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法政大学 Diana Khor総長 × IBコース生徒 座談会
~IBコースの学びと未来~

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法政大学 Diana Khor総長総長 × IBコース生徒 座談会~IBコースの学びと未来~

この懇談は、英語で行われ、全ての翻訳をIBコースの生徒たちが行いました。

座談会全文

Mr.A.G
Okay, guys, before we start… I know you…Now you're feeling quite nervous, so I’m sorry for that, but just please be yourselves. We're very lucky to have Diana Khor here and she's really interested in your experiences.
Mr.A.G
First, like why you decided to come to this school? And why do you want to study in the IB course? And then what's it like being a student in the IB course? And just feel free to say whatever you want, be yourselves. So let's... Diana, do you have any questions before we start about how this is going to work? Because we're all a little bit overwhelmed. I think we'll start with introductions.
Mr.A.G
And then we start with the students telling you why they wanted to come to the school and give you some of the background what they're studying. And then after that, we can talk about any input from yourself. If you have any questions from the students, something that they say, that interests you, then feel free to ask questions.
President Khor
And they can also ask me questions?
Mr.A.G
Exactly, please ask any questions. Okay.
President Khor
Take a deep breath.
Mr.A.G
Yeah, take a deep breath.
Mr.A.G
So do you want to start? You're DP2. So we'll go around this way, introductions. So, please introduce yourself to Diana.
Student A
Hello, I’m A, I’m a DP2 student.
Mr.A.G
And you study…?
Student A
I study Business Management and…
Mr.A.G
You're studying online?
Student A
Yeah, online.
Mr.A.G
That's HL? Higher Level?
Student A
Higher Level.
Mr.A.G
What other Higher Level subjects do you study?
Student A
I take English and Visual Arts.
Mr.A.G
SL?
Student A
SL: Japanese, Mathematics and Biology.
Mr.A.G
Okay. Great.
Student B
Hi, I’m B. And I study English, Math, and Biology for HL; and for SL, I take Chemistry, History and Language Arts.
Student C
My name is C. I take English, Math, and Biology for Higher Level and for Standard Level, I take Chemistry, Japanese, and Business Management, same as her (A), online.
Student D
I'm D. I’m a DP1 student. I chose Japanese, English, and Mathematics for HL, and History, Visual Arts and Chemistry, for SL.
Student E
My name is E . For HL I'm doing Japanese, Biology and Math. And for SL I’m doing History, and … English, and another thing… Chemistry. That's all.
Student F
And my name is F. I take English, Japanese, and History for HL, and for SL, I take Math, Biology, and Psychology. I take Psychology class online.
President Khor
Your name again? Ah, OK. So I can just ask, so what do you learn in Visual Arts? Somebody.
Student A
I research about some artists and analyze their art and I’m also creating some art.
President Khor
Actually making it yourself?
Student A
Yeah, to display at school.
President Khor
Are you going to have an exhibition?
Student A
Yeah, exhibition in the summer.
President Khor
In the summer. That's nice. If you study Japanese, what do you study in Japanese in the IB course?
Student E
Actually, it hasn't started yet.
Student F
Our classes, like we are DP1, but our classes haven’t started yet. They start tomorrow.
Student E
That's from tomorrow.
President Khor
Giving you as a preview.
Student C
In Japanese, we basically read 6 to 7 books. They can be translated or originally in Japanese. In class, we mostly discuss our thoughts and our analyses. So in the final exam, we have to write long essays about the books that we learnt. So currently we're preparing for it.
President Khor
I see. What makes you decide to enter the IB course? Anybody.
Student E
Anybody? For me, I want to think about things that don't have set answers. For example, in math, for basic math, if like, 1+1 is 2, this is the basic math, but for example, thinking about Fibonacci numbers, it actually doesn't contain any answers at Fibonacci numbers, thinking about Fibonacci numbers. So I really like to think about things that doesn't contain any answers. So I just choose the IB course.
