To be open and flexible is the key. If you, as the instructor don't have all the answers, if there is more to this than what you think, if you have 10 or 15 students in your class, all with a perspective, they can contribute to the learning.

In a learning setting, you establish your own culture. Each person brings her or his own culture and value system. Out of these you create a classroom culture a new philosophy which represents a mix of all the people there.

I come in with my background. Even though I'm not quite clear about what my culture might be, I still bring my attitudes.

JANET: Tell me more about your cultural background.

LILLIAN I'm a Nesei, a first generation Japanese Canadian. My parents came to this country in the late 1930's. They came to B.C. and were interned there, and eventually moved to Saskatchewan where I was born. I don't know the Japanese language; I can understand some of it but can't speak fluently. And in the last 10 years, I have begun to understand a little more about my culture and how I might be different from others. That really came about through my work with native people in northern Alberta. I saw what a struggle they were having with their own culture, and it made me realize that I didn't know very much about mine. I didn't know who I was, what my values were, what my philosophy was. And I needed to know that before I could begin to work with another culture. That's where I started in my work with native people getting to know myself better. I believe that's a step that everybody needs to take, if they're going to work in another setting. You have to step outside your own skin to look at yourself.

JANET: What do you think is the biggest problem facing students or prospective students at Yukon College?

LILLIAN: I think it's the whole problem of access. For women, for example, it's the child-care issue the same problems that women have in the South, I guess: finances, day care, juggling home and school responsibilities, the pressure and stress that builds up.