SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
Volume 1, Issue 1
Seeking To Build a Community of Life through the Network of Humanistic Education

EDUCATION IN THE NEWS:

The Earth Charter Initiative, at the WSSD Summit in Johannesburg, created an Earth Charter Type II Initiative which work with partners in governments, NGOs and the private sector on education for sustainable development. Check out their website www.earthcharter.org for curriculum ideas in the creative arts, language, mathematics, science and technology and youth initiative programs.

EXPERIENCE BY MASAYASU UEHARA, NURSERY SCHOOL DIRECTOR, KITA KYUSHU, JAPAN

Masayasu Uehara, 55, a vice headquarters leader in Soka Gakkai, directs a private day care center, the Nisshokai Asakawa Nursery School. Kitakyushu City, Kyushu. The nursery has 19 teachers and 4 staff who care for 131 children, ranging from babies less than one to five years old. Today, the nursery school enjoys a good reputation, but 22 years ago when Masayasu started the school with absolutely no experience, he faced many problems.

Childcare Means Nurturing the "Self"
"Good morning!" Every morning, Masayasu greets the children attending Asakawa Nursery School at the front door. "Good morning!" The children cheerfully return his greetings. "I can tell each child's condition by his or her complexion and voice. I can tell those children who have most likely experienced something good at home yesterday as well as those children who witnessed a fight between their parents. " Children are sensitive. One day, a child was running unusually wild and acting out. When the mother came to pick up the child, she confessed, "Well, to tell the truth, I haven't been getting along with my husband, and we quarreled." Masayasu empathized with the mother but reminded her, "Children grow looking at their parents. For children, parents are their greatest teachers."

Every child is different. Masayasu believes it is important to nurture and tap each child's positive qualities. The nursery school's motto is: "Be vigorous, cheerful, and free." The children are allowed to go barefoot at the school and participate in activities away from the school, like going on sweet-potato-digging expeditions, running in the relay road races, and hiking in the nearby hills and woods. "In our nursery school, parents and teachers are asked to work as partners in caring for the children. That is why everyday communication between parents and teachers is crucial." Daily, teachers report to parents on their child's condition at school, so they feel assured. The school cares for 23 babies under the age of one. Each teacher is responsible for looking after three children. Sometimes the very young children become fretful before entering nursery school. Masayasu says, "Children do not easily take to being with nursery school teachers, because it means they have to spend time away from their mothers. However, they are very observant. When they see their mothers and teachers chatting and smiling with one another, they come to feel secure and reassured about being left at school." Raising children means being "raised" by them. Children can never grow unless parents themselves develop. Masayasu emphatically advises his staff to also work on their own personal and professional growth. Masayasu speaks from experience.

"Winter always Turns to Spring"
Young Masayasu wanted to become a professional baseball player since the fifth grade. In high school, he achieved a perfect game in the semifinals of a prefectural high school baseball meet. However, disaster struck at age 25 when his right hand got caught in a rotary valve of a conveyor belt. Both his index and middle fingers were crushed at the first joint and the skin was scraped away. Tissue from his stomach was grafted onto his fingers, but he could no longer hold a baseball. This was the end of his baseball career. In shock, at first he could only stare in anguish at his bandaged right hand. His mother, who came to see him in the hospital every day, simply said to him one morning, "Masayasu, you know what? Nichiren Daishonin wrote in one of his letters to his followers that 'Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are as if in winter, which never fails to turn into spring.' (Gosho Zenshu, p.1253) I'm sure spring will come for you, too." Masayasu's family had joined the Soka Gakkai in 1959 when he was in high school.

He took her compassionate words to heart. Local Soka Gakkai members also prayed for his recovery. After one month in the hospital, Masayasu was discharged and returned to work. Masayasu determined to become a capable person who could contribute to society in some way. Masayasu gained trust in his workplace. His friends, encouraged by what they saw he was able to accomplish, decided to join Soka Gakkai. Around that time, Masayasu's desire to start his own business grew. He thought, "Well, I love children. Why don't I start a nursery school?" After seriously contemplating the possibility, he visited city hall and discussed his idea with officials. The city had just begun its "Day Care for 10,000 Children" campaign. Masayasu decided to try.
Financial Straits
Masayasu had no personal connections in the area. The site for the day care center had not been found. He visited and talked with local officials and other individuals in the community. "What on earth are you talking about? You're a mere 30-year-old stripling!" With cold, incredulous stares, they shut the door on his face. No one would listen. Shedding tears of mortification, Masayasu gritted his teeth and paid frequent visits without giving up, until, finally, his efforts bore fruit. An influential individual offered a piece of property on which he could open a school. Masayasu obtained a 44 million-yen loan and opened Nisshokai Asakawa Nursery School in April 1980. Masayasu came to work earlier and left later than anyone else. He put his heart and soul into running the nursery school and caring for the first 60 children who enrolled. His enthusiasm was catching, and earned the parents' trust. Enrollment began increasing gradually.

Nevertheless, he fell into arrears with loan payments. His brother, by then, had expanded the family business and now not only ran a restaurant but also prepared and sold packed lunches. To pay off his loans, he worked at his brother's company before he went to work at the school. His own family ate leftover box lunches for their meals. "Maybe I should quit." At times, his will weakened. His wife, Takako (now 53), studied on her own and obtained cooking and nursing licenses to become Masayasu's right hand. She said, "Let's exert ourselves to the best of our ability. We don't have anything to lose." She remained cheerful and uncomplaining. More than anything else, Takako's smile was a comfort to Masayasu.

"Yes," he determined to himself. "I will pick myself back up and try again. President Ikeda also says his ultimate undertaking is education" Where there is a will, there is a way, and Masayasu's and Takako's prayers strengthened day by day. Masayasu was a Soka Gakkai leader in a local district at that time, giving his spare time to participating in activities and encouraging the members. Many of his friends, who were impressed with what Masayasu has been able to challenge and accomplish, decided to join Soka Gakkai one after another.

The day care center got under way five years after opening. The school has taken root and has gained real relevance, serving the needs of the community. For 10 years now, local junior high school students have been volunteering at the school during their summer vacation. By working at the day care center, the young students have learned how to care for others and how to establish communication and friendships with young children. They say they gained appreciation for their parents' efforts in raising them. Masayasu is pleased at seeing young people growing up with such broadmindedness and magnanimity.

He has been consecutively vice-president and president of the PTA in the local elementary school, junior high school, and high school. Currently, he serves as standing director of a corporate juridical organization, the Kitakyushu City Association of Private Nursery Schools; secretary-general of Asakawa Community Development Council; and as a children's welfare commissioner. This year marks the 22nd anniversary of Asakawa Nursery School. Masayasu has grown to love his community, and of course, the children who attend his nursery school.

(Translated and adapted from an article in the MONTH DAY, 200- issue of the Seikyo Shimbun. Reprinted from the October 1996 issue of the SGI Quarterly with permission from Soka Gakkai International Office of Public Relations.)

NEW BOOK ON SOKA EDUCATION!
Peace, Value, and Wisdom: The Educational Philosophy of Daisaku Ikeda by George David Miller . You can buy a copy of this book at the SGI-USA website, www.sgi-usa.org , which now has an online store!!!

The SOKA EDUCATORS' INTERNATIONAL NETWORK is a personal project of volunteers who want to inspire educators who are implementing Soka Education and are looking for dialogue and collaboration in preparation for an international conference on humanistic education by 2005. It will be a quarterly. If you have an experience and ideas you want to share or want to be on the mailing list, please contact Stephanie Tansey, tansey@usa.net.