Dear Friends,
Let me go back to the year 1968 when I was a freshman in the English Department at Fu Jen University. Life was not as comfy as I hoped it would be. After all, after hunkering down for one long year to prepare for the College Entrance Exam, doing nothing except eating, sleeping and studying, I thought I deserved to have a long-overdue break from a humdrum life style to start a new one that was much more to my liking.
Reality settled in. Life was actually much harder than what it had been before the entrance exam. I struggled with English. I had an excruciatingly difficult time catching up with the rest of the class. You see, I was a bad student in high school. I am not saying I was a rule breaker or had lots of run-ins with the police, but I just did not put in as much effort as I should have towards my studies. In fact, I gave up on studying English and math. The reason I could get into Fu Jen was that I scored exceptionally well on the other four subjects (in my days, there were six subjects in the entrance exam).
Ergo, when I entered Fu Jen, I had a nightmarish life. I remember vividly how embarrassed I had felt when I was in the first English conversation class. All my classmates had their English name ready and when the instructor asked me what my name was, I was totally clueless. Actually, I did not even comprehend what the instructor was saying to me. I guess the instructor finally realized I did not have an English name. So, she, out of the blue, asked me if I would mind being called "Joe"? At that moment, to me any name was far better than no name, so I nodded, and the instructor said, "OK, I will just call you 'Joe'." And that is the background knowledge of how my name Joe was originated. Later I made it sound more formal when I started teaching in the US by changing it to "Joseph."
Did I feel frustrated because I was always at the bottom of the whole class? Of course, I did. But did I ever lose heart
because the task in front of me was so daunting? I don't think so. I kept telling myself that I made a mistake of not paying more attention to English while I was in high school, but that did not mean I was bound to be a loser. I set a goal for myself: I would improve my English by at least one word a day. I thought since I was at the bottom of a dark abyss, the only direction I had was up; I could not go any lower further.
I hung in there. I plodded steadfastly, laboriously, and painstakingly. Yes, my English had been improved but there was still quite a bit left to be desired.
In 1977, five years after graduation from Fu Jen, I came to the US to get my master's degree in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). I finished my degree in less than two years and since1979 I have been teaching English at a public high school in the state of Oregon.
The purpose of sharing with you my abridged curriculum vitae is straightforward: Set a goal for yourself and strive with all your heart and mind to fulfill it!
I went back to Taiwan this past summer after 28 years of my last visit in 1983. Needless to say, I could not recognize the country. There had been numerous changes that were both jaw-dropping and eye-popping. Taiwan as a whole had become a much civilized and livable place. But there were some problems that need to be addressed with a sense of urgency. For example, I could not believe that some high school graduates could enter college scoring only "18" points on their combined test score. I am sure no student could have entered Fu Jen with only 18 points. Nevertheless, the low score reflects the fact that today's students are not working as hard as the students in the past.
My concern is: How could these college graduates ever enter the job market where the employers demand the applicants with not only sound academic training but also years of experience?
When a college graduate asks for a well-paying job, wouldn't it be fair for him to ask himself what special qualities and skills he has that other job seekers don't have?
I would advise you to be be humble but confident when you apply for a job. Also, be prepared when you are still in school, be persistent with what you want to achieve in your life, and be a dreamer because you don't know your true potential until you set in motion the process of fulfilling your dream.
You can use me as a role model: Someone who had such a hard time in school, but he was the only one in his whole class to end up teaching English in the United States of America. So, you can do it, too if you believe in yourself and just hang in there and never give up!
I wish you the best.
With kindest regards,
Joseph Chang
Class of 1972
josephdjchang@yahoo.com
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