I am teaching after Teachers’ Day

I am teaching a course at StFX: CSCI-383 Object-Oriented Programming & Design. Tomorrow will be the first class.

Interestingly enough, today (September 10) is the Teachers’ Day in the People’s Republic of China. I did not know how does this day come until now (check wikipedia). But I did know the basic idea. In Chinese culture, teachers are highly-regarded. People are making analogies between teachers and candles: they are both “burning” themselves to “enlighten” others. I remember when I was a child, my parents taught me to respect and listen carefully to the teachers. When I was naughty, my parents might warn me that they would report to the teachers if I did not behave. In that sense, the teachers have more authorities than the parents. This might be a good thing, though there is at least one strong side effect: students rarely challenge or question their teachers. If you put a Chinese and an English student together in one class, you can note the differences. But of course, situations are always changing, so my observation might not hold for the new generation from China.

On September 6th, the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao attended classes in a junior high school, paying tribute to the teachers. At similar time, USA president Barack Obama gave a national speech to the American students. They both know the importance of investing more in the future generation. But easier said than done. Some figures show that the Chinese government is falling behind of world in supporting education:  in 1985, it invested 2.3% GDP in education, and the world average is 5.2% (developed country average 5.5%, developing country 4.5%); not until 2004, this figure went to 4%, but was still below the world average in 1985. As a Chinese, I really hope that our government can live up to the promise they made to their people.

It is always easier to blame the government. So tomorrow, I will stop blaming, and start to explore what I can do in education. I am looking forward to that.

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