Rethinking education away from JapanNPO法人「EdFuture」の代表理事、中村 柾さん

元公立中学校教員で、現在はNPO法人「EdFuture」を運営する中村柾さん。日本で４年間の教職を経て米国の教育大学院に進学し、現在はボストン在住。留学プロジェクト「ワールド寺子屋」を立ち上げ、日本の高校生に留学の機会を提供し、誰もが挑戦できる環境づくりに取り組んでいる。

For Masaki Nakamura, the school environment had its ups and downs, but it ultimately became a meaningful part of his life, whether the classroom happened to be in Japan or abroad. Nakamura chose education as a career path, which he now pursues in Boston, Massachusetts, as a data analyst for Boston Public School’s Central Office. The 29-year-old has trained as a teacher in places as far-flung as Swaziland in Africa, Iowa in the U.S., and his native Japan. “I was in Malaysia until the age of 3. My father was transferred there, and though I remember almost nothing about the experience, I grew up being familiar with foreign cultures and languages.”

Nakamura had no hang-ups about studying, especially school English. In junior high, he tutored a friend before exams and felt gratified when their grades improved. “Since then, I’ve loved teaching and vowed to become a teacher.”

Currently, Nakamura helms an education NPO called EdFuture, which included his own, special project, “World Terakoya.” The program connects Japanese teens with American schools by providing an accessible, affordable study abroad program. “My own world opened up by going abroad and studying at an American university. I want kids to know the world out there is huge.”

How did Nakamura get to this spot at such a young age? Let’s retrace his steps back to 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nakamura was teaching eighth graders at a public junior high in Chiba Prefecture when he decided to help teen students who were stuck at home and cut off from society. He reached out to fellow teachers to conduct online classes. Those became “Terakoya,” the predecessor to EdFuture. In the next 11 months, Terakoya conducted 1,000 online classes, and Nakamura was on his way to a graduate program at Stanford University. He was also accepted to four other graduate schools, including Harvard and Columbia, and won a Fulbright Scholarship. Nakamura pulled off this amazing feat while working full-time as a teacher and holding Terakoya classes.

“Actually, I’m happy that I could prep for graduate school while teaching ninth grade. My students and I were on the same page – we shared our struggles and triumphs, and I could train them for school interviews as I, too, was preparing to get into a school. Now with a master’s in education, I feel more than ever that schools are crucial to society and that the school system should be constantly updated and upgraded.”

Nakamura says that a Japanese teenager’s life is often reduced to school, home and cram school – and as such, it may be hard to get interested in English and foreign cultures other than as a means to pass entrance exams. “But I want kids to know that learning English can be a fun, adventurous and extremely rewarding experience.”

Nakamura knows firsthand how fun studying English can be, “especially when you’re aiming for good communication skills. I discovered that when I went to a college in Indiana on a study abroad program during university. Until then, like everybody else, my English studies were all about passing entrance exams.” At the college in Indiana, Nakamura had such a good time that, three months in, he knew he wanted to stay another year. “It was my first time in the U.S., and everything about it seemed brilliantly new. I was especially taken with how confident and assertive the American students were.”

He tried to negotiate an extension but that was turned down by the college in Indiana. “I searched around and discovered that a college in Iowa had a two-year program for education students. So I re-took the TOEFL exam, made the transfer and, after two years, I did my teacher training. In the meantime, I made my own vocabulary cards for new-to-me phrases and never stopped studying English.”

Nakamura himself continues to study all the time. In fact, he has never stopped studying – or teaching for that matter. “I’m intensely interested in the team-up of education and technology. The potential and possibilities of online teaching and learning are limitless.” (Kaori Shoji)

Words to live by