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All work and no play makes Ingrid a dull boy
Entry 27 of 64 | show all | print this entry |
This week marks the second week of my full-scale employment. My hours at Berlitz have finally picked up so that I am now working six evenings a week. I also managed to land myself two days jobs, working Tuesday and Thursday mornings teaching essay writing and SAT vocabulary to high school kids with the Princeton Review, and working Monday and Wednesday afternoons teaching Basic English Conversation and Current Events at a local college. It's a lot of work, but extremely challenging. Oh, and in other Berlitz news, I will have two new German students starting shortly. Talk about full-throttle. Interestingly enough, with all the students I've got now, guess who's learning the most? That's right. Yours truly. Each new student presents me with a new opportunity to get into the Taiwanese psyche. And I've got the whole spectrum now from kids to adults. My undergraduate education ain't got nothing on the education I'm getting over here in Taiwan.
Interesting anecdote of the week:
So I'm teaching a course called "Current Events Discussion" at the local Chung-Deh Christian College. I was given no books, no curriculum, and no guidelines. Every inquiry I made to the college director from "How many students are in the course?" to "What topics would you like me to cover?" was answered with a dismissing "Don't worry." Okay, so I have nothing to go on. I'll model the course after a Current Events course I took at Penn State, where the professor spent the first half of class expounding on recent issues and then took a step back during the second half of class and let the students discuss and debate the issues at hand. For my first class, I chose three juicy topics: Taiwanese independence and the threat from mainland China, torture in US prisons, and Iran's nuclear program. After waxing eloquent for my half of the class on these three topics, I posed the first question for discussion: "Should Taiwan declare independence or unite with China?" I was met with blank stares and uncomfortable shifting from my audience. I reminded the students that this was a discussion course and that their grades depended on them talking in class. Finally a student raised her hand timidly and politely informed me that they were not allowed to discuss politics at school. "This is a political discussion course!" I blurted. They informed me that school policy allowed the discussion of facts and events, but not of personal opinion. "Why?" I asked, incredulously. "We belong to different parties and have different views," they explained to me. "What if we don't agree?" "What do you mean, what if we don't agree? You don't have to agree! Haven't you ever read the op-ed section of your local paper? Nobody agrees with them," I enlightened them. "I want healthy discussion of the issues in this course," I demanded.
Against my better judgment, I invited anybody who was uncomfortable expressing their opinions to leave with no detriment to their grade. Everyone stayed. I then closed the door to the classroom and made them promise that whatever was said would stay within the four walls. I noticed a sudden gleam in their eyes and a lively discussion ensued. I could tell that many of the students had never been asked their opinions before, and they really enjoyed the opportunity to express themselves. Not everyone agreed, of course, but they discussed in a polite and rational manner. I was so proud of them.
Later, I re-thought what I had done and decided not to do it again. I came into that classroom with my Western ideas about freedom of speech and expression, and I forced it upon the students. They are all old enough to remember when Taiwan was not a democracy, but run under Martial Law. Many of them fear that, one day, Taiwan will be controlled by Communist China, and their views today could be held against them tomorrow. When the gravity of the situation hit me, I knew that I would have to change the course material. I still want them to discuss, but I'm going to steer clear of thorny issues like Taiwanese independence or anything that could get them into trouble.
The more I think about what happened in that classroom last Wednesday, the more I am grateful for having grown up and received my education in the USA. I have visited no other country where the spirit of individuality and freedom of expression is encouraged as highly. So the next time you feel like calling the president a dimwitted cowboy in a NY Times Letter to the Editor, or recommending to all of your friends that the US annex Canada, do so freely and fearlessly. There are many, many, many others in the world right now who do not have that luxury.
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| 27. | All work and no play makes Ingrid a dull boy - Taipei, Taiwan Jun 21, 2004 |
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