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[clandestine782]

Ok-- I had taught my students how to write a basic 8 paragraph essay.

The only constraints were that they had to have a conclusion and an introduction (which is true of all essays of whatever type) and that the former had to answer the latter. We didn't get into the many types of essays (to keep this as simple as possible, and because my professors didn't get into long and bloated classifications), so I just treated this as an "essay of type not otherwise specified."

The topic that I gave them was to answer the question of whether Chinese culture was a religion. The operational definiton of religion that I gave them was based on the characteristics that you see of a lot of religions. I gave them a lot of examples of the recurrence of four different themes in various religions:

1. The notion that time is something that should go backward. And this is because the perfect time was in the past, so that will explain why you see regimes in places like Afghanistan trying to recreate the 7th century by having women wear burqas and men wear beards. Or why the Amish have decided to live at just some particular point in the past. What you'll see in China is that most television shows are set four or five hundred years in the past (or in the Tang Dynasty), and that's because that was the time that China really was the center of the world.

2. The notion that science and technology is something to be feared/ contained. So you'll see that the Catholic church (which somehow manages to stay REAL behind the times) is against the idea of birth control or cloning. What kind of position does it put them in if a person identical to another can be created? What about the doctrine of the soul? You'll see that Confucianism was REALLY HOSTILE to developing ideas/ theories and thinking about things, so no Physics (Classical or Modern) came from China--even though they've had a writing system for longer than most, and therefore the ability to abstract and communicate such ideas among large numbers of people. It would also explain why the Chinese government was hostile to technology transfer from the West-- that Japan later accepted and used to thrash China with. The other thing that you'll find is that people here are NOT WILLING to talk about whether traditional medicine actually works-- and if it does, then how much better compared to Western medicine. So, you'll never see a drug information insert that tells what is the efficacy of some traditional medicine vs. placebo, and this is because it would be too close to a rational analysis of something. Another line that you'll hear all the time is: "You can't analyze Chinese culture like you can other things." (Presumably it's beyond analysis.)

3. Explanation of everything in terms of a First Good Cause and a First Bad Cause. So, in the case of China everything good is because of the glorious Chinese culture and everything bad is because of barbarians-- all of whom are inherently inferior.

4. Mythology. Jesus Christ is the son of God. Muhammad was the prophet of Allah and wrote down the Qu'ran over 22 years. In the case of China, they have the idea that Chinese people are descended from dragons. (But don't ask if it is possible to find any dragon DNA spliced into the Chinese genome.) Until modern Geography, China was also thought to have been in the center of the world. You'll also see a lot of people burning paper money to send it to their relatives in the afterlife so that they can bribe government officials.

My argument to the students was: Based on this, you could make the case that Chinese culture was very similar to a major religion.

I asked them to give me a paper and tell me whether they thought Chinese culture was a religion, but in arguing one way or the other to CLEARLY STATE WHAT WAS THEIR OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF "RELIGION" AND "CULTURE."

It seems that they have had the hardest time doing this. The essay was only supposed to be 8 paragraphs long. I'd reason that you could pick any three or four points and write a paragraph about them and think that that would not be too much. But the students whined like broken fan-belts about this task-- even though such an essay should take no more than an hour from start to finish (for a native speaker, and therefore 2 hours for a Chinese speaker).

Could this topic have been too abstruse? These are university adults and are about 21-22 years old.

[woza17]

Absolutely. Are you nuts? Is this a joke because if it is, it's really funny. No offence

[kev7161]

Oh my god! I don't think even I could do a paper like that without a LOT of reflection and research. I think you think much of your students. My suggestion is to find a MUCH simpler topic and revert to the standard 5-paragraph paper (Introduction - 3 main ideas - conclusion). Are you new to teaching here in China?

[clandestine782]

I didn't think it was all that hard. Aren't Chinese/ Asian people supposed to be genetically more intelligent than most?

The reason that I assumed that it was easy was: I said they could choose the definitions of all their terms. Another thing I did was have three people write one paper so that they could check each other's grammar. Basically, it would mean that each person wrote two paragraphs and were co-authors of the introduction and conclusion. I also gave them a sample essay that I'd written (about Popular Misconceptions) so that they'd have an idea of what I expected.

