William Smith Clark

William Smith Clark

By Tomomi Nakajima

Introduction

“Boys, Be Ambitious!” Have you ever heard this phrase? I think most people in Japan have heard this famous phrase at least once. William Smith Clark is the person who left these words to Japanese people. A lot of Japanese people treat this phrase as a witty remark that encourages young people to have a big dream or an ambition. However, did you know that this famous phrase, “Boys, Be Ambitious!” could just be a farewell? Moreover, Clark is treated as being very noble in Japan, but actually he is nearly forgotten in the U.S., which was his home country. Why? I would like to reveal these mysteries of William Smith Clark today.

Clark’s Colorful Life and the Mystery of the Words, “Boys, Be Ambitious!”

In 1826, Clark was born in Massachusetts State in the U.S. When Clark was 41 years old, he became the third president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (University of Massachusetts Amherst). Then, Clark was invited to Japan as an “Oyatoi-Gaikokujin” [foreign experts - Ed] in 1876. He contributed to establish the Sapporo Agricultural College (Hokkaido University) and taught some academic subjects very passionately to his Japanese students there. Even though his stay in Japan was only for 8 months, he made a great achievement in Japan. In 1886, Clark died of heart disease at his home in the U.S.

If you see only the surface of Clark’s life, you might think his life was full of successes. However, Clark also experienced failures, and he was not popular in his own country. Actually, Clark was accused of fraud by sponsors when he started a business in the U.S. after coming back from Japan. Also, his personality had a problem. It was always difficult for him to maintain his high motivation on one thing, so he gave up things very easily and started new things one after another. Therefore, Clark was considered to be an irresponsible person in the U.S. As you can see, he experienced both successes and failures, so he is often described as a “colorful” person in the U.S.

When you hear the phrase, “Boys, Be Ambitious,” you probably get some positive impressions, like “Have a big dream!” or “Challenge anything you want!” According to the web site of the Hokkaido University Library (Sapporo Agricultural College), “Boys, Be Ambitious” referred to this translation. “Boys, be ambitious! Be ambitious not for money or for selfish aggrandizement, not for that evanescent thing which men call fame. Be ambitious for the attainment of all that a man ought to be.” However, American people think this was just farewell words for his Japanese students. So, they wonder why Japanese people have been impressed so much by the farewell words. Even though we do not know whether it was a mistranslation or not, one thing I am sure of is that Clark was really respected by his Japanese students so they translated Clark’s farewell to such meaningful words.

Summary of Group Discussion

I came up with three questions for the group discussion. Here are the questions that I asked to my group members.

1. Why do you think Clark was described as a “colorful” person?

2. What is your impression for the phrase, “Boys, Be Ambitious”?

3. What can you learn from his life?

For the question 1, one of the members thought Clark’s passionate personality is described with the word “colorful.” Moreover, some of my other group members and I thought Clark was interested in a lot of things, so he had many different faces. Also, he experienced both big success and failure, so the word “colorful” is very suitable to describe Clark.

For the question 2, most of my group members said their first impressions for the phrase were very positive, but they didn't translate this meaning to the long and stiff one that I introduced during the presentation. They just got the impression, like “Have a big dream!” from the phrase. My first impression for this phrase was noble, so I was a little bit disappointed to know that it might just be a farewell, but I think it does not matter. We can believe what we want to believe.

For the question 3, I could not bring out my group members' answers so much, but one of the members said that Clark failed in the U.S. because he was very irresponsible, so I think the member learned the importance of being responsible from Clark's life. In my case, I learned the importance of being patient and trying to achieve goals without giving up easily. Even though we have great talents, we might fail if we are impatient, like Clark.

Reflection on the Project

I had known about the phrase, “Boys, Be Ambitious!” and Clark somehow, but I did not know that there are so many interesting facts and side stories about him. We cannot see the essence of someone's life if we see only a surface of it, so I really appreciate that I had a great opportunity to learn about William Smith Clark deeply through this project. I was able to see the essence of Clark’s life by researching both good and bad aspects of him. So, I learned not only about Clark himself, but also the importance of seeing both good and bad aspects when we research one specific person deeply.

In the group discussion, we also asked each other if we can date or get married with Clark. For this question, I would like to answer that I would not want Clark to be my boyfriend or husband. The biggest reason why I would not want to get married with him is because Clark is really impatient. I thought it means he cannot keep loving me through his life, and he might find a lot of different women to stay with. However, one of my group members said that it can be very fun to be with Clark because he has many interests and great talents, too. So, she thinks she could date Clark, but she also said that she does not want to get married to him after all because of the same reason as me. Therefore, I can say that the biggest thing we learned from Clark’s life is that it is always good to be patient if we want to succeed in many situations.


