8
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2004
700 Monterey Way
Newer 1&2 BR Apartments
Fully Equipped Kitchen
1 BR $440
2 BR $515
On-site Laundry
Quiet Westside Location.
Great for Topeka
Commuters!
501 Colorado
2 BR 1 Bath $525
3 BR 2 Bath $625
- DW, C/A, Micro.
· On Bus Route
· Laundry On Site
· One Cat May Be OK
1/2 Month Free
w/12 Month Lease
2 BR Apts from $490
3 BR w/Garage $775
2 BR Townhomes from $510
4 BR 2 Bath $840
- Pool
- Close to downtown and KU
- Laundry on Site
- On bus route
660 Gateway Ct.
- Pool/Tennis Court
- W/D Hookups
- On Bus Route
*1 BR's $505
- 2 BR's from $565
Avalon Apartments
9th & Avalon
Louisiana Place Apts.
1136 Louisiana
- 1 BR's $520
•2 BR's $620
•Gas and Water Paid!
Red Oak Apartments
2408 Alabama
-1 BR's from $430
-2 BR's from $470
-2 BR's from $460
Parkway Terrace Apts.
2328-2348 Murphy Drive
-1 BR's from $410
*Studios $370 w/garage
Water Paid
Diversity increases societal knowledge
Diversity is one of the biggest issues for the University of Kansas. This is the way the United States has built a unique culture and the way people have lived in a multicultural country.
To think about adopting a new kind of community, people have to get involved to feel the difference between their previous community and their new community. The more newcomers who confront the gap of differences, the more a new environment will affect them. This is not only for international students, but for everyone who tries to join a new community.
In order to succeed in a new community, people will have to take advantage of both the knowledge they already have and the knowledge they will gain from the new community.
Unfortunately, some people are not able to adjust to a new community. Because they don't fully contribute their previous knowledge, they lack understanding about the new society.
In the 1980s, Bob Horner, Atlanta Braves player, went to Japan to play baseball. While there, Horner knew that Japanese batters would often hit sacrificial buns for the team and that there was an absolute team-oriented playing style. Ignoring Horner's individual knowledge, the team imposed on him to always play with the group.
As a result, his experience in Japan was far from what both he and his new team had wanted. After the year, he withdrew from Japanese professional baseball, leaving a statement that revealed the difficulty Americans have when they play sports outside of the United States.
His statement indicates the exclusiveness of the Japanese baseball league and it made a huge impact on the way Japanese players thought about the game.
perspective
In some ways, his statement makes sense. The Japanese system did not try to learn the American way because they felt they could improve baseball, even though the sport originated in the United States.
Baseball is a good example of how things will be reshaped by other aspects. It does not totally matter where things come from but how things are reshaped. If people just rely on their own knowledge, they will never learn new knowledge. A mixture of new knowledge increases the acceptance of the newcomer and the current residents.
Actually, some societies have strongly influenced people and made them almost forget their previous knowledge. However, people will not benefit from the new knowledge until they improve their previous knowledge.
In Japan, there is a golden maxim that
Kengo Terada
opinion@kansan.com
says, once you come to the United States to study, you are not supposed to speak Japanese. Otherwise, you'll never know English. This causes some Japanese students who are learning English to adopt an awkward attitude toward other Japanese students who share the same cultural background on campus. Some of the adherents try to keep away from their countrymen and they tend to be estranged from Japanese people.
Statistically, prevalence of English in Japan is not as high as in other Asian countries - ranking 18th out of of 21 Asian countries.
In this point, the strategy seems to work to increase the understanding of English. Kazuaki Wada, Tokyo, Japan, freshman, followed the maxim. Wada made up his mind to keep away from Japanese students at the University when he arrived in the United States. However, he realized that the maxim did help him adjust to America. This is because his American friends wanted to know about him and his culture. So, he took his American friends to a Japanese party and he took his Japanese friend to an American party.
"I would appreciate my buddy, Damon, John and North and so on." Wada said. "Hanging out with them, I can understand about me more. Knowing myself, I know them a lot."
Adjusting to a new community does not merely mean knowing the language. "I take advantage of what I have so that I would know what others have," Wada said.
People have to get involved when they move from one community to another. They may face some conflicts such as ethnicity, religion and language. Unfortunately, people are not able to know if the community is for them until they spend some time there.
Unless newcomers contribute their previous knowledge, the community will not benefit from them. However, by taking advantage of previous knowledge and the knowledge they can learn, they can make the community the best place to live for themselves.
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Terada is a Kashiwa, Japan, junior in journalism.