Job Discussion Forums

[RichJud]

Hello all! I have recently made the switch from teaching in Europe to teaching in China. Like many of you, I signed a contract pledging to avoid the teaching of topics deemed inapropriate or sensitive (i.e. religion, politics, ...anything anti Communist in nature) to the students. Although I have no problem with not teaching these topics, I am at a loss as to what I can and cannot say when asked a direct question by the students on one of the above mentioned subjects. Students have asked me point blank in class, " what do you think of China's human rights record?"

I would be happy to hear about your experiences with dealing with these types of issues and questions in a country where the flow of information and thought is carefully monitored. P.s. please forgive any spelling mistakes

[smalldog]

In general, I wouldn't hesitate to give my views on anything when asked. That's very different to "teaching" something sensitive.

Religion: isn't really sensitive, and Chinese students are often interested in it. Understanding Western religion is essential for understanding Western culture, which is something an EFL teacher ought to be getting across. Many foreign teachers in China are actually missionaries, and they do have great success in converting their students without interference from the authorities. Presenting Falun Gong as a religion would, however, be controversial.

Human rights: Chinese students know that China has lots of problems with human rights, but if you start criticising China because of this they will likely object to you being a smug, arrogant foreigner.

Taiwan: if you are asked about this, it is likely to be by adolescent boys trying to provoke an argument. Many Chinese have had strong feelings about Taiwan instilled in them, making it impossible to have a rational discussion. Others are just sick to death of the subject.

Tibet: most Chinese students are not aware of this being a political topic. Han Chinese generally have a feeling of racial superiority over Tibetans and won't care very much.

1989: really the only topic to be very careful about. When we started discussing this in a Chinese class, the teacher closed the door. When one student in my oral class for executives started talking about this, he was warned to stop by another student, but carried on anyway. The younger generation know very little about this. They ought to, but I don't know if I want to be responsible for introducing it. In one culture class I showed the tank-man picture and asked if anyone had seen it. Only one student had (on a visit to Hong Kong)--he stood up and gave quite an emotional speech (in Chinese!) about what happened. I wouldn't do it again, but that's more because of the emotional effort than the potential consequences.

[The Voice Of Reason]

...

[darkchild]

personally, i would say" i don't know enough about this topic to answer that question", which is true, because i didn't grow up in China, so i would not know the depth of it to really comment on it

this way, i think it would be easier for them to accept, and it also can teach them not to make judgement until you fully understand the thing or person you're judging!

just my two cent~

[nolefan]

I use the the China Daily as my reference for topics that are allowed and the context in which they are to be put.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

[bdawg]

I've been told by collegues that my university inserts 'spies' into all classes taught by foreigners. Apparently the report to higher-ups regarding topics and issues discussed in class. I don't think there is anything like that in my class, given it's special nature, but the other foreign teachers here always get a kick out of trying to guess who their 'spy' is.

[beck's]

There is a lot of paranoia about spies in the classrooms. One student told me that the communist party members in the class act as spies. Another student wondered if the foreign teachers were spies for the school's administration and if they were reporting back to the adminsitration on the students' opinions.

I get around these things by telling the students what many Canadians or what many westerners think about these sensitive issues.

[tarzaninchina]

You do need to recognize your representative role in a legal sense while in the classroom.

When one of my students asked me point-blank in-class, "Tell us about homosexuality, " I responded with the following. "No, I'm not allowed to do that." The student then asked why and I explained that it's illegal for a foreign teacher to talk about sex or homosexuality in-class without permission of the dean or boss. The student asked why again and I simply said that it was Chinese law. Point taken. Then we moved onto other things. Lactation is similar; but pregnancy, science, and surrogacy are fine family topics.

Whenever stating things about western standpoints, make it clear when you are and aren't making a generalization, ditto for any personal opinions. That will avoid stereotypes and stear students away from forming them. In fact, you can usually confront them in class subtlely via discussions.

There is an interesting line between current affairs and politics. As for Taiwan, no students have gone close to it except in an English corner where it's perfectly fine because you're not in-class any more, so I stated my somewhat mild opinions and everybody left it at that. Japan, however, is different in the sense that you'll be fighting against a roomful of racists (not 100%, but close enough). Anything about Japan you'll have to steer with great control in terms of what aspect of Japan you'll talk about.

As for basing things on the media, it can give some ideas. The problem with that is, you have to take the idea or topic and make it your own from almost scratch. If you don't, you'll get into pre-programmed answers that could turn-off students if you say anything else. Take an article, make it a general topic, and shoot it out as a question to the class. Don't critique the article in any kind of direct way. There won't be enough high English or political tolerance to do that successfully IMHO.


