<Begin Segment 17>

MK: When I retired, the teachers put A, B, C, D, they put comments on that.

VY: That's interesting, though. Do you feel like you had a different kind of relationship, then, with your students?

MK: Yes. Because I remember in my Japanese class, one Filipino American student, she was very bright. And I gave her an A, she (was) doing A work, and she wrote me a thank you note. And she said in the past years, they had a native Japanese teacher, and she was getting Cs. And I figured that must have been, the teacher must have been a little prejudiced, racially, because this student was a Filipino student, not Caucasian or Japanese. And she went on to work for Microsoft, and I teased her about being one of the officers there. But anyway, that was one interesting aspect of that. I tried to be fair with all my kids, and establish a rapport. And I have a thing in there about that ostrich looking real stern. And I said, "If you start seeing me with this face, watch out." And I was teasing them as a warning, I put it on the bulletin board.

VY: Was it a picture of an ostrich?

MK: Yeah, with outstretched neck and, "Excuse me?" kind of a look. [Laughs]

VY: So you would put that on the blackboard?

MK: On the bulletin board behind me.

VY: On the bulletin board, and tell your students if you looked like that they should say something?

MK: Uh-huh. Well, I had some ins and outs. There was one experience as a teacher on how to handle things that go on. This was an Asian American male student who wanted to be sort of an assistant in my classroom, so I okayed it, not knowing that it was because he had a girlfriend in my class. Later on, that girlfriend came up to me and she said she was troubled by him, and at one point she wanted to commit suicide. And I thought, oh my, what do I do now? But I took it upon myself and I invited her to lunch on weekends and I spent even weekdays with her. And she got through that eventually, but I had to excuse that boy. But he was very unhappy; he thought I was just trying to get rid of him. But we were going into the new school year and I said, no, I won't be needing any more help. And we had a shout-out, that was very unpleasant. He made it unpleasant for me, but we got through that. So as a teacher, I learned a lot about the psychology of the students, too. And I managed to handle it.

And there was another student from overseas in high school. And one day, a teacher brought her to me and said, "Can you handle her?" And I thought, well, I was a freshman teacher and other teachers already had several years behind them. And I thought, well, gee, they're pushing everything on me. Well, anyway, she was mentally disturbed, and one day I was consulting with her in a private room that had glass window with curtains drawn. And when the bell rang, she heard footsteps and it frightened her. She said, "Oh, there's ghosts." And I said, "No," and I gave her a big hug. I told her, "No, this is a class change. Remember the bell? These are students walking." And I went up to the assistant vice principal, he was a Caucasian, and I told him about the situation. And I didn't like the response he gave me. In fact, he said, yeah, his mother came and said that they take her to the Buddhist priest or something for mumbo jumbo, and he thought that was kind of silly. So I thought, well, I'm never going to consult you for any students' problems. So I learned to take it upon myself, and we managed to get through it. In fact, this young student went on to community college, and I met her on the street once, and she gave me a big hug. And then this other student who was contemplating suicide at one time went on to New York to enter college to become a social worker. So it all worked well. It was such a learning experience being a teacher.

VY: It sounds like you really had a positive effect on many of your students.

MK: Oh, I hope so. They certainly helped me along.

VY: It also sounds like you didn't shy away from a challenge, and the other faculty recognized that and they gave you challenges.

MK: Yes, yes.

VY: It also sounds like your students really respected you and trusted you.

MK: Well, I was very happy. I even had one boy who was homeless, and I worked with him, and he was very pleasant. So I think he had a good time in class, too.

VY: Well, is there anything else you'd like add before we end for today?

MK: Well, the only one thing after that one year at Garfield, the administration decided to disperse the Asian teachers throughout the district. We must have been clumped in one area.

VY: Just the Asian teachers?

MK: Yeah. And so he said he went to the administration to request that I stay at Garfield, and they said no, I had to go also.

VY: What year was that, do you remember?

MK: Oh, it was... 1975 is when I graduated and got into the school system, so '75, '76. Mr. Roscoe Bass came to me and he said, "I fought for you but they wouldn't excuse it."

VY: Do you know why they did that? Did they tell you?

MK: Well, the only thing I heard though the grapevine was that Asian teachers were in one area, so they wanted us to just be spread all throughout the Seattle School District, east and west and south and north. That's all I remember about it.

VY: That's interesting.

MK: So that's about it for now.

VY: Okay, well, thank you so much for spending some time with us and talking about your life. I really appreciate it.

MK: Well, I hope I didn't mix up too many things.

VY: Doesn't sound like it. Thank you.

MK: You're welcome.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2018 Densho. All Rights Reserved.