Job Discussion Forums

[rusmeister]

[gaijinalways]

I hear you, but I'm not interested in pushing any agenda.

[phantombedwetter]

[jonniboy]

Phantom, you really don't need to go all the way to China to find that. With Spanish students, Gibraltar is Spanish because it's physically attached to Spain. Ceuta and Melilla however aren't Moroccan even though they're physically attached to that country. Similarly the Falklands Islands are Argentinian as they're closer to that country than Britain but the Canary Islands are Spanish not Moroccan as geography doesn't matter in that case.

Students can be a funny bunch though I once did this activity with a group and it worked well http://www.doe.in.gov/ipla/hda/2001-0312.html but with another group it totally bombed as there was one student who refused even hypothetically to consider having to choose which people shouldn't survive and looked at me as though I was some kind of psychotic mass murderer. I've since amended the topic into a reality T.V. show style concept of choosing people to go to a desert island for the rest of their lives but it doesn't work as well.

[arioch36]

[rusmeister]

[phantombedwetter]

[rusmeister]

[arioch36]

[mcl sonya]

I had a list of various debate topics (plastic surgery for non serious reasons, good or bad, etc.) and students were allowed to pick whatever they want. one of the debates was similar to yours, on whether or not being born in China makes you a Chinese person, for example if you're white or korean. It became a lively debate on nature vs. nurture.

I wouldn't ask about the bomb. that's awful. you know, like even if your mom was on an unstoppable murdering rampage, it would break your heart to say that she (along with countless innocents) should be killed in order to be stopped.

Apparently one debate they had at my school was on whether or not sex ed should be taught to uni students. I didn't even realize you could plausibly argue against such a thing except to say something like, it's against my religion. But a lot of students thought that it would be scandalous. Don't know how things are in Japan, but this could be a topic. I normally briefly present both sides of the topic the week before the debate, in order to give both sides something to think about.

[kungfucowboy83]

i have to say in china as long as you bring something up in a fairly neutral question no topic is off limits. it is just some are not debateable.

is taiwan a part of china? yes answer from the whole class, no differing opinion, no devils advocate allowed

is the dali lama bad? yes that traitor, again no differing opinion, no devils advocate allowed willing to argue against something they belive for the sake of argument

do you like japanese people, No.

you get the idea? you can bring the topic up all you want but debate? no way

maybe you could argue is the dali lama as evil as the devil or is he only as bad as osama bin laden or can we lower it to equal with jack the ripper?

[rusmeister]

[gaijinalways]

[mcl sonya]

no but you see, it was actually a topic of debate. it wasn't for my class, but for the school. they're introducing sex ed at some of the universities, and while many students were shocked and thought it was scandalous, in my class some were saying there's probably some merit to this idea, and that people who want to take this sort of class should have the option. it wasn't as if they know right or wrong only in terms of universal truths.

I sometimes think my students might be especially cool and open minded for Chinese students because I'm Taiwanese-American, and accepting my very presence requires some thinking outside the box. None of them has ever met someone like me before, who by all their standard ways of thinking is Chinese but who's also not, and who is also clearly American. But, especially in debate topics where it becomes clear that there is no one right or wrong answer, they often say things like, "There's more than one side to the truth, people are different, two sides to every coin, etc."

Occasionally I slip and I refer to Taiwan as a separate country. Generally people avoid this potentially awkward subject (though they are excited to say to others, "Guess where she's from?? You'll never guess. And her mom's Taiwanese!!"), and NO ONE asks me what I think about Taiwan and China. But, for example, yesterday someone asked me if my mom was also Chinese and I unthinkingly said she's Taiwanese. This can be interpreted as yes or no, and saw the look flit across the other person's face, but they never mentioned my mother again. When I was talking about Asian immigrants in the States I also referred to Taiwan in all of my classes, in particular to say it used to be a poor country and so my mom was one of the waves of Taiwanese students in the 70's. I've heard this said so often by so many people that I didn't even think about the "poor country" part. Only one student, out of my four hundred some students, stood up to say, "I JUST WANT TO SAY, Taiwan is a province of the motherland!" There was horrified silence from the other students as they looked at me and wondered what would happen next. I shrugged and continued, and it was as if nothing had happened. By the end of the class the girl that had stood up looked like she was worried she might've hurt my feelings, because she looked more smiling and attentive than ever and like gave me a really friendly good bye. No one ever brought up Taiwan again, and the class didn't hold it against me that I called it a country. Some weeks later after a trip to Taipei via HK I brought a clothes magazine to class from Taiwan, it was written entirely in beautiful English. The girls were all excited to see what the fashions are over there in the island. No hate there.

[arioch36]

We had a good discussion on the Chinese board several months ago (before MCL Sonya arrived)
Chinese are fervent that Hong Kong and Macau and Taiwan are all part of CHina. But in reality, they do not perceive it a part of China in every day life.Many example of this, such as, "we ship to all parts of China, as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong".

Or this is a Chinese movie, that is a Hong Kong movie. But, as far as debating... not a chance