I am currently working as a permanent super-advisor to the “Yokohama Science Frontier Senior High School” (YSFH) in Yokohama city, which is the first school in Japan that bears the word “science” in its name.

I would like to take this opportunity to present my aspiration at the school, which is, “I want to nurture people who excel in one area or skill, regardless of their environment or income gap of their families. I want everyone to have a flexible mind and to grow up to be ‘remarkable members of society that are full of individuality’ who are excellent at solving problems. In addition, I want to make absolutely sure that I never overlook the geniuses/exceptional talents who must be there, and to uncover and grow them.”

Young people have a really wide variety of potentials in every aspect. I would like him/her to take a path so that when they look back at their own lives in the future, they can say, “I had a meaningful life.” Those paths should be satisfying so they can say, “I did my best as one human being” for the welfare and development of themselves, their families, local community, Japan, and even the world. I want them to find these paths by themselves.

In order to achieve this, it is necessary to have an environment where they comprehend the significance of knowledge in society and the world, feel the “intellectual romanticism,” achieve a good balance and enjoy both studying and club activities. If they connect the knowledge with their wisdom, they will find that their knowledge grows. Then, they become more interested and get a desire for more knowledge, then more knowledge makes them want to use their wisdom, and this “knowledge/wisdom cycle” starts to go around. In such a way, understanding of things become deeper by moving back and forth between [find/know], [make/summarize], and [understand/be convinced].

If they manage to learn the path from the knack of studying to problem solving, that is perfect, and now they will have the “power” to find and take the best path of their lives and have “self-confidence.” If everyone shares “the method to think” stated above as an intellectual group, he/she will talk about the bright hopes or ideals among friends in school, discuss their opinions with many people in society, and I am certain that these things will lead to the natural formation of excellent human networks around them.

Then, why science? That is because it is the basics of “the method to think.”

Science is a guiding principle to (1) observe the subject matter closely; (2) extract accurate and sufficient information (data); (3) determine the group of components; (4) make use of the logic that provides the cause and effect among the components, and; (5) yield the optimum solution/answer. In such a way, science will (6) smoothly manage the present society which has been highly technologized; (7) anticipate/predict by seeing into the future, and furthermore, (8) open the way to the future. Up until now, science has been dealing with nature most of the time, but basically it is fundamentally a basic wisdom that covers all fields such as humanity/sociology/science/engineering/medicine/ agriculture.

However, these are just requirements to be an intellectual member of society, and they won’t qualify as human beings unless the “heart” is added. That is because science is accurate/cold, and as a result it could sometimes be extremely heartless. However, being heartless/unmerciful in a society which is driven by the hearts of people will eventually collapse. The cold eyes of science have no choice but to admit this contradiction. In order to overcome this contradiction, wisdom as human beings will be needed. As a source of such wisdom, YSFH sets a period to teach science literacy (scientific wisdom that should be acquired as a human being), and we also focus on Japanese and world histories. We positioned the communication ability as an essential skill to succeed in the international society, linked Japanese/English together through small-group instruction, and recently asked Mr. Yasuhiro Kamimura to teach us about the essay written by his grandfather, the late Ryozi Uyeda. Professor Uyeda whom I admire for his remarkable foresight and high knowledge in his study/education.

He had a wish – “Wouldn’t it be possible to gather teachers who really love science somewhere in Japan, gather students who really love science, and build a school to enjoy science? It used to be literally just a dream when Japan was a poor country in the past, but I believe it is possible to realize it in Japan today if we have the philosophy.” Furthermore, he had a keen advice – “If the teachers and students put aside the accepted norms that ‘teachers are those who teach, and students are those who learn,’ and enjoy together, this will certainly nurture good individualities. I believe that the advancement of science education will be more effective by promoting generous-hearted enjoyment, rather than focusing on careful selection of the curriculum. Average human resources can be obtained through minimum essential education that has been loosely laid out. If more than that is required, they should study by themselves and improve. This might seem irresponsible, but it won’t be a dream to win the Nobel Prize every year if a free atmosphere exists in education.”

I totally agree with this. “Professor Uyeda, that you dreamed of is now going to be real. We will do our best not to disappoint your expectations!”

There are 20 laboratories in YSFH which have the most advanced equipments. In addition to our teachers who love science very much, we have asked the research institutions and universities where we agreed to collaborate on education/research to send their researchers and graduate students to teach there. It is important for young students to grow by following the examples of their good elders. Our students are currently just the 238 freshman students, but they are about to begin a new experience as elder brothers and sisters who will teach the new freshman students that will be joining when the new school year starts. In this way, I am sincerely hoping that a tradition of intelligence forms spontaneously at the newborn science high school, and I am making a total commitment to pass on my modest experience which I gained at traditional places where I spent my time. We will appreciate your support and guidance.

Chinese / French / Japanese