As for religion, I've only done a few small things only when asked. Name them. Mention their primary symbols (to help name them). Name the holidays (if they're around). Mention things in stories while down-playing the religious fervor to almost nil. Take Easter for example. Here's what I said.

"Yesterday was not Easter, it was Palm Sunday. Easter is a story that goes for about ten days. It started when Jesus, a famous man, went to a town (on a Sunday). Some things happened during the week and he was put in jail. On Friday, the city officials decided to kill him and so they did. Three days later; he came back to life, did some stuff, and went to 'heaven'."

That is more than enough. Christmas, "That's the birthday of a famous religious man, there was a star over the place where he was born, an angel flew down and told his parents what to name him." Actually, that was in response to why people put a star or angel at the top of their Christmas tree.

For the religious stuff, I found this is more than enough because that's all the students really want to know and the more-than-a-little religious aspects are not included in the context that you're not going to tell them. Also, I do mention that I'm not a religious person. You have to watch it too, if you're dumb enough to openly and sincerely attack your students on a cultural basis, they'll return the favor. Keep people's minds open, keep things low-key and factual, then you can get into some discussions about things, which we all know are much more important for Chinese students.

Anyway, before I start rambling....

[Roger]

Why do you guys have such questions and qualms? The English of most university students is not up to scratch to even give them a chance at speaking about the weather! They have no interest in, nor personal inclination to speak about religion or politics.
They need simple instruction on how to speak with Western Joe Publics!

[Long ai gu]

I have talked about anything I wanted to in class. I've explained what trade unions are and how the little man uses them to choke the rich man and cause havoc. I've spoken freely about religion, just don't be one sided about things. I have never been told to not talk about things, only in the contract. I have a general rule in China: I do what I want til someone tells me not to do it, then I usually give them a Dui Bu Chee, Ti Bu Dong.

[struelle]

If someone raises a controversial topic in class, I prefer to invite that student to discuss it with me after class. That way, the whole class doesn't have to be involved.

If the student is serious, he stays behind and chats. More often than not, he's just looking to cause trouble and/or stir up a class. So in this case, the student seldom stays behind to have a serious conversation.

I mainly see a controversial topic as some sort of religoius or political issue that is brought up *out of context* to what we are learning in the lesson. If, for example, we're talking about Christmas celebrations and someone asks about who Jesus is, that's within the parameters of the discussion. But if we're practicing introductions and someone asks point blank, "So what do think about Taiwan?", that's out of context.

Actually, for what it's worth, the so-called self-censoring of difficult topics is a very important skill! I'm glad I learned it while in China, because it totally applies back here in the West with our 'free speech' as well.

Question. What two topics shouldn't you discuss at the dinner table? Religion and politics. Here, you don't get in jail for dissenting from the Party Line like in China, but if you dissent from group norms or the almighty god of political correctness, the consequences can be tough!!

It's a shame, really, but the problem is that so many people invest all kinds of emotions and self-worth in their political and religious views, so you can't have a rational discussion without somebody taking offense.

Electronic formats like email and Dave's tend to be the ideal place to do this, because at least people can have time to read and digest the *content* of the discussion as opposed to jumping into an emotional response.

Steve

[Incredible Ape]

I'd just like to make a few points regarding self censorship. Like the OP, I was very concerned about not transgressing the rules regarding hot topics, so I carefully avoided Taiwan, Tianenmen and Tibet. If it was brought up, I simply gave the answer that was expected of me to avoid confrontation.

However, as time went by, I found that I was offering the same bland answers to other questions such as the ubiquitous "Do you like China?" or "What do you think of the war in Iraq?". While broadly in favour of the first, and against the latter, I had misgivings on both which I never revealed in my answers. I think I got in the habit of giving black and white answers, something the Chinese do themselves and expect from others.

On another note, I worked with a teacher who took pride in "educating" his students about the hot topics. His own knowledge was somewhat deficient, but it didn't stop him preaching. Of course the students were enraged when he told them that, no, Taiwan is not part of China etc etc. This was in a middle school and I'm sure the powers that be knew about it but never took any action. You can guess at the reasons.

Finally, on the 15th anniversary of Liu Si (The Tianenmen massacre), a different colleague asked his class of 16 year olds (in Chinese) if they knew what day it was today. Not a single student admitted any knowledge of Liu Si even when he explained it. While you can question whether this is responsible behaviour for a teacher, it certainly made me think long and hard about what kind of country this is with such a skewed knowledge of it's own history.

When talking with some Chinese students in the UK, one of them brought up Liu Si. Predictably the rest of the group went mute. The Chinese are suffering from collective amnesia, and if they can all forget about it, then it obviously never happened.