Jenny's kids...

With each class that I teach, I am becoming more aware of the vast differences between American students and Chinese students. The culture here is so different that it is hard not to put an American spin on the way I see my students. They are so innocent. Their thoughts are filled with love and family values. Sometimes I think that they can’t be so pure but they really are just that.

For instance, in my latest lesson I asked my students to tell me what they would do if they did not have school for a day, they had no homework, no teachers, no parents and all the money in the world… what would they do? Well, many of them would want to be with their parents! They would buy them a house or travel around the world with them. After the second lesson, I stopped mentioning the “no parents” part of the fantasy because it is just not how these students think!

Other answers that just surprised me about what they would do are - One student would donate all the money to Project Hope. Another would build a hospital and hire all of the best doctors in the world to come work at that hospital so that they could discover a cure for all the diseases we still have. Another would want to go to the bottom of the sea and live with the sharks. One student wanted to travel back in time to the dinosaur age and use modern science to tame the dinosaurs and become ruler of them.

Some would buy land to plant beautiful flowers and others would use the land to let the animals that live in the zoo go free. One student wanted to buy a company that would build robots to help the handicap and one student wanted a company so that she could make her own cartoons!

Although some would travel to the United States, most would stay right here in China. The biggest reason to come to the United States seems to be the NBA which is huge with the students here, boys and girls alike. Another reason to come to the USA is Obama. They would like to play basketball with him… that is it, just play basketball with him. And for those that know me, know that is all I think he is good for anyway.

When I first came to China, I had the misconception that the people that lived in China would do anything to be able to leave China. This simply is not true. They are a very tight society. They are used to the way they live life and they really don’t want to change that. Sean and I have many conversations about the people here in China and why we all are so different.

In some respects it is like they are stuck in the 1930’s and in others it is an even earlier time. Heck, most people do not even have running water or heat in their apartment! They think nothing of walking 2 miles with all of their groceries in hand or having 4 people ride on a moped through town. They are such a simple people in respect to their way of life. They do not need or want much at all. Family is the most important thing for them.

When I ride my bicycle home from work, I ride right past the elementary school just as school is ending. It is the sweetest thing to watch grandfathers and grandmothers meet their grand kids and toss their “Hello Kitty” or “Mickey Mouse” backpack over their shoulder as they walk home… talking all the way. The family bonds are strong here! There are no “latch-key” kids. Most of them go home and have a home cooked meal with the parents and the grandparents, every night!

The kids that I teach are not allowed to date or play computer games. Although some still do, I think for the most part, the kids listen to what their parents and teachers tell them to do. Honoring your parents is taken very seriously here, almost to the point of causing great stress to some students. If a student does poorly in school, it dishonors the parents or makes them “lose face”. This is just an extra pressure for them to experience in addition to the endless days at school… 7 days a week, from 6:30am-10pm (I am serious!)

I vacillate between feeling sorry for my students to having huge respect for them. They ask me what the American student schedule is like, what are they learning and I am almost embarrassed to answer. These kids learn Calculus and Physics in the 10^th grade! I didn’t learn that until I was at my University! In addition to my Oral English class, these students also have 7 other English classes each week. Not to mention the vast history they must learn about their own country! These students are extremely bright and intensely disciplined.

I now understand why many people in the world think that Americans are spoiled.

It is because we are just that…spoiled. We are born into a world with every luxury there is and yet we still complain. This is an eye-opening experience for me. I will think of things so much differently than I have in the past. I know this time in China will make me a better person because it is changing the things that I believe are valuable in life.

I will not be able to come back to the US and live the same life that I was living.

There's the bell - gotta go!!