President Khor
I see. Interesting. How about others?
Student B
For me, first of all, I wanted to learn English. Second of all, I wanted to, it's kind of similar, but I wanted to have a wider perspective on things. And IB is really good for that, I think. In Japan, there's not a lot of opportunities to learn in English. And since I wanted to keep my English level high, I kind of wanted to choose IB.
President Khor
I see. Can I get a couple more answers?
Student D
When I was in primary school, I lived in Australia for about 6 years. I want to keep my English skills and improve it. In IB, you can choose what subjects you want to study. I wanted to deepen my understanding on the subjects that I like.
President Khor
I see. Good, one more? From here, anybody?
Student F
So, it's similar to her, but I also had an experience of living in the United States for 3 years, but it was only during COVID. So I couldn't actually go to school and I had to do classes online. So for me, those studies didn't give me enough English skills. So in high school, I want to improve my English skills, and also, in our IB class, we only have about ten students for each class. So that also fits me too.
President Khor
I see. That sounds interesting. Anything you want to ask me? Any questions you have for me? This isn't an exam, I don't want to make you feel that I’m interrogating you on all sorts of things. And so I can take some questions if you have any questions.
Student B
What do you find very interesting about your field? Your field of study.
President Khor
My field of study? My background is in sociology. What I found most interesting about sociology is you see things beneath the surface and question common sense. Earlier, I think B mentioned something like the lack of a clear answer, a correct answer to things.
President Khor
That's kind of close to that. And I’ve been asked that in one of the interviews, what is it about sociology, and it's so that you won't be fooled because you can see things beneath the surface.
President Khor
I think, to take a different view from what society generally considers as common sense, that's the most attractive part to me.
President Khor
What I like about the IB course, actually, if I could share my view of it, is that that's exactly what it is. And I think we can learn anything. I mean we keep learning. Even after retiring (I’m close to the age of retirement). I'll keep learning. You can always take in new knowledge and stuff, but what is most important is being able to learn. And I think that's what IB gives you.
President Khor
Like the Theory of Knowledge course, for example, it is basically about your critical thinking. You also talked about that. It is really basically about learning how to think, learning how to learn. And that is something that you can use for life. And that also in a more short term, it prepares you very well for college, because that's what we require.
President Khor
And so you have a head start going to college because of the preparation that you managed to get.
Mr.A.G
Thank you. Those are really interesting comments about learning to learn. Do you have any concrete examples from your classes? What have you done in your classrooms that you think "ah, this has been really interesting" or is helping you learn these skills, learning to learn? I think, from critical thinking or TOK. Any of your subjects?
Student C
Can it be not subject but like CAS?
Mr.A.G
Yes, that's a good example.
Student C
In IB, we have things called CAS, so it's like the activity that we have to do. We start it by ourselves. So everyone has different CAS projects and I did mine with A mostly. Of course, I did some of it individually, but during the CAS project, I had to start the project by myself.
Student C
Unlike in junior high school, where teachers were able to support me and tell me what to do, but during the CAS project, I have to plan everything by myself. I have to email a teacher or people in my prefecture to ask them whether I can do my activity at their place or not. And it really teaches me planning skills and also critical thinking skills as well. Because me and her, we were planning to invite people from other schools.
Student C
So we had to think about whether what we are doing is right. We are actually being beneficial to them as well, not only to us. So CAS project teaches me a lot.
President Khor
Others?
Student F
So in class we had, compared to junior high, we had a lot of group work. In junior high, we did either individual work, or the teacher's like, "this is this and that is that". Here,there's a lot of group work and conversations, discussions. So if there is no one to start, then we can't do anything. We can’t have a good class. So by doing those activities, I kind of feel that my responsibility and leadership skill has gone much better.
President Khor
Interesting. Do you find group work challenging? to work with other people? What do you think? Do you enjoy group work? Or do you rather work on your own?
