Mirror Image

I was reading a really interesting article in the New York Times today. It seems that China sends some people to the US to teach Chinese and learn about US culture and I couldn't shake the feeling that these people were sort of like my mirror image. While I'm in China marveling about how odd Chinese culture is they're in the US trying to understand us. The things the teacher who was interviewed for the story was surprised at was exactly what I expected. She was surprised at how little people in the US work in high school compared to China, where a huge number of students essentially study 16+ hours a day. She was also amazed by the way the students relate to their teachers. In China the teacher is source of all knowledge and the students are just expected to sit there and passively absorb it, while the US has a system where the students are supposed to have something to contribute to the conversation as well. It's easy to teach in China since the students are so well behaved, but at the same time it can be frustrating that it's so hard to get them to say anything. A lot of times I wish for some more student involvement even if it came at the cost of some of my total power as a teacher. The Chinese teacher in the US was also amazed by people's reaction to a pregnant student. I've been amazed how much a lot of people are against kids dating even in college. It makes me wonder where all these 1.36 billion people come from.