 centuries ago.

Saturday, December the 15th, 2007

Our knowledge is immediately related to objects by means of an intuition, and "an intuition can take place only in so far as the object is given to us."(p.21, Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 2003, Dover Publications, New York) As my understanding relatively depends on the intuition, I have to be surrounded with objects that are to be kept being placed in a field.
"Critique of Pure Reason" has 480 pages. If I keep reading the copy 2 pages per day, it will take me 240 days, 2/3 of a year. Yet, I have already read to p.28, a little less than 6% of the copy but the load for 2 weeks only within 6days.
I ordered "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (English translation) by Friedrich Nietzsche at Amazon.co.jp today, and listening to Bach now. Am I being immersed in German culture?

Friday, December the 14th, 2007

I had a shot for flu yesterday night. Am I OK? It's a cold morning, and I start taking the 7:31 train again.
The education is the ensemble of individual human development processes. The ensemble is nonlinear.

Thursday, December the 13th, 2007

Another rainy morning. I left school earlier and cleaned the house. Was it an off?
I started out with searching for "Hi-Senkei-Riron" (in Japanese) to find its English version "nonlinear system." It sounds that the idea is related with chaos and fractale. Should I concede to the idea?
A teacher of today needs core competency and peripheral techniques. The core competency is what should be developed for the longer time being, and be accompanied with a certain research ability. The peripheral techniques are rather short-range replaceable ones, which should be obtained through learning.
Since teachers graduated from a university, they have a basic research ability. The ability enables them to digest raw spin-offs from universities, even though they lack the ability to study things from the foundation, or the time to do so.

Wednesday, December the 12th, 2007

I feel tired after yesterday's visit to Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Kyoto was so far away from Kishiwada. I was, however, lucky in one sense. I could have a seat all the way to Kyoto. But not from Kyoto. I feel sorry for those who have to commute long way.
Interviewing Prof. Sasaki gave a good inspiration to me, and sufficient information to him. I was encouraged the personal approach to teaching students how to introduce "Japanese Culture" abroad.
I sent out the application forms and materials to Sumiyoshi HS. I wonder if I would be approved.

Tuesday, December the 11th, 2007

We have cold rain today. It's almost like Winter rain.
I am visiting Prof. Sasaki at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. I wonder what the deal with him be like. Technically speaking, we have to talk about the number of students, the contents of his speech, whether we should have practical activities, and the fee as well. Shall I show some materials we used as examples?
I feel exhausted with the second term. Specifically speaking, my brain feels tired. Tired with what? Many various things might they be.
Today, I feel tired because I could not sleep well last two nights. First, I saw a dream with aliens attacking us. I saw that because of the film "The Independence Day" which I had seen in the day time. Second, I dreamed a family-story-like dream. I don't know why. I may be too naive to strike a life-work balance.

Monday, December the 10th, 2007

I watched the film "The Independence Day" on TV yesterday. I wonder how long will Americans prefer that type of movies. However, I had bad dreams last night because of it?
It is severely cold this morning. Autumn is giving its way to Winter.
As we have "an unresolved conflict between continuity and essential progress"(p.395, Michael Polanyi, "Personal Knowledge --- Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy", Originally 1958, Corrected edition 1962, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago), we have to be very careful striking a balance between the two. If the equilibrium is to be lost, not only either of the two will be lost, but also both of them might get damaged.
However, we cannot stop to strike a balance. We have to inertially navigate the organization. The organization itself is not a stationary arrangement of people, but a process of organizing people. If we don't dynamically keep organizing but just statically feel organized, we lose momentum to keep balanced.

Sunday, December the 9th, 2007

My brain is a kind of tired out. I used it too much yesterday.
An individual human being is a carrier of not DNA, but that of an articulate framework.

Saturday, December the 8th, 2007

A rowan tree has changed its leaves' colour into red beautifully. Autumn has been deepening itself.
I have seen what I were to see. Was that it? Is it a phrase in Heike Monogatari, the legend of Heike? Do I have 2 more schools to see, by my retirement? 3 by the age 65, when I can get my pension? Would those experiences enrich me, or just tire me to death?

Friday, December the 7th, 2007

A week is going to pass since I started thinking of my move. Have I reached a conclusion?
We can acquire the broader knowledge, broader than our personal knowledge or experience, by learning lessons from the knowledge or experience of other persons. We can do it historically and geopolitically.
I don't feel like making 'nenga-jo' (New Year's greeting cards) this time. I don't know why, but I might make a plain one.

Thursday, December the 6th, 2007

It's so cold this morning.
I am to apply for the TRy system. The combination between the labour market and the human development is the matter.
Personal knowledge is comparatively shallow because our personal experience is limited. However, we are supposed to meet individualized demands with sophisticated techniques. That requires the broader knowledge.
We have been comparatively successfully propagandizing our school. The presumptive result of Itsuki trial examination shows we are competing with other second-class high-level high schools. The efficiency of the way our public relations have been run is obvious.