Student F
I enjoy the group work and discussions.
Student E
It's very difficult. I prefer to do something by myself, but doing things on my own, I actually don't get a lot of a good answers. We have to listen to a lot of people, good opinions. These days, I think I prefer to work with a lot of people. Better than doing it by myself.
President Khor
Interesting. What if somebody in your group is not doing the work? Has that ever happened to you? Anyone? What do you think?
Student D
Since there is a very small number of people, I think everyone has to say something good in group discussions. For me, in junior high, I didn't really participate in discussion. But from high school, since there's only a small number of people, I started to talk in discussion as well. And by doing group work, I will be able to come up with ideas that I couldn’t come up with by myself, so I like group discussion.
President Khor
So the IB course here also gives you a context in which you can learn with your peers, and also encourages you to be more active in learning. That's what I gathered from you. And that sounds very good.
President Khor
Let's talk a little bit about English. Do you think your English has improved since starting IB?
Student B
Yeah, definitely.
President Khor
Why do you think so? What is it about the IB that appeals to you?
Student A
I actually transferred to this school last September. I went to a different private high school before. So in the previous high school, there's not so many English courses, and also not so many teachers who can speak English well. So after I entered this high school, I think my English has definitely developed from before. And also there's so many discussions in the school. So it also works for me, I guess.
President Khor
Yes, B. How about you?
Student B
I felt that studying the English subject itself, wasn't really a beneficial opportunity. But by researching other things, I found more articles in English and that gave me the opportunity to read in English a lot more. I also thought that learning hard vocabulary was very useful for me, for the first time in my life.
President Khor
That's good because you learn it and you can use it. I think that's why you find it helpful. I'll tell you a secret. I have never gone to school for Japanese. And it's all by immersion, and you feel the need. You just speak right? At times, you just feel like "I have an idea here. Now I can't say it" and you regret it, right? And you try to improve it. Sounds very good. What else? Mr.A.G, anything else you think we can talk about?
Mr.A.G
So let's look into the future a little bit and think about your IB experience and where do you guys hope that's going to take you? What do you see as the value of the IB for you, going into university and then later your career? What are you thinking about your futures?
President Khor
You read my mind. That's what I thought. "Maybe we're talking about that next." Yes. What do you think? I'd like to hear from all of you, so whoever would like to begin first.
Mr.A.G
Maybe DP2 students, you're getting closer to university than DP1, so you want to start?
Student C
Actually, the reason why I wanted to start IB was because IB can be used in almost all countries like UK, Australia and even Asia’s countries. So at first I was hoping for, when I come to IB, I didn't really have an interest when I was in junior high. So I started IB because I wanted to find my interest. And now I found my interest which is in biology. So I’m wishing for IB to take me to my desired university, which is in Australia.
Student C
It makes me think that if I wasn't in IB, maybe it would be harder for me, because I would have to study in the Japanese curriculum, but I'd also have to prepare for Australia's exam. So I think I’m very fortunate that I chose IB because I found my interest and also I found where I wanted to go.
President Khor
Interesting. May I ask you which particular areas of biology you're interested in?
Student C
I’m thinking of going to medical school. I want to be a doctor in the future.
Student B
It's not like directly correlated to university, but I find that IB really develops your research skills and I think that is going to affect my future positively. So I think IB was really good.
Student A
The reason that I entered this high school is to develop my English skills, and I take business management, which is higher level. So I want to engage with a company which is related to business management and also a more global company. So it's my future, it's my dream.
President Khor
Good. Yeah.
Student D
I haven't really decided what I want to do in the future yet. I’m hoping that, as I learn in IB, studying in IB, I want to find what I’m interested in. I want to use English in the future. I think that might change, but I want to find what I'm interested in.
