Christmas Eve in China

Well even though we got an e-mail telling us that since it was Christmas eve we didn't have to teach, I have no idea if anyone thought to tell the students, I had three classes today since I think it is my last opportunity to give finals. As Dave said on his blog it's hard to take teaching seriously when the school doesn't seem to treat it that way. Despite one meeting where they criticized some of us for missing classes it seems the school has absolutely no interest if we do anything remotely like educating the students. It seems pretty clear that were here more for the students amusement then to actually teach anything. Teddy even said he didn't really want to hire a guy named Bart since he was too old and the students might not like him. I mean that's not all bad. We are providing them a window into a culture they have very little experience with. I think the Halloween party and the Christmas Caroling alone were worth it for the students, but still it's a little disheartening when the school basically says we don't really care what you teach them or what grades you give them. I asked at one meeting what the normal range of grades is and they just said to give whatever I wanted. Honestly I probably could have skipped all my classes today and give every student 100 and the school would have been OK with it. I haven't been too homesick for Christmas since it doesn't really seem like Christmas time here even with all the trees and hats. It just seems missing anyone actually caring. I have though been more annoyed then usual with the Chinese way of doing things and that might be homesickness coming though in another guise. I guess time will tell. Till then though Merry Christmas to everyone back in the States.