[MD] A fine mess

[Andre Broersen]

Platt:

I would be very much interested in how the Chinese system deals with their
children, and I'm sure others here would be, too. Your previous
descriptions of Chinese culture have been most helpful to my understanding
of that country. Given China's growth as a world power it's prudent to
learn all we can how the "glasses" they wear interpret experience.

Andre:

Thanks Platt. though I must say again that I wil make statements based on
local observations...ones I have seen,heard and felt and that this may not
be a true representation of the way things are in China...as a whole...but
truthfully I have my doubts.
I do live in the poorest part where aids to teaching and learning take the
form of flash cards and realia...not your power presentation luxury because
the power supply may fail you any moment and you are stuck for anything. No
computer technology available to large numbers of students,  (I know of
multi-media class rooms unused because staff do not know how to use the
equipment, I know of multi-media rooms being used but in a limited way
because "it may get damaged or dirty'!!!)
Personally I do not like multi- media stuff...I force my students to use
themselves...to THINK..but...as you hopefully will bear with me this is
easier said than done. ( and perhaps there isn't that much difference
between the educational system in the US and China...as far as
molding the desired end-product is concerned).

I live in a poor, rural part of Yunnan province where traditionally children
were bred to help and continue working on the farm, first alongside mum and
dad, then, taking over the farm and supporting mum and dad, being too old
for the hard work.It was (and still is in many ways) a combination of
farming (taking the produce to the market or directly selling it on the
streets in the larger towns) and peasantry (produce grown for their own
survival).
Deng Xiaopeng challenged this lifestyle (carried on for thousands of years)
and suggested to 'modernise' farming techniques and upgrading the lifestyles
and living conditions in the rural areas. With some success I must add. Per
capita income has increased and yields from crops have increased.Housing and
sanitation have, slightly, improved.
He also opened the (economic) doors to the West of course and this is what
people in rural areas are now being confronted with. Modernisation of the
rural sector has meant increasing use of different technologies and use of
machines and more efficient farming equipment. Resulting, of course in
massive unemployment and I must add uneven developments within this
sector.(One must be able to buy this new stuff).
This also shifted the emphasis from traditional practices to applications of
modern practices and here education comes in. Basically for 2 reasons: 1, to
learn about these new practices and apply them if son wants to take over the
farm and 2, an opportunity to escape from the hard life and find something
entirely different, in other words, learn a trade or a profession
and thereby breaking the traditional lineage (father to son) and lifestyles.
Enter the Communist Party system orchestrating this entire network through
successive 5-year plans.A huge ideologically / administratively driven
system it almost puts Orwell's 1984 to shame. Everything
noted,recorded,registered, checked and double checked. A huge, slow,tedious
apparatus agonisingly reluctant to change and respond to change.
Within these rural developments and national modernisation plans came the
necessary educational reforms. Traditional Chinese education is teacher
centered (a la Confucian principles). The teacher is the one with the
necessary knowledge and his/her role is to impart and instill this knowledge
to and in the children. Remember in ZMM Phaedrus talks about peace of mind
producing 'right values, right values produce right thoughts.Right thoughts
produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a
material reflection for others...' (p290) and here I stop because here I
remind you of the Party ideology again. Substitute 'right values' for
'China's Communist Party ideology' and substitute 'produces' for
'enforce' and you get an idea of it all.
Since 1949 pre-school age the children are inculcated with slogans that
reflect this ideology plus an attitude to 'life' which ensures its
continuation. These slogans are used by parents, and later used by teachers
to check the proper (moral) development and social adjustment of their
children.
Empty slogans when used out of context (and that is what happens...they are
plastered all over the walls of every primary and middle school) 'practice
makes perfect' , no pain no gain, dozens of these (life wisdoms) all over
the place within the context of party ideology.
Primary school starts at 6 years of age and as the children learn to read
and write the slogans keep being hammerd into them. Typically, there are
60-70 students in a class. The teacher walks in and starts reciting the
textbook. The children are expected to remain silent and listen. They are
only allowed to respond to a question the teacher asks (given by the
textbook) and when the teacher calls out the student's number (no name!) the
student is expected to give the correct answer (as given by the book). This
happens 5 days of the week from 8 in the morning 'till 6 in the afternoon.
In the evening the children are busy doing their homework for the following
day and is continued for 6 years.
Then Middle school (the children are now 11/12 years old). Exactly the same
process is taking place with one difference: here you start at 8, finish at
6 (by the way all schools, colleges and Uni's have a break from 11:35-14:30)
and start again at 19:30 'till 21:45, 6 days/week. Sunday morning and
afternoon is 'free time' (usually filled with homework) and evening classes
start at 19:30 'till 21:45.