Student E
For me, actually we’re not IB students yet. Like, the next day, we will be IB students. For me, as pre-IB students, I have learned a lot of critical thinking. ... I have been to school in China, and actually a lot of things have a set answer. We'd just have to memorize these kinds of things. But at IB, we have to think very critically like “Is this answer really right?” I think, for my future, and for learning in the IB, I want to improve my critical thinking skills.
Student F
When I was junior high or just the beginning of high school, I didn't consider going to university in other countries, ... but now taking these global classes, I kind of feel that if there is something I want to learn in other countries, not in Japan, the universities in foreign countries are good for me, too. First, I never had that mind of going to another country to learn. But now I’m kind of thinking that if there's something that I really want to do, then one way to learn that is to go to a university outside of Japan. It gave me a global mindset.
President Khor
Wonderful. You all have your complex visions, what you want to do. And I don't want to just simply summarize. But what I gather is, this is one kind of, I feel this one major theme is, it expands your possibilities, expands your choices. It's exactly what we want to do as educators. So this is wonderful.
Mr.A.G
If you can see that potential in yourself, then you kind of give yourself no limits. So you can push yourself where you want to be, not being told to where you should be, which is wonderful. Actually, thinking about studying on the IB and at this school, you mentioned about the different kinds of assessments.
Mr.A.G
Shall we talk about that? Why do you think the IB assessments, our style of testing, is different? And what's your experience of that?
President Khor
I would love to hear about that.
Student E
So the question is difference between Japan's normal school and the IB school system.
Mr.A.G
Yeah, what you experienced.
Student E
I think for the normal, classic Japanese schools, it's important to remember a lot of things in a short time, but in the IB class, they think it's very important to think from a lot of perspectives and a lot of like, ... . At IB, we have to think in a lot of different ways. And I think that's the biggest difference.
President Khor
You're assessed according to how you can see things from different perspectives instead of just getting the right answer?
Student E
I think it has changed my mind a lot, through IB.
Student B
I think IB really emphasizes how you came to that answer and how you think and as E said earlier, critical thinking is really important to get a high score in the IB. And I think IB is assessed that way, because the answer is rarely definite in the real world. I think, rather than the Japanese way of "there is always an answer and you have to memorize it," I think the IB is adapted to the real world better.
President Khor
Interesting. And so the process in which you arrive is better, because you can always hit the correct answer randomly, right? By chance. That's interesting. Any others?
Student C
I was in Japanese school from elementary school to junior high. What I felt is that in tests, we basically write about things we learned. So the information that was written on the blackboard. But in IB, instead of that, we learn about how to get to the answer. For example, for business management, my teacher taught me how to analyze a company's situations or how to read the financial sheet. And in the test , I have to read the sheets or see, so there would be a huge paragraph about company situations. And the question would maybe be like, "How do you think you can improve this company?" So in Japan, we learn about the answer, but in IB, we learn about how to get to the answer. So I thought it was so interesting. Before, in junior high school, I never felt that I learned things, but in IB, especially biology, my teacher always teaches me how to think by myself.
Student C
So in real life, whenever I see a plan, I get to know like, I get to think by myself, "Okay, this plan really looks like this, so maybe this plan is for cold weather like winter or a cold country and, yeah, I like IB’s education.
President Khor
Interesting, amazing. It has…
Mr.A.G
So Diana, if you could expand on these skills that they're learning? Like a different way of approaching learning? How do you think that's going to benefit them in university?
President Khor
Yeah, I think basically in university to be able to..., as E said earlier, that there is no one correct answer for things. Statistics at times, but apart from that, most of the time it is really about how you analyze the situation. And at least that's how I assess my students, rather than the answer itself. And I think you to put it so well, it's how you arrive at the answer, your thinking process.
President Khor
And that's most important. And that's also how we can educate students further, that if there's some lapse in logic, in your thinking process, then we can talk about that. And then you'll be left again to think on your own, and as you said, it is something that is so much a part of you that you carry with you, right? And in the university, obviously, we're emphasizing cross-disciplinary learning as well. Even though we still have the traditional departments, we will also have a good number of cross-disciplinary departments.
