Job Discussion Forums

[mat chen]

Well it is spring and the students are wearing short sleeved shirts and I have noticed the marks of attempted suicides. My students are just like the protagonist in Catcher in the Rye, ignored and rich. Parents are busy making money and have no time for their children. They can't control them so they give them credit cards and send them off to schools that promiss them supervision and safety.
They learn that being naughty gets them attention. They have never seen success at anything else.
I have backed everything up and teach them like children even though they are 22 years old.
The day starts off the same for me. The director comes in an yells at them and they snicker under their breath.
They have gone through many foreigners and Chinese teachers. The associated school in Australia abandoned the program because there was no way they could pass the IELTS test for entry.
Anyway I am posting this to help other teachers. Try to understand where your students are coming from. Don't give up on them. Being rich is not always a blessing.
China needs a NO STUDENT GETS LEFT BEHIND program.
China needs to stop trying to send its students abroad and improve the system here. The door should open both ways. If they are going to send students abroad they should be encouraging foreigners to study here also.

[Ariadne]

They could be signs of 'cutting' and not attempted suicide. Serious stuff whichever it is.

There was an announcement a few months ago about an exchange program that involved Chinese students going to the US for (mostly) Masters Degrees, and Americans coming to China for various short and long term education programs. Can't remember details but I think it involved quite a large number from the US side.

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[7969]

[tributary]

What? Some kind of "fluff" piece with an attempt to sound deep?

Yeah, sure. The summer has revealed the massive amount of suicide attempts, yeah, got it. We all know how millions only try to slash their wrists.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

It's ashame some people have little to no caring for others and use public forums such as these to insult others instead of actually trying to help others.

Not suitable teacher material IMHO.

[clownshow]

[chinanoodles]

You are likely not seeing the results of 'attempted' suicides in most cases. You may be seeing what amounts to a cry for attention.

Most folks serious about suicide actually succeed and they do not usually use cutting as a method. Some people simply cut themselves for attention or for other emotional issues.

As a teacher, getting involved even peripherally has very little upside. We are not trained for this kind of thing nor are we the parents of these children. If any teacher feels strongly about it I imagine they can inform the parents but do not be surprised if they do not take it well.

As to your point that they do this because they are rich and ignored....
...cry me a river...

Every person has problems. What marks the difference between the weak and the strong is how the problems are handled.

[roadwalker]

OP, I take your point about not giving up on students. I am often tempted to phone it in with some classes. We should encourage each other to not give up on students, even when they don't seem to care and we don't have any authority to change classrooms, curriculum or especially the methods of the typical Chinese school. We can't make a huge difference by ourselves, but one addition instead of a subtraction is at least two points by my math. (Luckily I don't teach that subject.) I am quickly forgotten by most of my students most likely, but I still have contact with quite a few, years later, and therefore the ability to have some influence.

On the other hand, No Child Left Behind is a poor example to cite. As I see it, it is a strategy to dis-empower and discount public school (generally union) teachers by applying China-compatible standards "metrics" to education. This results in teachers "teaching to the test" and standardizing education, stifling creativity and independence. The end result is privatizing schools and getting rid of good teachers. It's a business scheme, like many reforms.

China already has robotic teaching methods delivered in a top-down authoritarian fashion from the national and/or provincial powers that be. I would suggest that what they really need is local control of their schools so that administrators and teachers can decide on curriculum and teaching. Some schools would collapse under the weight of the pressure of independence but others would thrive and be imitated.

[clownshow]

[mat chen]

I have no answers. I am just reflecting on a book I read many times and not really understanding the book untill this year with my crop of students who have been through a batch of teachers. I couldn't understand why Holden Caulfield had so many problems even though he was from a well to do family.
Makes no difference whether it is just an attempt at killing oneself it is a cry for help.
I had one success story with them this year. They were coming late constantly. I just sat and meditated then wrote on the blackboard in Chinese that the class was ending one hour later than usual. This caused them to band together and they went on mass to complain. I told the director I am paid to teach them two hours and this is what I was doing. But it worked. Up until then they didn't get along. They then had a common purpose to have me replaced.
The real problem with Chinese education is that they think a teacher's job is to identify the good students. They teach the kids in the from row and ingnore the rest. A good Chinese teacher holds the student's hands. It took me a while to figure out why I couldn't get my students to do group work here. Then this older Chinese teacher told be to try holding their hands. I would take each student by the hand and move them into a group. There was no problem.
Chinese classrooms are pretty threatening places. It is a military style of education which is not so good when trying to learn an art. Parents and directors think we are to make them learn English. It is pretty hard to make someone learn an art.

[clownshow]

[7969]

[clownshow]

[eslteach]

people are actually responding to this thread?

[Mister Al]

I'm considering it.