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From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
Chapter 3 Teaching in Hong Hu
Nevertheless we did! Then we struck a problem over money, for what was recorded in the contract was nothing like what we were promised. We complained to Geoffrey in Beijing who immediately got in touch with the Foreign Affairs Office or equivalent in JingZhou, who immediately telephoned my brother and told him not to sign the contract and told us that they would place us in a different school. When they informed the school of this, there was a big about face, and the problem was solved. Now in this particular case, I came to know and understand that the problem arose because the Headmaster who had initiated our invitation had not returned from holidays, and nobody at the school knew what to do. However, it must be pointed out that a part of Chinese custom is to 'rip people off'. Get offended if you will, but just ask the Chinese if this is true! Western Chinese might couch it in better language, but the Mainland Chinese do not mince words when they warn you that this or that person/organisation will steal from you and take advantage of you. From a traditional Chinese business point of view, it is simply called good business sense. You object! Yes? So tell me then why everything on sale in all but fixed price stores is marked up by up to 1000%. If you are fool enough to pay such a price you are a fool in deed! And I should know! I am an old hand at being a fool except for that one time when I accidently bargained and saved myself a considerable amount of money. (That little story plus more appears in the Article entitled: The Pompous and Arrogant R.P. BenDedek. It is definitely a 'must read' article.)
I have had first hand experience of being ripped off in Wuhan, in a campus of Hubei University, but I was not the only one. I listened to enough complaints from students and staff to know that it is not just the foreigner who is targetted. I was standing outside the classroom smoking one day when a female student arrived for class. She looked really miserable. When I asked her what was wrong, she began to cry. The school had illegally posted yet another notice informing students that they were required to pay extra (and illegal) fees. Her family being particularly poor, it embarrassed her to beg her parents for more money, but she did, and they sent it to her. When she went to pay the fee prior to class, she was promptly informed that the fee had been raised another 50 rmb. It was no wonder she was upset.
What can you do about such things? You make a complaint of course, but as everyone in Hubei knows, if you make a complaint to some official and he is corrupt, you will make things ten times worse for yourself. Someone once said to me that the 'real criminals' in Hubei wear uniforms. From all that I have been told by both Chinese and Foreigners, I am persuaded that they are right. Don't get me wrong, the Central Government has been going hard at it since I arrived in China, to root out corruption. Just check through China Daily English Online Newspaper. You'll find lots of reports about it. In Hubei at least, there seems to be a prevailing attitude that you do not have to pay attention to anything that the central government does or says. "It doesn't matter! It's not Important! Don't worry about it!'
I've been told by communist cadres, students, teachers and others to do certain illegal things, and when I tell them that the Central Government has made laws about such things, they just tell me that the Central Government is a long way away and has nothing to do with 'us'! This year in Suzhou has been a real eye opener for me on how different things are done here, and how insistent people are to do everything above board. Then of course I am only talking about my own organisation. Perhaps others have had different experiences. In Hubei at least, no one cares too much about the law. *
While I had, I guess, expected them to be molded in the communist mold, I never expected the amount of anti-western angst and propagandistic B.S. that I encountered. To make matters worse, the bloody Americans decided to go to war in Iraq. Yes I know, the Aussies and the Brits were there as well, but hardly anyone that I ever encountered seemed apprised of that fact. My first semester in Hong Yizhong was an eye opener. I had one boy strip to his jocks/briefs in class, had 2 fires set, had one student refuse to leave the classroom for his behaviour and so I left, which put the students on the receiving end of Culture Shock. Their own teachers would never have even dreamed of doing such a thing. I constantly had water bottles, paper and spitballs thrown about the classroom and had on two memorable occasions, 'run ins' with a couple of propagandised dopes. One day I was asking students individually, what it was that they intended to do for work after university. One student informed me that he was going to join the army, become a General, go to America and kill George Bush. I told him that by the time he could do that George Bush would probably be dead, but he replied that he did not care, because he hated Americans. Then looking straight into my eyes (not a cultural norm in class) said: "All Americans!"
Things got so bad and it became so impossible to even talk at anything like a normal volume in class, that one day I told the students that if they were not interested in listening to me or learning to speak English, that they should sleep, read newspapers or magazines, listen to their music players or do their other homework. One student immediately jumped up and objected. "All Chinese should progess together!" he informed me, pointing out that I had no right to tell students not to listen and learn.
I guess I could write a lot about what I faced in that first semester, but I think the best way to present it is to show you what I wrote in the introduction to a Teaching Manual that I was asked to prepare for the teacher that would eventually replace me. It was written as a means of preparing the new teacher for what they would face. The following were and still are my take on the problems that still lead to failure in teaching Oral English in Senior Middle schools, at least in Hubei. I say, 'at least in Hubei', for as I am coming to understand, the attitudes of students and teachers in Hubei are very much different to those I have encountered in SuZhou, and it should be born in mind, that Hong Yizhong is basically a country school. The following are succinct statements I put in the introduction to the Teaching Manual for use by the future Oral English Teacher. 1. Remnants of Anti-Western Communism. The first thing to realise is that there are still plenty of people in China who grew up on 'anti-western' propaganda, and who have passed these attitudes onto the younger generation. There are therefore some students who are resistant to anything that a 'foreigner' will say, and who will take every opportunity to be a pain in the proverbial.
