teaching

There is such an interesting dichotomy here. This country is in the 21st century in relation to fashion, language, media, and commercialism. It would be easy to walk around Hangzhou and forget that China is still a third-world developing country. On the other hand, in terms of living conditions, hygiene, medical standards, and social responsibility, China is still far far behind. I look at my students in class and it would I would never guess that they live 8 to a dorm room the size of my office in buildings that have no running water or heat. They take showers outside with no hot water (what will they do in the winter, I don't know) and they collect their drinking water at night from the cafeteria. I realize these living conditions are not abnormal for third-world developing countries.......it is just bizarre to see the gap between the facade of people and cities (clothes, hair, modern stores and restaurants) and the inside of homes, cafes, and people (i.e. seems that everyone has cavities in every tooth and parasites).

I could shake my newspaper reading kids. They told me point blank yesterday, while we were talking about race relations and oppression of minority groups in America and China, that they couldn't care less about the topics. I asked them what they would like to study and they all said pop stars. The maturity level is at junior high with my juniors. They see absolutely no reason why they should care about anything besides pop culture. Individual responsibility for bettering some aspect of this world is non-existent. I want to somehow unlock that for them, help them to see what we talk about does matter. It is important to learn so mistakes aren't repeated and so one person can do what they are able to make a difference. I am particularly surprised at their inability to think outside themselves and pop stars because this is a communist country--one would think they would be more community focused. Seth keeps reminding me that my job is to teach English, not to save the world and convert my students into world-conscious people----but I feel like that is what my professors did for me. Seth says I have an exalted view of my professors and that if I didn't have the interest to begin with, it is not something my professors could have taught me. He tends to be right about most things, but I still don't agree with him. I feel responsible. A teacher's job is not only to teach the subject matter, but also to teach about being a responsible global citizen.......and Chinese teachers aren't doing it for these kids.....