DisOrientated - A Weblog by Philip Sen

March 11, 2004

Conversations with S

It may not seem so in China, but everyone is an individual. At least in theory.

There's thousands of English teachers here but millions of students. Millions. Faced with the army of kids that this biased ratio generates, no-one can be blamed for feeling that the blank expressions they encounter each day are all part of some amorphous mass, an impersonal juggernaut of closed young minds.

There's always at least one, however, that singularly breaks the mould.

I'm lucky enough to teach at a relatively prestigious international programme at a relatively prestigious university, and have a few such students. One such individual is the somewhat... Slavically-named S------.

S just took me for dinner as a precursor to an English-language 'talk show' she runs for the benefit of the majority of her compatriates who have no access to foreigners. (God, I hate being thought of as a 'foreigner' all the time, but it's now becoming an easy term of referral. Perhaps we're just another such mass to them.) I'm to be the guest of honour, naturellement.

It's probably the first time I've actually been able to have a protracted conversation with any of my students. And over dinner we discussed, what else, the education system.

S has a different approach to many of the others. She rejects the consuming passion and obsession for grades; she realises that there is more to life than the oppressive grind of the Chinese education system. For example, she "sets aside time each day for self-development."

I can't tell you how glad I was to hear this. S values the opportunity of having a foreign teacher, while also valuing the different perspectives and attributes of the Chinese teachers too. Moreover, she reads books. Doesn't sound like much, but in her view few of the others are reading anything outside their academic life. If you can call it life.

The result is a confident, independent and intelligent young woman who stands out from the crowd. Her English is fluent, not because of my efforts (probably despite them) but because of her own self-discipline.

This all begs a few questions, however. How much of this is nature and how much is nurture? How many S are there out there? Are the individuals who make up the majority of my classes S in disguise, or are they missing something that inexplicably she and only a handful of others have? How can China survive without more people like this, people with the power to think?

Cos one thing is for sure; it's people that can make this country work, not robots. But from what I can see, on judgment day it's the machines that will inherit China and that's not a good sign.

The dinner was crap.

Update - having thought further about the above, written in a moment of frustration, I concede that some of it is a bit harsh. Of course Chinese students have the power to think, just like anybody else. The robots comparison is way over the top, so I retract it with apologies.

The trouble is that it often seems to a foreigner that students just aren't using their mental faculties the way they should. Too many times I will give a task, or instruct students to ask questions, and there will be no response at all. Other times, it's the opposite: but it's always the same ones who are active. The rest, it appears, are content to just sit back and do nothing. They can think, but often I have to make them think.

It's this that worries me. Because thinking is something you have to do on your own. Perhaps I should not blame the students but the education system, which seems to put far more emphasis on rote learning and memorisation than upon analysis, practice and argument.

I don't think it's just lack of confidence in a second language that is to blame, though it is a factor; maybe it's lack of experience in the critical thinking that I and my English contemporaries were imbued with at university.

Perhaps I should try harder to get to know the students better outside the classroom environment, but in many ways the door is locked.

Posted by Sendover at March 11, 2004 06:46 PM | TrackBack

Comments

From a perspective of a chinese,I think you know nothing about your chinese students.Why don't you take the initiative to approach your students to know what they are thinking about.You hate being thought of a foreigner.But unfortunately ,after reading this article,I have to say that YOU ARE A FOREIGNER. We lack the power of think ?no,what we lack is the way to express our own opinions,especially in english.
Chinese education system is a very complex problem in our soceity.Consuming passion and obsession for grades is just one small aspect of students.

Posted by: lucy at March 11, 2004 10:44 PM

That's a fair point and I accept the criticism.

Sometimes it depends on the different classes I have. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad. It's very often the case that whenever I ask for opinions or ideas I get absolutely nothing, and I don't think it's only the language barrier that is to blame.

I don't say that nobody else is like S, not at all. This is why I say that I have a few other students like S, and ask whether most people are S in disguise. I just want to figure out how I can get people to be more responsive. Much of the time when I try to find out what students are thinking the door is locked, and this is what is frustrating.

Lastly, what is written above is a generalisation. It's designed to annoy people and gather some thoughts. So this a good start!

Posted by: Phil at March 11, 2004 11:59 PM

Although the original article is a little extreme, I have to agree with the principle here. Chinese students are too used ot a teacher-centred, rote learning approach. Unfortunately, this does not work very well for language learning. Learning a language successfully requires you to learn how to manipulate that language in a multitude of ways. Language is an infinitely flexible thing. The 'Chinese' approach(in reality, the traditional approach everywhere) focuses too much in students mechanically repeating whatever the teacher tells them. I understand what Phil means when he says, "They can think, but often I have to make them think." This is not to suggest a lack of intelligence or intellectual capacity on the part of his students- it simply means that all too often he asks his students a question, and instead of answering it they wait for him to give them the answer. There are many reasons for this, it's not just the education system. Some of my students have told me they're scared to answer because their middle school teachers got angry if they gave the wrong answer. It takes a long time to get over that fear. Class sizes don't help- many people are uncomfortable speaking in a large group of people. But an education system focused on rote-learning in order to pass an exam is the greatest impediment. You can not learn a language properly without practicing it constantly, and you will never learn it properly if you take the 'ni=you, hao=good, ma=question mark' approach. Each word has a variety of possible meanings, depending on context, tone of voice, etc. 'Good' can mean 'terrible'. But instead of thinking things through this way and so learning to manipulate language in order to express themselves fully, far too many Chinese students assume that each word has one fixed, immutable meaning as defined by the Ministry of Education as set out in it's standards for each grade....

Therefore causing their foreign teachers to feel very frustrated, and very happy when they meet somebody who breaks the mould. So, please, Lucy, don't be offended by what we say about 'Chinese students'. All reasonable people accept your objections. There are, however, very valid reasons why foreign teachers often feel the way Phil described.

Posted by: chriswaugh_bj at March 12, 2004 12:21 PM

hi phil,
I agree with your ideas in some ways. but I just wonder why the girl enrolled herself in SHUFE if she really show no care for her major and always tries to set aside some time to improve irrelevant abilities.
you know I also think my own major kind of vapidity, and yet acquiring proficieny in it through diligence is the basic to exercise the profession of finance in future. It's true some of us seem sunk in degrees and keep wooden face all the day. however, the majority are spirited enterprising and even thoughtful.As lucy mentioned above, they only lack ways to put their thoughts to good use and have difficulties to overcome the language barriers.
No doubt the girl has a outstanding self-discipline and god-given courage, nevertheless, others who make good use of time to focus on their courses deserve more admiration. Commanding knowledge of economics and finance, that's the fundemental purpose for us to enter SHUFE through rate races.
By the way, the academic life is not so bad as supposed.Student associations involved in varieties of sports, art and social pratice spring up here. Each of them supplies stage for talents to show their brilliances.

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