2. Ramifications of One Child Policy One of the ramifications of the One Child Policy, is that many children are being so deliberately or incidentally indulged, that they are growing up spoiled. This is a terrible over generalization, but nevertheless holds true. China's culture has changed because of the interplay between this policy and that of Education. Many young people have not grown up with the physical (societal) and emotional skills of their forebears. So keen are their families to ensure that they do well at school, that many of the incidental life duties and skills are missing. They are in fact, spoilt. Some of it is intentional and some is not; while some of it derives from the change from communistic equality to capitalistic self interest.
3. Capitalism in China Many students suffer from 'Rich Kids Syndrome'. They have developed a natural arrogance, as well as a 'status (class) arrogance', with some showing absolutely NO interest in school, let alone English.
4. School Ground Subculture Whilst about one third of students have a real desire to learn to 'speak' English, there exists within the school, such opposition to English (based on either resentment toward the teacher, or as a subject per se), that many students have complained that if they are heard speaking in English during the breaks, some students do display hostility toward them.
5. Educational Culture The first thing to note about Chinese Educational Culture, is that 'students' have it within their power to get rid of teachers they don't like. For some students this can be seen to be used as a tool of blackmail, and like spoilt children, they will insist that you run your class their way. The second thing to note is that within the school system in Junior Middle school, students are discouraged from asking questions. They do not have a concept of 'active participation'. This is connected to the third point, which is, that Education in China seems to be one of 'rote learning' and 'spoon feeding'. Students expect YOU to just TELL them what they need to learn. Students will sit in class with a dictionary in front of them, and be completely perplexed by the question, 'Is there some way for you to discover the meaning of this word?' It will not occur to them to look in the dictionary, nor will it occur to most of them to 'write' down anything new that they learn in class, unless they have received specific instruction to 'Write this down'.
6. Chinese Culture of Losing Face. There has been a significant problem in getting students to talk. Firstly, fear of failure and embarrassment (Losing Face) actively hinders many students from making any attempt to voluntarily speak. If forced to speak, any loss of face may have disastrous effect, from cessation of classes to hostility in class. Secondly, within the 'school' culture (and perhaps beyond it) there is a cultural practice of 'not volunteering'. To do so is to put oneself in the position of being accused of being arrogant, proud, boastful, showing off etc. One can also notice in general life, that Chinese people tend not to 'Question' anything.
7. Oral English is not Important. Up to the present time, Oral English has not been examinable, and of course, the vast majority of students have not had access to foreign teachers. Therefore, in the scheme of life, Oral English as a subject is not 'important'. Since there is no compulsion to learn it, and a probability that one will never actually use it in later life, as a subject, it has been considered to be a 'fun' or 'free' period, a break from long and arduous studying. Previous foreign teachers, realising the futility of teaching such large classes, have succumbed to student demands for songs and games to the point where they now have an expectation that Oral English class should be entertaining. Whilst the new and unorthodox approach to English has been successful, and the new regulations have added to that success, it remains to be seen how the new incoming students will approach the subject.
8. Disparity in English Teaching Finally, there remains a most significant problem, that of the disparity between students standards of English learning and abilities. Students come from a large number of different schools, having already studied English for three years. Their standards of Oral and Aural English ability and comprehension significantly vary. Some students have a difficult time in catching up to their classmates, whilst others get bored because they are already beyond the classroom level. Additionally, many students come to this school with what might be termed 'speech' defects. These arise primarily from 'dialectic' difficulties within the Chinese Language, that are passed on in English Classes. Remedial therapy plays a significant role in Oral English Class.
9. To all of this might be added three other points:
You think I am joking of course, but I have had 2nd year University English majors who could neither speak nor understand English. At the heart of the problem of course, is that the way Chinese Education is structured, it does not pay teachers to fail students, and apart from listening to others describe their observations of how students and teachers cheat, I have witnessed my own. Some readers will probably fly off their Politically Correct broomsticks at these statements, but they are true, and within this culture, are perfectly understandable. I myself after teaching countless classes in Hubei for 4 years, not long ago finished teaching my first semester in SuZhou. The teaching co-ordinator simply refused to accept that all of my students passed my exams.
Upon presenting the true results of the exam, I was told that as some students in fact had not passed, that I must record them as having failed. So I immediately set about playing with percentages and statistics until I was able to pass 90% of my students. So I too am a cheater! But from my perspective, why should I fail a student who can't pass a true conversational speaking test. Students who fail, get make up exams conducted by Chinese teachers, and can pass the test using memorized dialogues. For me, this is just a plain waste of time. So having now gained some insight into the problems that my brother and I faced in that first year in Hong Hu, I guess it is about time to tell you how not only the situation changed, but how that changed situation changed me into a flag waving card carrying Chinese Nationalist. R.P. BenDedek Hardcover Publishing inquiries welcomed! R.P. BenDedek is the pseudonym of an Australian who has been teaching in China since 2003. He currently lives in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. In addition to contributing to Magic City Morning Star News as a columnist, he also is an assisting Editor for the Newspaper. Additionally, BenDedek is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |
