Opinion / Raymond Zhou
Rebelliousness needs outlets
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-02 07:04
How should students treat their teachers?
This seems to be a no-brainer. Confucius said that we should respect our
teachers as the ultimate authority. We can raise questions, but not
question their authority. At the other extreme, we had periods of
anti-Confucianism in the last century when teachers became a target of
attack, even physically.
A week ago, there was a replay of such an ugly moment. A 70-year-old
teacher was conducting a geography class in a Beijing vocational school.
About 20 teenagers were in class, some dozing off or mugging for a fellow
student's video camera - and they were the nice ones.
A boy with an earring repeatedly taunted the teacher, using profanities
like a drunken sailor, and snatching the teacher's baseball cap. Another
boy threw an empty bottle at the teacher; and the whole class laughed in
boisterous fun. The girl who made the video was so proud of their
"achievement" she posted the clip online.
What is wrong with these youngsters? Don't they have a modicum of human
decency?
To those with memories of the past, this episode is a painful reminder of
what happened during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) when students
employed inventive means to humiliate and abuse their teachers, sometimes
driving them to death.
The kids in this recent incident explained they were just having some
fun. They didn't mean any harm. Least of all did they expect the national
outcry, which has scared some of them into hiding.
Surprisingly, I believe they were telling the truth.
Teenagers are naturally rebellious. Left on their own, some of them would
do outrageous things they would regret when they mature. Contrary to
conventional wisdom, kids are capable of cruelty.
When I was in high school, I witnessed a similar incident. It was winter
and lots of snow had fallen outside the classroom. As soon as our math
teacher turned around to write on the blackboard, snowballs would be
thrown at him - not hitting him direct, but around him, so that there was
a movie effect as if someone was dodging gunfire.
One-third of the class joined in the action, the rest just laughed, and
the teacher, like the one in the video, remained unfazed. Nobody thought
how hurtful it was for him.
Mind you, this did not happen at the height of the chaotic "cultural
revolution", but after it ended. And it had nothing to do with the
teaching quality. That teacher was one of the best in school. My
classmates just thought he was weak and easy to pick on.
Apart from the inner devil in us that wanted to burst out, I can think of
three reasons: boredom with what was being taught, uncertainty about the
future, and not knowing how to have a meaningful conversation with a
teacher.
There are ways to address these issues. Teaching materials and formats
can be revised to add relevancy. More courses related to a student's job
prospects and less pointless theorizing would help. But most of all,
students should learn to rebel with respect.
Nowadays it is unrealistic for a teacher to shroud himself in an
omniscient aura. The time of dispensing snippets of wisdom a la Confucius
is gone forever.
Today's students may have more sources of knowledge and, being
adolescents, they enjoy challenging authority figures whose mystique has
been eroded by proximity. But they should know that to respect someone
does not mean you have to agree with everything he says and to challenge
him is not the same as debasing him.
Our culture tends to swing from one extreme to another on this matter.
Students should respect teachers and other elders, and they should find
rational outlets for their rebelliousness.
Email: raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 06/02/2007 page4)
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