Some Days My Students Remind Me: a (Mostly) Non-political Post

If I haven't mentioned this by now, teaching in China is typically a nightmare, even more than teaching in most countries, or doing nearly any other job here in China. I cannot say how many days I have not made it home from work until 9PM because I had to hop the subway to a Boxing Club in Sanlitun and vent aggression for a few hours after a day in front of a classroom of modern day Ah-Q's. And yet every now and then, a select few students manage to remind me why I do what I do, and today was one of those days.

To begin with, the students who impressed me today were not the rank and file I have dealt with in public schools for the last year and a half, so that has something to do with it. The day ended with one of my former students, from back when I taught at an expensive private school near Capital International Airport, who sent me a WeChat message to boast of his IELTS score (in the 6th band). That may not seem impressive for high schooler, but for a Chinese seventh grader it's amazing. This was one of the students who I taught every day for three years, as opposed to once a week like I do in public school. I wasn't an itinerant who comes in for one class here and there like I am in public schools, I was their regular teacher.
For this reason, it was a major pick-me-up when the kid said "I wanted to make sure to show you this because without you I would never have gotten this. For sure."
That's a hell of a boost when you've been wondering "am I completely wasting my time with these kids" for a year and a half. Of course, given that the student was from my former school and not my current one, that question still applies to my current school but I digress.
But there was an even bigger surprise earlier in the day, from a younger student.
If you know China's school schedule, you know regular classes are not in session right now. For some extra money I'm running a 6 day English-Language Literature and Theater study for primary schoolers. The story we're reading is an abridged version of "The Prince and the Pauper," and we have a comedy skit derived from it to show to the parents on day six. Well, today's reading class was a chapter wherein Edward Tudor (disguised as Tom Canty) has been thrown into prison. There, he meets two women who are imprisoned for being Catholic. The book glosses over the nature of the Anglican/Catholic feuds in Britain in the late 1500's and simply says "we are in jail because we believe a different religion."
Well, one of the students in the class, an 8 year old who has had two after school lessons per week with me for four years, raised her hand and said, "I think that is stupid."
I felt inclined to agree but as it was odd to hear a Chinese student actually venturing an opinion I asked her to explain why. The girl, whose name I won't give but who goes by a Western name that rhymes with "Daisy," elaborated "people who have a religion believe it keeps them happy in bad times. So if you throw someone in jail for their religion, they will believe it even more. Besides, then other people who are that religion will hate you and they might become..." she struggled for a Chinese word which my assistant translated as "extremists."
I stood there in stunned silence for a minute and finally broke into a smile.
"I'm so glad you said that," I answered. "Unfortunately I can't say why, because there are things in China I'm not allowed to talk about, but when you get older, remember you said that, and remember that you're right about it." When my assistant asked me later, during a break, what I was talking about, I answered with a snake-like smile and two words: "Tibet; Xinjiang." My assistant's face slowly took on a color closer to mine than his usual Han complexion, and with a not-quite-audible gulp, he quickly found something elsewhere requiring his attention.
Still, for me the highlight of the day had been reached. One of my students, her age not even in double digits, had proven that even in China, there is occasionally one whose intellect has not been completely dulled yet.
May the Party fail to notice, lest they redouble their efforts.