People : Since entering Waseda, Ms Hatsumi Yamaguchi has become a Jeanne D'Arc through her NPO activity and the support she has given to junior students

Ms Hatsumi Yamaguchi was born in 1985 and graduated from Ichigaya Metropolitan Commercial High School. While there, she participated in a Non Profit Organisation called Wakaba, which was the first such organisation to be founded by high school students in Tokyo. Through this NPO, Ms Yamaguchi has been active in local communities where she has taught middle-aged and aged people how to use personal computers. She participated in the 5th Takushoku University International Cooperation and Understanding Essay Contest in memory of Shinpei Goto and Inazo Nitobe and was awarded a “Prize for Excellence”. Ms Yamaguchi entered the School of Education in April 2004 by means of the “self-recommendation” entrance examination.

Ms Yamaguchi is still a member of Wakaba and is now a Director of the organization. She has also become an assistant to overseas students at the Centre of Japanese Language and seems to be very pleased with her role. She comments that “I am not confident of my English, since most of the students around me major in English. I like English, but I have not got enough skill, so I am studying hard. Although I must prepare for the classes carefully, English and Chinese are my favourite subjects”.

Ms Yamaguchi always appears cheerful and serene, even though she says of herself “I am not smart”. As they do for her, the lectures we attend should stimulate all our curiosities. Some good, but hypocritical students might claim “I can easily cope with my classes”, when actually they need to study very hard. Ms Yamaguchi has never shown this kind of hypocrisy. At the interview that is part of the entrance exam, her attitude was sincere and without excessive humility. When the interviewer suggested that she might have felt isolated in a commercial high school, her response was “I do not mind since I have strong persistence”. Nonetheless, the reality is that it is very difficult to enter Waseda from a commercial high school. As a consequence, students from such a background aim at the “one speciality” entrance examinations in which the applicants might be admitted to the University because they have a very special talent. Otherwise, they aim at entering by means of a “recommendation”. Such students, however, are required to have their ability to express themselves assessed through an interview or a short essay. Some university students organise classes where they teach the method of essay writing and other relevant skills. Ms Yamaguchi attended such a class.

Nowadays the ordinary entrance exams are so difficult that the difference between the marks obtained by successful and unsuccessful applicants is very small. High School students are inclined to close their hearts and say to themselves “I will struggle with myself”, or “All the students around me are rivals”. They cannot afford to think about their junior position. While we cannot claim to know which means of admission is the best, it must be said that Waseda would not have accepted a person who graduated from a commercial high school and has love of studying if it had adopted only the ordinary entrance examination system. Indeed, Ms Yamaguchi is the first commercial high school graduate to be admitted to Waseda in a period of 15 years.

Waseda University is now in a transition stage. It should not betray the expectations of those who “do hope to enter Waseda” as Ms Yamaguchi has done, but guarantee good classes and a pleasant student life for all entrants. Any “University Ranking” system is useless.