References
New England Historical Society. (2014, March 19). Boys, Be Ambitious! The Japanese Legacy of Massachusetts' William Smith Clark. Retrieved January 16, 2015, from https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/boys-ambitious-japanese-legacy-massachusetts-william-smith-clark/

University of Massachusetts. (n.d.). William Smith Clark, 1867-79. Retrieved January 16, 2015, from http://www.umassp.edu/president/clark

William Smith Clark

William Smith Clark

By Ayaka Kasahara

“Boys, be ambitious” is one of my favorite quotes. Even if some people don’t know whose words they are, I believe many Japanese have heard them. I have been encouraged by the words since I was a high school student. That is why I chose William S. Clark for this project.

Clark was born at Massachusetts, US in 1826. After getting doctor’s degree of chemistry, he started teaching it as well as botany and zoology. Even though his academic career was once interrupted due to the Civil War, he became the president of Massachusetts Agricultural College (presently the University of Massachusetts Amherst) after he quit army in 1863. In 1876, Clark was invited by Japanese government to work as the president of Sapporo Agricultural College in Hokkaido prefecture (present Hokkaido University). Around that time, the government was planning to cultivate Hokkaido prefecture with establishment of educational institutes. ‘Boys, be ambitious’ were Clark's words for his students before he left Hokkaido. A lot of students saw off the orator at that time. Reportedly, he continued to contact his students by letters even after he came back to the US. He died in 1866 at the age of 59.

It was quite surprising for me that his words continue and there are various versions; ‘boys, be ambitious like this old man’, ‘boys, be ambitious for Christ’, etc. The reason is thought to be that it was 60 years later that the first graduates of SAC told the words for the first time when his book about his student life with Clark was published. That made Clark’s words unclear. Furthermore, some people interpreted and arranged them.

The question I had for my group was, what did he want to tell with “Boys be ambitious”? As the words vary based on individual’s interpretation, we can have different ideas on them. In the beginning of the discussion, I asked the members if they knew the following words of the quote, and it turned out no one did. Then I gave them questions: how he felt when he said the words, what words they would add to the quote, and how they interpreted it. They said Clark wanted his students to be brave and gentle, and they would add that type of words. On reflection, I prepared too many questions and I failed to give the members enough information to participate in the discussion.


He was a great professor for the students and highly admired. Even though he didn't stay in Hokkaido for long time, he had a good time with his students. There is no telling what he said to the students exactly. Even if the words didn't have such an important message, he was endowed much trust by his students. That made him very popular around Japan. Now that he is more famous in Japan than in the US. I hope the number of respectable educators like him increases and students admire more teachers, so that both students and teachers can spend fulfilling school life.

William Smith Clark

William Smith Clark

by Kotone Kikuchi

Have you ever heard the famous phrase, Boys be ambitious? These are the words of William Smith Clark. These words are very famous, but his life is not so famous, so I would like to explain about his life easily.

<Summary of his back ground>

He was born in Massachusetts in America in 1826, and he studied hard about chemistry, botany, and zoology at Amherst College. After graduating from Amherst College, he went to study abroad to Germany, and got a doctor's degree of chemistry. Then, he went back to Amherst College as a professor of chemistry, and started to teach his major subject, especially chemistry. In 1863, he established Massachusetts Agricultural School, and then in 1873, he became the 3rd president of Massachusetts Agricultural School. At the same time, in Japan, Meiji government wanted to establish the modern type of Agricultural School in Hokkaido, and also they wanted to develop the land of Hokkaido. When he got this order, he thought that if he could succeed in developing a new land in Japan, he would get a high evaluation for Massachusetts Agricultural School from other people. In 1873, he went to Japan, and became the first assistant principal. Also he taught natural science, botany, and Christianity in English. He did not only teach, but also made an effort to develop new land of Hokkaido. He spent in Japan only less than 1 year, but his achievement was big.

<Discussion>

I had two discussion questions. One was “Why do you think he made a big effort for Hokkaido?” My opinion was he wanted to get high evaluations from other people through developing new land. Yuta said that “He likes agriculture, so Hokkaido is very suitable place for him.” I agree with his idea. Certainly, he liked studying natural chemistry, or other subject like botany, so Hokkaido was suitable place for him. The next question was “Do you think his phrase ‘Boys be ambitious’ was only for students, or for all of people who lived in Hokkaido?”. My opinion was that Clark said not only for students, but also people who live in Hokkaido. Misato’s opinion was “When he said the word, Boys be ambitious was just for students, but after that this word made an influence for people who live in Hokkaido.” When I heard her opinion, I agreed with her, so my opinion changed.