Wednesday, December the 5th, 2007

The English teachers in high level high school used to be supposed to have their students prepared for entrance examinations with their grammar-translation method. About two decades ago, people began to have the frustration for practical English usage, or rather for English conversation. The course of study has been giving emphasis on communicative English classes. Now partly concerned with the fall down of Japanese economy, and with their own interests in climbing up the social ladder, people are shifting their emphasis of demands toward cramming again. Accordingly, English teachers are supposed to have teaching competency in practical English usage as well as cramming techniques. We have to cover "the enormous extension of the domain" in spite of "the comparative shallowness of the knowledge" we have.

Tuesday, December the 4th, 2007

A fine and cold morning.
These days, "The exceptionally high degree of connoisseurship"(p.351, Michael Polanyi, "Personal Knowledge --- Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy", Originally 1958, Corrected edition 1962, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago) is required even in the educational community, especially in the English educational community.

Monday, December the 3rd, 2007

It's raining so so. Should I think about the Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) harder? Should I also give the second ( or third or fourth?)thought to Vigotsukian ideas?
I am making slow but steady steps toward the farther development of the preparatory session for the oversea study tour. The buddy system is very efficient making progress and innovation. The problem is haw many and how various buddies I can handle at once. 3? 4?
These days, "The exceptionally high degree of connoisseurship"(p.351, Michael Polanyi, "Personal Knowledge --- Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy", Originally 1958, Corrected edition 1962, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago) is required even in the educational community, as we have to cover "the enormous extension of the domain" in spite of "the comparative shallowness of the knowledge" we have. That can be said even in the English educational community.

Sunday, December the 2nd, 2007

A break? I have to start preparing greeting cards.

Saturday, December the 1st, 2007

The term "trickle-down effect" has been often used as one which talks about the downfall of the price of a commodity: "The trickle-down effect is a marketing phenomenon that affects many consumer goods, including new technology and fashion. Initially a product may be so expensive that only the wealthy can afford it. Over time, however, the price will fall until it is inexpensive enough for the general public to purchase. One modern day example of the Trickle-Down effect would be the iPod. The iPod was priced at around 250 dollars in 1998 (the year it was introduced), over time dropped in price, and now that same model is worth about 37 dollars."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_effect)
Here I would like to use the term to indicate the phenomenon where reasonable commodities or services which have been spun off from expensive commodities or services diffuse to those with limited income.
To let spinoffs from the oversea study tour trickle down to other students than the participants of the tour, we have to work hard to develop the preparatory session more attractive and valuable so that its spinoffs would be even attractive and valuable to the non-participants as well. Though the educational resources high school teachers have are enough to have the participants get prepared, they are not sophisticated enough to produce spinoffs, to attract non-participants. The help from college scholars is critical.
I made some part of the end-term examination for the Seminar C classes. The part is something like the entrance examination of Doshisha University. Some months ago, I heard a lecture by an English teacher from Tohoku. He said that all the English teachers in his high school solve the entrance examination of Tokyo University. That guarantees them to have a certain competency to develop their students' readiness to study to prepare for the examination.
Some English teachers in our school talk about the shift of the number of the applicant students to private universities from national and public universities. The English teachers' competency related to the shift should be guaranteed either by solving all the entrance examinations related or by making it a rule to make some tests in the styles of Doshisha, Kan-dai, Kwan-gaku, or/and Ritsumei. Words must be followed by deeds.

Friday, November the 30th, 2007

A cold morning.
The oversea study tour is an educational commodity, which has diffused thus far. "Diffusion is the process by which a new idea or new product is accepted by the market. The rate of diffusion is the speed that the new idea spreads from one consumer to the next. Adoption is similar to diffusion except that it deals with the psychological processes an individual goes through, rather than an aggregate market process. In economics it is more often named 'technological change'."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_%28business%29)
The next phase of the development of the oversea study tour is to be the development of its preparatory session. In order to make its contents more valuable, we ought to have the readiness to employ research spinoffs of universities in high school classes. The term "Research spinoff" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin-off) "is also used for concepts or products spun off a research project, for example methods or materials pioneered during the Manhattan Project (spin-off: Commercial Nuclear Power) or during the Space Race (spin-offs: Many, Integrated Circuits and hence most modern electronics, freeze-dried foods, satellites, et-cetera, and et al.)."
“The trickle-down effect is a marketing phenomenon that affects many consumer goods, including new technology and fashion. Initially a product may be so expensive that only the wealthy can afford it. Over time, however, the price will fall until it is inexpensive enough for the general public to purchase. One modern day example of the Trickle-Down effect would be the iPod. The iPod was priced at around 250 dollars in 1998 (the year it was introduced), over time dropped in price, and now that same model is worth about 37 dollars.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_effect)