Job Discussion Forums

[7969]

i set up my laptop in a classroom today, as i was going to show clips from a DVD. after setting up, i went out to the toilet, and came back to see a crowd of students around my laptop. i figured they had already launched into the DVD, but then found out they had their noses buried in some personal files on my computer, including photos. even worse, there was another teacher in there, milling about laughing at something.

this really pissed me off and this class is going to get a fucking good lesson in private property and privacy after their exams are done this week. they are gonna bust their ass off for me next week.

my laptop now has a password enabled to prevent it from happening again.

has anyone else ever suffered such an invasion of privacy? this really got to me.....

[Old Dog]

They'll read your letters, open your wallet, drawers and cupboards. Here, there's no sense of privacy nor any sense that the details of anyone else's life are his/her own. Years ago, I took a group to a public library so they could be taught something about the internet. They were supposed to know nothing. I turned my back and, second later, when I turned again, there I was faced with a screenful of boobs. No teaching required for that, I'm afraid.

[Tao Burp]

During my first year teaching in China, students would plow and grouse through my notes, books, and other riff raff. I'd warned them repeatedly not to do so. Finally one day, they caught me in one of my "I don't care if it is a different culture" moods. After finding about 4 or 5 culprits probing my worthless notes, I made them sit down. I grabbed the girl's purses and emptied them out right there in the classroom. It just so happened it was a certain time of the month, so a few "pads" fell out on the floor. They finally got the point after that, and wouldn't dare touch my notes and stuff anymore. Sometimes, you have to be a *beep* to show 'em you mean business. If you don't, they will eat you alive.

[latefordinner]

Well done, TaoBurp! It is a lesson that has to be learned, and you found a direct yet relatively harmless way to teach it.

I've had a few similar incidents, but so far no one has browsed through my laptop files. Given that I have a virus at the moment and can't connect to the net without getting a fistful of porn, <hmm, wrong image there> I should be grateful. One alternative is simply not to bring my laptop to class, and for most part that's how I've reacted. A pity, because there is so much stuff that can be used approriately with just a bit of time and preparation. But there is so little time, so many classes to teach...

I know this is hijacking the thread, but I have to think about the non-language lessons that we teach, or should. Respect for others and one's self, cheating and honesty, independence, respect for privacy... Is this worth another thread?

[cujobytes]

[latefordinner]

Cujobytes asks a good question, I hope I have a good answer.
Some values are my own, and while I guard them I don't teach them to others. Other values are cultural, and while I may deliberately expose students to them, as long as I'm aware of the differences I don't teach them. Others are universal, and those I try to teach. Some are almost universal, but are subject to widely varying cultural interpretations/implementations/whathaveyou, and that I'm struggling to deal with. I would like to think that, on the whole, I am successful at communicating with the Chinese teachers and discerning the differences, but I'd be lying if I claimed a perfect track record.

[go_ABs]

[Jamchuan]

I know we are all from different countries and I would hate for someone to force their values on me but I am seriously worried about my students.I teach juniors and seniors and it appears to me that they have never been taught certain things.Every now and then I like to squeeze in a few reminders about common sense and values.Just a few mintues ago I brought my digital camera to class to take a few shots and the second I turned my back, a student had turned it on and was going through my pictures.Thank goodness i deleted those drunken St. Patricks day pics.I told them that they need to respect others things and if they ever touch my things again I will cut their little fingers off

[tofuman]

Language is the product of culture which is a product of ethos or ideology. Factually, Western Europe was shaped by the Judaeo-Christian ideology. Especially so America, settled by people searching for religious freedom in which to practice their beliefs free from interference of State churches.

Important documents such as the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence reflect Judaeo-Christian values--the value of the individual, freedom to worship or not worship God, justice, privacy, self preservation. Most of these things can be extrapolated from religious ideology.

Until very recent times, moral laws protected and intended to preserve the sanctity of the family relationship, another consequence of "religious" ideology.

To strip English of its cultural origins is to strip individuals of moral restraint, virtue, justice, freedom, etc. Even atheism in the West has a particular Judaeo/Christian nuance to it. A significant difference between Asian and Western culture.

[go_ABs]

>>EDIT<<

tofuman stole my thunder

[Talkdoc]

[Old Dog]

Talkdoc, I believe, I believe. In fact, there is nothing that I hear in China that I would not believe. Everything is possible. But I have to confess that Chinese curiosity troubles me not a bit and, even if it did, I'm unlikely to think I might be a successful latter-day Canute. I enjoy living among the Chinese and I'm quite untroubled by the innocent curiosity that they practise - adults and children alike. Malice seems unknown to most of them. The only malicious creatures I've found preserved their malice, for the most part, for their fellows. This was in a Hubei backwater and this crew were Party hopefuls whose plan for proving their love of Party was to demonstrate - by fair means or foul - that their fellows did not love the Party. Good works were not really their strong point. They were an unsavoury crew who, mercifully, made little headway in their quest for Party greatness. But this was over ten years ago now. Whether these curious aspects of Hubei have changed since then I do not know - but for China's good, I certainly hope so. It was a curious place in those days.

[NorbertRadd]

Chinese wouldn't do that with a Chinese, e.g., TalkDoc's example.

They wouldn't put their noses into the Chinese books other Chinese are reading.
Chinese don't read the text messages off other Chinese's phones.
They don't mimic the Mandarin of other Chinese.

I wear bi-focals and had swapped glasses to read a paper and this kid picked up my non-bi-focal glasses, which are a Japanese frame but look just like what everyone wears. I went off on him, too emphatically.

We non-Chinese aren't considered part of their society, as part of their representative group, really as people.

To risk getting fuzzy, the following's completely alien here.

[Talkdoc]

[Old Dog]

Gossip in China should not be seen as a pastime - rather, it is a sacred national duty.