<Reflection>

I would like to write reflection about how to research, the presentation, and discussion. First, I would like to write how to research about him. The reason why I chose him for presentation task because I have heard his famous word “Boys be ambitious”, but I did not know about him. Also, I like Hokkaido, so I want to know about him. He is a famous person, so there is a lot of information on web sites. I looked at only web site, so if I have an opportunity of doing presentation like this, I will read books about my focus person. Next I'll mention the presentation. Through looking at feedback form, bad points were written by my class mate that I made some English mistakes, lacked his back ground information, so I should research more detail, and review my script and slide after make it. Finally I'll mention the discussion. Lacking leadership skill is my weak point, so I could not make a good discussion. I was given an advice about discussion from my class mates, for example, using “How about you?” or “What do you think?”, so I will use these words from this time on.

<References>

http://www.hokudai.ac.jp/ July 6, 2014

http://www.pockyboston.com/ July 7, 2014

Nitobe Inazo

By Osamu Kuroki

Nitobe Inazo

In this essay, I’m going to write about how Nitobe Inazo is depicted by some writers who specialize in him. Nitobe Inazo is known as one of the most intelligent Japanese agronomists, educators and philosophers. However, I was wondering which subject he wanted to learn the most before he died. Nitobe Inazo had contributed to the society as a bureau chief of the League of Nations since he experienced overseas life during Meiji era. Also, he is a symbol of 5,000 yen bill in the Japanese bank and his famous work, Bushido: The soul of Japan is still read today. According to Kikuto Matsushita, a professor of Nitobe Inazo, Bushido is proper manners of morals that samurais should obey, which is taken over from a feudalistic idea of samurais in the past. Actually, this moral is deeply related to religion so it seems how Nitobe Inazo could have accomplished the spirits as Bushido for samurais through his background. I will focus on his youth until he became agronomist, educator and philosopher.

According to a part of the complete works of Nitobe Inazo, Reminiscences of Childhood, Nitobe Inazo was born in a southern domain in 1862 and his parents taught him samurai soul and morals early, before he went to school to learn common education. For Nitobe Inazo, in the first school, Tsukiji International English School, he was an excellent student regarding mainly English and other subjects so his father took him to Tokyo International School which changed his life. In Tokyo International School, Nitobe Inazo would meet two important people. Kanzo Uchimura and Kingo Miyabe motivated and inspired him a lot because the three people wree not only friendly rivals, but also close friends from Tokyo International School and Sapporo Agriculture School generation. Among current eminent scholars like Kikuto Matsushita, they are called Sapporo Torio – The Sapporo Trio. It is said that their personalities were quite different. Kanzo Uchimura was good at studying so the whole average score on each test was always top from Tokyo International School. He succeeded in expanding the significance of religion between Japan and overseas during Meiji era. Kingo Miyabe followed Kanzo Uchimura for the whole average score on each test. He contributed to Meiji society as a botanist. Both were very clever and influential. Compared to them, although Nitobe Inazo’s whole average on each test was not so high, his ability was remarkable for English, agriculture and religion. He was always top in those subjects. When Nitobe was interested in something keenly, he made efforts a lot.

Actually, the reason why he wanted to go abroad was to learn and join the Quakers. Although it is said that Nitobe Inazo was inspired to decide to go abroad by William Smith Clark, who famously said 少年よ大志を抱け [Editor's note: “Boys, Be Ambitious!”], actually it was another person, Mr. Marrion M. Scott at the Tokyo International School, that changed his mind into the idea of internationalism first. According to the complete works of Nitobe Inazo, Wayland’s Moral Science, nobody appears more in the past and future than Mr. Scott, who put into his mind the love for studies. We found how much Nitobe Inazo respected him. Nitobe Inazo learned his future contribution from Mr. Scott and two rivals, Kanzo Uchimura and Kingo Miyabe a lot.

While he was abroad in America after he graduated from Sapporo Agriculture School, he thoroughly studied about Japanese inner spirit at Johns Hopkins University. He learned overseas spirits by joining Quaker and it was said overseas culture and spirits would be modern and new so he reflected on himself and Japan. Nitobe Inazo remembered what Mr. Scott said to him, which was that Japan would not evolve in development of religion overseas. After that, he wrote Bushido during his time at Johns Hopkins. Although he became famous as an agronomist, educator and philosopher, through those subjects, what he wanted to do may have been to expand the importance of spirits and manners of morals from Quaker and Bushido directly to people through his position and works.



References

松下菊人 (1987) 国際人　新渡戸稲造　published by Mitsumi Printing Corporation, Tokyo, Japan p. 3-22, p. 46-59, p. 206-230

鈴木範久 (2007) 新渡戸稲造全集　published by Iwaba Bookstore, Tokyo, Japan p. 25-130

大田愛人　(2006) 「武士道」を読む　published by Heibon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan p. 13-26, 55-78