President Khor
When you're in cross disciplinary departments, the different perspectives are important, and being able to adjudicate, to think, and not just get overwhelmed. "What am I looking at, I have all these ten ways of looking at these things. How can I think?" and you stop and think, right? And so that is exactly what we want students to have, coming into the university. And of course, we teach you new knowledge and so on. With the new knowledge, but you have a foundation, a base.
President Khor
And that is why, as you mentioned earlier, IB is used everywhere. Why is IB used everywhere? Because it gives you the most essential skills that you need. Instead of any particular subjects you need to study, it's the essential skills that you need, that you can go and use that to apply to any universities that you want.
President Khor
A friend of mine had a child struggling in an IB course. She asked me, because she and her husband disagreed. “Diana, what do you think? Is this too tough? Maybe we should put him in a regular school". And I know it is worth it. Trust me. And he did graduate, he got his diploma, he passed, and now he's happy.
Mr.A.G
I'd like to... final comment that you have made about, it being tough, he kept going and kept working and then found out it was worth it. So let's talk a little bit about it. It is tough. Right from the first year, the pre-IB course is very full. And then into the DP, it's very busy, especially third year. So could you talk about your experiences so far?
Student A
So this year, actually, it was a little bit hard for me to manage my time, because I have to work in so many assignments. As I said before, I take visual arts. So there's so many classes that I got to work on. So I'm actually struggling a little on how to use the time more effectively. I’m going to use my time more effectively this year, for example, expiry time.
President Khor
What we just talked about and tell me more.
Student B
Sometimes, spending time on something doesn't mean that you get the thing done, and that is really tough for me. Because I’m doing it and I’m focusing on it, but it's not giving me results. So I don't think I'm even trying.
President Khor
A lot of people resonate with you. Yes, tell me more about that. It seems to resonate.
Student E
Yeah, I was studying for the math test very, very hard, but actually my result was not very high. So I was very upset with myself. That's my experience.
President Khor
Any others? Do you want to share?
Student C
In my case, in IB, we have things called internal assessment. So you basically have to write a whole bunch of papers, essays, and what I found hard is like, actually, biology was something I prepared for the longest, but I actually prepared since last year. I had quite a lot of discussions with my teacher, but now biology is the hardest for me. I haven't started anything, well, not nothing, but I don't think I have really made it through. So it's really frustrating because I know I’m doing it, but the result is not coming.
President Khor
That resonates with me. Because my area, within sociology, is gender and sexuality. In Introduction to Sociology, I cover a whole range of subjects. To this date, I find gender most difficult to teach.
President Khor
At times the more you know about something, the more difficult it is for you to take some distance and pull out the things in a way that can effectively communicate, what you want to communicate. But that's showing that you are really good in biology that you have learned a whole lot. Any other examples that you want to share?
Student F
My actual DP hasn't started. So I’m really afraid of how it's going to be.
President Khor
That’s fine. It’s still looking okay.
Student F
But my psychology class, online classes have started in February and only a few months have passed, and I've talked a lot with Mr.A.G, but I've really struggled with that class. It's not that I don't like psychology, or that I’m not good at psychology. But taking classes online, it is all about managing myself. So it's only been a few months, but I've struggled a lot and like I need to do that, but to do that, I need to go back to this and do that again. So that's what I’m already struggling. So I’m afraid for the next 2 years, if it'll be like that for all the subjects. I hope I can handle it, but I’m afraid.
President Khor
You want to add to that?
Student D
I haven’t studied the IB yet, so I don't know, but, in pre-IB, there are a lot of assignments and it was really hard for me to finish up on time. And I also had projects as well, so I had to participate in activities outside of school. So time management is really difficult.
Mr.A.G
So can I ask you how… we know it's tough. Thank you for sharing. But how important are your classmates to help you get through this experience?
