The Gift - From China

So these past few weeks have been exciting for me. I feel somewhat like my life is divided into two parts. I know that as a teacher I will have to maintain a professional life and do my best to make sure that seeps deeply into my personal life as well. I also now feel a divide between my two experiences. I had one year teaching in a Chinese high school classroom where I learned much over the course of the year (through many mistakes and small victories) about classroom management and lesson preparation. I could fill pages about what I learned, but I’ll keep this entry on topic for now.

This post is about my Chinese high school students. In the 2007-2008 school year I had between 1000 and 1200 10th and 11th graders. Obviously I didn’t get to know all of them on a personal level, but I can say I got know about 50 students pretty well, which is a percentage I can be proud of, given the impersonal nature of the classroom culture, the cross cultural shyness I fought against constantly, and the sheer overwhelming numbers. After one year back in America, away from my busy students (with far more pressing priorities than staying connected with a foreigner they may never see again), I am surprised that I have kept in touch with over 30 of my students, including helping three of them apply to US colleges this year (and all three of them are coming to renowned American universities in August! More about them later!).

Throughout this past school year, many of the students I knew the best were seniors, meaning they had 6+ day school weeks and no time for any fun while preparing for National College Entrance Exam, but still kept in touch. Now that the test is in the past, these students are more animated now than ever, looking for ways to spend their last summer before (most of them) they embark on their collegiate adventures. Through email, google chat, and skype, I have heard many different ambitions, futures, and goals. Eventhough I had the students only for a short time at that school, compared to their other teachers, I feel I got to know them well, but hearing about their futures adds more depth to this. I had one student, an earnest and curious, but focused boy, will go to school to become a jingcha, which is basically a police officer. I have one who will study art in a fantastic school in Guangzhou, one who wants become a city-planner, one who will go into health at a renowned school in Shanghai, and one that will attend a respectable maritime university in a charming Manchurian port town… I could go on with several more… so many different goals and dreams. I don’t see this as my hard work paying off, as I was just a lowly foreign teacher at their school, teaching the only class that they had no grade nor actual requirements (AND it actually conflicted with the rest of their busy curriculum!). What makes me feel good (and honored) is that I get the privilege to be a part of this. They eagerly tell me their exciting news and I feel excited for them. Just as they look forward to embarking on their paths, I look forward to hearing about it down the road and learning about academic journeys far from my own roots and foci. I love knowing that I will see some of them again, be in America or China, especially as they spread out around their vast country, maybe even the world! Also, I see them less and less as students and more and more as developing people. I like the word “evolving” though…

The older I get the less I see education as a specific set of skills. One of my favorite (and least orthodox) teachers from high school once told me that high school was somewhat like a test to see if we can make it in the real world. Granted, he was trying to talk some sense into me after panicking from my first “C” in a really competitive place, but he was sincere in his description of a system based on grades and evaluation. I will not argue that high school is not necessary, but I do distinguish education from high school now. No intellectual’s education should ever stop. I am always observing, considering, analyzing, and critiquing the many new concepts I come across every day. Furthermore, I am constantly revising my understandings, challenging them. Education IS ALL ABOUT evolving. “Seeing my students” at this time is a great image of evolution, and now, as I am nervous and ready to begin student teaching in Redford, Michigan, I am seeing with clarity that in addition to being a high school teacher, I want to be an educator!

Maybe I am lucky that in this stressful summer semester I have been shown such a valuable gem that only teachers can mine.

Thanks for reading,
Adam