Densho Digital Archive - Fred Oda Interview (denshovh-ofred

<Begin Segment 13>

TI: So let's talk a little bit about schools. Before high school, what were some of the elementary schools you attended?

FO: Well, I went to Linscott school that still exists. Then went to the old grammar school, and then high school. The Linscott school, my daughter went to that school, too. [Laughs]

TI: And so when you went back to it, was the school pretty much the same when you went there? Was the building pretty much the same, the classrooms?

FO: Yeah, building was same, yeah. Everything was the same. But now that school is a charter school now, yeah.

TI: And how would you, when you think of your kids' education versus what you got, how would you compare the two? I mean, how good was your education?

FO: I think our generation teachers were more dedicated, I think, yeah.

TI: And why do you say that? What kind of things did they do that you thought made them more dedicated than your children's teachers?

FO: I don't know, because sometime when I talk to my daughters, I'm surprised that they didn't learn that at school. [Laughs]

TI: So you, you thought you got a pretty good education, then, that your teachers were good teachers?

FO: Yeah, they were more dedicated, to me, I think.

TI: Earlier you talked about how your graduating class was the largest, had the largest number of Japanese Americans. Do you have a sense of roughly what percentage of the total class was Japanese when you were going to school? So was it like a tenth of the students, or was it half of the students? Do you have a sense of what percentage?

FO: Probably about, maybe about a fifth, maybe.

TI: And in general, how did the students do? So you're about twenty percent of the class.

FO: Well, naturally, we feel, whatchamacallit, left out, sort of. Well, there were a lot of Japanese people that belonged to different clubs, and were active in this and that, but it depended on the person, I guess. [Laughs] Like we lived in town, so we just went to school just when we had to go to school. Soon as the bell rang, we're out and that's it. [Laughs]

TI: Earlier you mentioned a mutual friend of ours, (Katashi Oita), that was a valedictorian. In general, did the Japanese do well in school in terms of grades?

FO: Oh, yeah.

TI: And so was it common for the valedictorian to be Japanese?

FO: Well, those days, Issei pounded education into their kids' head. Because, and another thing, too, that's the only way they could advance. My sister was a salutatorian. But I -- [laughs] -- I just didn't care too much for studies.

TI: So your, was it your older sister that was a salutatorian?

FO: Yeah.

TI: Did your mother and father emphasize education, though?

FO: Oh, yeah. But I didn't have faith. That was my whole problem, because I saw the Nisei ahead of me went to college, they ended up working in fruit stand in Los Angeles because of discrimination. And well, depression time, too, so there wasn't that much job possibility for minorities, yeah. In fact, those days, the Nisei were told, "Don't go into that field. You won't get a job," stuff like that. So if I had faith, I would just disregard that and went ahead anyway. But I didn't have that faith, yeah.

TI: That's well said, thank you.

FO: Like my sister, those guys, she ended up a registered nurse, and two of my brothers ended up pharmacists, yeah.

TI: So if you looked at the older Niseis, so they weren't able to get jobs. But it sounds like your sister and your brothers, they did pretty well in school, went on and got college degrees, and then they did that. So do you ever have regrets that you didn't try harder in school?

FO: [Laughs] Well, I figured I'm stewing in my own juice. I asked for it, and I got it. [Laughs]

TI: I like that, "stewing in your own juice."