Student C
Very important. All of us have different interests and some are good at math, some are good at Japanese. And especially in math, I’m very bad at math. I don't really like doing math. And in my class, there is a boy who is very good at math, and we're doing math in English, which is not my native language. So it is harder for me, but big thanks to him, because he speaks Japanese, and he's also a student. So he knows how to teach me, someone who is very bad at math. So my classmates are very important.
Student C
And also emotionally, sometimes when I’m really down, they helped me a lot. So…
President Khor
Anybody want to add to that? Your classmates, your peers. Do you see your peers as your rivals? Do you see your peers as… no? You answered very quickly, that's good.
Student F
Like me, our classmates, everyone is trying to take the IB diploma, so although they are rivals, for me, my classmates look like they're working really, really hard.
Student F
They know what to do and they know how to handle it. So for me, seeing them makes me feel like I need to do more, I need to keep going. And especially seeing the upper years, I feel that they know exactly what to do, they're just going forward, which makes me just need to do more and more to catch up.
President Khor
Interesting, interesting.
Student F
But at the same time, they help me a lot, so good teammates but also rivals.
President Khor
Somebody who would make you more motivated in some way to do things, I think. As tough as it is, it seems that they are doing well. Time management and stuff, it is something that you use for life.
President Khor
And when you start so early and you're all aware of it that you're not saying that you can manage your time. You're saying that "I need to be better". If you hear yourself speak, it means that you have a certain handle on it already. And all we need to do is to improve it a little more, and that's what we need. Nothing is perfect and that's the beauty of the world.
President Khor
If everything is perfect, it’s so boring that you can't improve anymore. So I think that part, and also having your classmates with you. If you think that your classmates are supporting you, you're probably supporting your classmates as well, and having a peer environment.
Mr.A.G
Learning that you can achieve a lot more with people than just trying to achieve something by yourself is really important at this age. So hearing about the students’ journey so far, Diana, could you tell us a little bit about your journey? I think they will be interested.
President Khor
I still wake up in the morning and wonder "why am I the president of the university?" I mentioned something in my speech today. I think basically, I did not aim for positions, but there are things I wanted to do. So I started off with an interest in sociology, and I have discovered sociology in my undergrad years.
President Khor
I actually started thinking that I would go into business, because my father had a business and I thought I would help him. He never asked me to help him, but I thought I would. And I just didn't feel that I have it in me.
President Khor
And after attending the first few classes, I found sociology. I did economics. It's a British system. That's a smaller number of subjects. I did economics, statistics, and business in the first semester. And then I did philosophy, psychology, and sociology, and then I found sociology. When I was finishing my undergrad education, I was thinking that I still haven't learned enough sociology. And that's when I went for a master's degree. And after I did my master is degree, I still wanted to learn more. And I also wanted to share my knowledge of sociology. And that's how I got into my Ph.D., and then the rest is history in a way, and I always feel that sociology is fun.
President Khor
And you can sit with your friends and talk about the world and theorize and everything, but it's not really useful. It was not until I was appointed the vice presidency, responsible for the promotion of diversity, that I realize I can put my sociology to good use, because you all start with things that you actually all just shared with me -- to know how to think about things. That's the most important thing. How to think about diversity, what is diversity? We need to start with that.
President Khor
We need to start with the definition. We start with a way of thinking, and then we think about the process, right? Of how to achieve that. So there's always an anchor there. And it will be less affected by whatever the policies are, the people around and things like that.
President Khor
And then I didn't really hit the wall, but it's something close to that. Promoting diversity, promoting globalization, is not something that a particularly department should be responsible for, but it's something that should affect the whole university and affiliated schools as well. The only way that I can push that agenda is to head that organization. That's what made me decide, but that was one of the things to make me decide.
President Khor
The other major factor that helped me decide to actually to run for election as president, was my students. For two reasons. One reason is I always encourage them to take up challenges, to step out of their comfort zone. And if I can't do that myself, then I would be hypocritical. That's one thing.
