"Big" Problems

For the most part, teaching has been a pleasant experience. However, as I'm sure all teachers experience, there are moments and interactions with our students that leave us scratching our heads, bitter, or worst of all, heartbroken. This blog will focus on one such heartbreaking experience.

In my Movie Appreciation class which I was assigned to teach with neither experience, nor materials (i.e., movies!), I show the students films and usually have them write about a simple topic that relates to the movie. A few weeks ago we were watching one of my favorite movies, Big. I asked the students to write about what they would do if they could be a kid again for a few weeks. The class enjoyed the movie, of course, and I thought it would be fun to read their essays. Most of the students' reports were what I expected, "I would play with all my old friends and toys," or "I would be better to my family," or "I would do it all different and not care what others think." However, a couple of essays were striking, and speak to significant social issues that China struggles with that go largely ignored. I wanted to share the most striking essay with you, not just because it's heartbreaking, but mainly because its subtle references to the looming social problems that China will have to face (on an enormous scale) in the future.

If I were a child

When I was a child, I hoped that I would grew up as quickly as possible. Now since I have been an adult, I'm envious of the pleasure that the child enjoys. I was brought up by my aunt, because my parents wanted a boy. However, I was such a lucky girl that my aunt loved me very much, as if I were her own child. I was the centre of my aunt's family, partly because her own child - my brother was ten years older than me, and partly because she ever wished she could have a daughter. There's no denying that I had a happy childhood. But sometime I feel upset at the thought of not living together with my own parents. If I were a child, I wish I was taken care of by my mother and I wish I had lived with my parents. My mother gave birth to me but didn't bring up me. If I were a child, I wish that I hadn't been sent to my aunt. Although I know its the conventional ideas that should be held the responsible for the case and it's not my parents willing that giving me to my aunt. I just wonder if there would be any differences, provided I was brought up by my parents. So I wish I could live with my parents if I were a child.

Unfortunately, this is a problem all over the globe, but especially in China. The one-child policy "forces" parents to make difficult decisions, and sometimes these decisions have alarming results and consequences. As China becomes increasingly prosperous, I will always wonder, "at what cost?" More concerning is the idea that millions of soon-to-be leading minds in China grew up in this harsh reality. This is only one of a hundred more reasons why China will be such a fascinating country to observe in the coming decades. Lastly, at the risk of sounding too "Christmas Shoes"-y at the holidays, stories like this one hopefully remind us of what we have, and who we should help.

I promise the next installments will be double the excitement and Christmas cheer to compensate for this sad blog. What can you look forward to? Chinese Banquet Dinners, Christmas in China, and especially, Darbie and Kendall's Christmas Variety Show featuring the Foreign Language Department! We'll have a lot of action (vids and pics!) between now and Christmas, so stay merry!

DB & KM