Over a period of 12 years children are told to shut up unless spoken to,
their receptive skills bombarded with information spoken of above and very
little chance to use their productive skills.

Enter the College level where I am.My students are all English major
students who want to become English teachers.Part of my work is to share my
knowledge and skills with my (English Dept.) Chinese colleagues here to
change this traditional way of teaching (teacher centered, grammar
translation and rote learning) to communicative teaching and learning;
i.e.task based, interactive etc, etc but by this time the students'
minds are in a constant state of 'suspended animation'. They have no ideas
of their own, no initiative, no creativity....nothing. They are re-active
rather than pro-active still filled with empty slogans, telling themselves
that if they study hard they'll be successful. And they have been studying
hard...under conditions of a traditional Chinese education system which has
reduced them to listen, obey and do what they are told. Human robots.
They have been studying English for up to 8 years and cannot produce an
English sentence longer than 5 words without making a mistake.
They continue to be bombarded with examinations which reinforce and
emphasise writing and reading skills (which they have, but at an atrociously
low level).
Competition is murderous (no kidding, suicide rates are going up and there
is at least one, reported incident where a student murdered his mother with
an axe because of the incessant pressure put on him).
Already (and this is an indication of how fast things change here at another
level) when I started working here 3 years ago, students who graduated were
virtually guaranteed a teaching job. Not anymore, some of my best (ex)
students no stay either at home, wasting away, work at a supermarket or are
placed (if they are lucky) in a kindergarten, with the possibility
of..perhaps a teaching job...after having fulfilled their contractual
obligation presented to them by party officials.
Those that are lucky enough to get a teaching job (after having graduated
from this college, the local leaders decide where they are going to teach)
they must sit an entry exam (to be admitted to the school and actually work
there). Up to 70 or 80 new, and old graduates, apply for this one position.
If you fail or if you are unlucky you get another chance somewhere else...1
year later!!

Slowly, tediously slowly, this cultural immune system is making way for
change but oh so exasperatingly slow.

It is this inertia creating system, totally unresponsive to any form of DQ
which really is heartbreaking to witness. I am an outsider but have grown to
care for and love these kids. (I have a daughter 4 years older than they
are). They are so naive, so gullable and innocent but so positive I have
also grown to admire their resilience, strength of character and
determination and positive attitude to life (principles of Taoism and
Buddhism are quite strongly felt and practiced here).
This is their strength but at the same time their weakness because the Party
and its ideology is literally getting away with murder/ fraud and downright
immoral practices.

Talking to these kids does give me hope. They are beginning to see that
their Government as not all it claims to be. It is failing to deliver a
future to these young people as promised.They are aware of fraudulent
officials, are aware of the fact that what is important is not what you know
but who you know. That contacts within the party are a sure means of
'getting ahead'. And they do not like it.
They are getting more frustrated with their lot and with 'the system' and at
present they do feel powerless.
I tell them that they are not alone, that lively, critical discussions are
taking place on the Internet (underground of course). But it has to start
somewhere. In my own, tiny,weeny way I give some of them an outlet i.e. my
ear.

For what it is worth
Andre