President Khor
And the other thing is, sociology looks at the world. We look at an equality, particularly in my field. And the world doesn't change as quickly in a way that you can feel, or hope a lot of times. And so I want to show them that it can change. It is changing. And you have a different president, the first one with a foreign background and the second woman in 145 years of history, and that can give them some hope and then to give them more motivation so that they can kind of do more.
President Khor
So that's how I ended up being here today. But still, of all the duties and things that I have, talking directly with students is my favorite. So I really appreciate the chance to be able to talk with you all today.
Mr.A.G
And thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk with you, too. Do you have any questions, on hearing Diana's journey? Do you have any questions you'd like to ask?
Student C
You mentioned that you like sociology and you enjoyed it, but have you ever felt it was so hard and so difficult?
President Khor
Yes, of course, of course. My very first presentation. I still remember it and this was decades ago, my very first presentation for the social theory class in sociology, and I stayed up the whole night, I still couldn't figure it out. But my friends kind of helped in some way. And so it was kind of an okay experience, but it's something that I prefer not to remember.
President Khor
Then I went to the States, so went to Stanford and got into sociology. The same topic for the first presentation. It comes to haunt me. It never leaves me. And yeah, it does have those moments. And at times you can’t figure things out. It is too tangled, the problems are too convoluted, too many things involved, and you can't figure it out.
President Khor
But to balance it off, you also have those "a-ha" moments. "Ah, I can see it!" I think that's what keeps you going if you want to get into a particular field. I think it probably applies to everybody in different fields, business, philosophy, anything.
Mr.A.G
Any other questions?
Student E
How do you think, ... Okay, how do you think about one thing from a lot of different ways? I normally just have my own one opinion and I can't move on. I don't know why, I don't know, I think I’m stuck in my own opinion, but I want to think in different ways. How can I think like that?
President Khor
But what you have, you feel that you always have one opinion, which is very important, because it gives you an anchor. And then you can assess, have a conversation with the other perspectives. So instead of just looking at all the perspectives at the same time, it is supposed to have a starting point.
President Khor
And then at the same time, and this is what my Ph.D. advisor told me, “Diana, there's no such thing as falling in love with an idea.” He said, “Okay, so be ready to let go of it.” Falling out of love is painful, but you need to do that at times and when you fall out of love, you need to be assured that there's something really good waiting for you before you fall out of love, but it is actually very good that you feel that you have this particular alternative that you can hold on to.
President Khor
We need a core, we need an anchor. And so the question about being open minded is not to say that there are many different perspectives and then that's it, because we need to take a position. Otherwise, you can't move forward. I think it is about how much you can really keep an open mind. "this is how I think" and then you assess how other people think.
President Khor
And if they have a better point than I do, great. And to be humble enough to say, "you have a point there," and I think that's kind of not only a learning experience of how to think, but also a growing experience. Your growth experience as well.
Student E
Thank you very much.
Mr.A.G
Any other questions? So we're coming up towards the end. We've been talking quite a while. Diane, do you have any comments that you would like to pass on to help motivate students further? Your story and your comments so far have been very inspiring.
President Khor
I came here with expectations. I knew that I would have a good conversation with IB students, because I have had some interactions with IB students both from in this school and also in other schools as well. But it surpassed my expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed it and what I really like is, ... I mean, if I wanted to ask you what you learn, I can look at the syllabus.
President Khor
But what you have told me is your journey. It's your learning experience. And I feel very inspired by that. And that actually makes me more motivated to do my job and to make the university better. Thank you.
Mr.A.G
Thank you on behalf of the school and the teachers. Thank you guys for taking part today. We've heard some very inspiring words from Diana. So hopefully that helps you in the next year or two and the next 8 months.
President Khor
The feeling is mutual.
Mr.A.G
Thank you.
President Khor
Can we take a picture?
Mr.A.G
Yes, absolutely.

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