In fact, I'll attach the essay that I wrote for them as a sample. It took me not even one hour to write it from start to finish. The essay was given to them in class and I used two periods so that they could find the words that they did not know (in groups) and READ and UNDERSTAND the essay and ask me any questions they wanted. There was no topic for those two class periods but that one single essay.

[stillnosheep]

I don't understand it either. My students would be well capable of writing such an essay. Maybe yours were confused by that incredibly sloppily written 'sample essay' you gave them?

[gengrant]

I'll have to agree with the others. This topic is way over the head of your students. Keep in mind first of all that their education up to this point has been: here are the facts; don't think for yourself.

With that in mind, having them think this much for one simple essay is IMHO too much. You can get them to think using much simpler terms and conditions...

for example, how about these topics:

When do you think humans will use up all of the natural resources we have, and what alternatives are there?

Is spending money on personal habits/pursuits a good thing, or should people save their money for more noble causes?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood, and why?

Also, methinks you are setting yourself up by putting religion anywhere in your topic...and not in a good way, mind you. You'd be better off steering clear of this topic (even though you mixed in China/Homeland issues for good measure).

And I also agree with kev about the 5 paragraph rule: intro, 3 support, conclusion. much easier to follow, and lots easier on ALL involved (remember, you have to read these essays!).

[Malsol]

[stillnosheep]

I refer everybody to the subject line of my post three posts back....

[spoony]

The idea that Asians are genetically more intelligent is a popular misconception.

Your post reminded me of the enigmatic Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, arguably the most original and influential thinker of the 20th century.

At the outset I should explain this comparison is not based on your essay 'Popular Misconceptions' thrilling as it may be. Nor I�m pleased to say, is it related to Wittgenstein's sexual ambiguity.

My reason is as follows:
After writing the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus - which Wittenstein believed solved all the problems of modern Philosophy, he stunned his peers by becoming an elementary school teacher in rural Austria.

His attempts at teaching Philosophical precepts to the elementary students failed dismally. Ludwig soon grew to dislike his students and abused them physically. When shy sickly Josef Haidbauer, age 11, failed to answer the teacher, Wittgenstein struck him several times on the head, until the boy fell unconscious.

While I don�t believe your attempts at teaching essay writing will end in physical violence, I doubt you�ll be satisfied with the outcome.

Is Chinese Culture a religion? It�s an interesting question but not to Josef Haidbauer or I�d imagine your students.

Keep it simple, fun and engaging. Pick topics they are interested in, like public defecation or oral hygiene. Please post their essays if any complete the original assignment, I�d enjoy reading them.

[stillnosheep]

Interesting piece of comparative analysis there spoony.

'Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, daruber muss man schweigen' and all that...

As I stated previously I find it hard to understand clandy's problem. All of my students would be well capable of completing such a simple task.

Again, maybe clandestine's students were confused by the incredibly sloppily written and ill-argued essay he gave them as a sample of what was expected of them.

And as I entitled my first post:

Back under the bridge with you

[lollercauster]

It doesn't seem too difficult to me. It's a very interesting topic, for sure, but if you laid it out like you did here...I see no reason why they shouldn't at least be able to BS their way through it.

And everyone knows that Asians are good at math. That's a fact. Maybe you should write your essay in the form of math equations.


Catholicism - Technology - Common Sense / Innate IQ * 1/hypotenuse

Religion + a billion Chinese * Folklore + Gov't - Tiannamen Square

Chinese Culture = Religion

[clandestine782]

[Midlothian Mapleheart]

Edited to remove offensive content.

Middy

[Roger]

A tremendously challenging topic, mate! OVer the top for many Westerners. And way above the heads of Chinese students that generally are still grappling with any sentence with more than 4 words.

Of course, in a simplified version your question might produce some echo from your students but is their English up to that task???

And then again, do you honestly expect them to write such stuff? They do not think in abstract ways! They are not geared to thinking about philosophical questions.

Just teaching them how to compose their own CV is a major, major job!
Instead of essays, I would go for fiction and nonfiction - short stories, biographies etc.

[Henry_Cowell]

clandestine782, please meet ChinaMovieMagic/InTime.

ChinaMovieMagic/InTime, please meet clandestine782.

Will it be love and lunacy at first sight??