The 97th Installment
Pro-fessor

by Yoichi Seto,
Professor, Master Program of Information Systems Architecture

According the NHK News on January 5, 2018, “scholar/scientist” ranked first in a survey of what career boys would like to have. “Baseball player” and “soccer player” came in second and third. It was the first time in 15 years that “scholar/scientist” took top spot, probably the result of Japanese researchers winning a Nobel Prize for three consecutive years. As a fellow scholar, this first-place showing makes me happy. However, I wonder whether we are actually the “scholars/scientists” that our kids hope to be?

Those involved in education and research at university or institute are called kyoju, the Japanese translation for professor. The origins of the English word come from “pro” (forward/front) and “fess” (openly declare), combined into the word “professional” (the one who professes, or declares first), and the occupation coming to be known as “professor.”

Another word akin to “professional” is “specialist.” While the former encompasses the latter, they are not the same. Those who take on challenges in new areas based on specialized knowledge, who acquire new skills and insights, and who can speak about and discuss those matters are “pro‑fessionals,” while those who accumulate and implement advanced knowledge and skills are specialists.

Dealing with new things at companies requires the permission of stakeholders, so even a professional who is a company researcher or technician cannot easily take on high-risk challenges at their own discretion. In this respect, it is easy for those at universities to take on a challenge as needed at their own risk, and, by clarifying the reason for a particular failure, that failure becomes a result that serves as a signpost for those who follow. Because the restrictions on researchers at universities are mostly related to ethical standards, and budget to a certain extent, the desire to take on a challenge becomes a motivation.

There is a term known as “first penguin.” Penguins live in colonies, and the first penguin that jumps into the water in search of fish is taking a chance because natural enemies may be lying in wait. Applied to humans, “first penguin” is a sign of respect for a person who takes a risk to venture into the unknown territory of a new challenge.

In other words, wouldn’t you agree that a professor is “pro-fessional” and “first penguin” specialist in education and research? I believe one can define a specialist as someone who gains insights into a field before anyone else, communicates those insights, takes risks and pioneers a specialized field.

On the other hand, consider the Japanese word kyoju. According to Digital Daijisen (an online general dictionary), kyoju are those who teach academics and the arts and are described as being the highest rank among researchers and educators. In terms of this Japanese translation of “professor,” it seems to have the meaning of a “specialist” in education or a specialized field, but not the meaning of “first penguin” or the concept of the original meanings of “pro” and “fess.” I think perhaps the Japanese translation of “professor” as kyoju is a stunted rendering of the original meaning of the English word.

We professors need not only large amounts of knowledge, logical thinking and teaching skills, but also must have specialized skills to serve as pioneers with specialized skills, so we should not simply be content with having a post at an educational institution.

According to Hatamura Yotaro, the author of Traveling the Tech Highway (Iwanami Shoten, 2018), breakthroughs in technological development occur in the field, on the ground and in person. “Pro-fessors” should be, as the word’s roots in English suggest, be “pro-fessionals” (ones who openly declare first), aiming to be members of an intellectual industry who look at the world as it is, gain experiences, interact with people, take risks and create new value for society.