The Magic Pebbles

January 28th,2010    by Eric

"Why do we have to learn all of this dumb stuff?" Of all the complaints and questions I have heard from my students during my years in the classroom, this was the one most frequently uttered. I would answer it by recounting the following legend.
One night a group of nomads were going to sleep when suddenly they were surrounded by a great light. They knew they were in the presence of God. A voice spoke finally, "Gather as many pebbles as you can. Put them in your saddle bags. Travel a day's journey and tomorrow night will find you glad and it will find you sad."
The nomads were disappointed and angry---the task made no sense to them at all. However, the memory of the brilliance of their visitor caused each one to pick up a few pebbles.
They traveled a day's journey. At night they searched their saddle bags and discovered every pebble had become a diamond. They were glad they had diamonds. They were sad they had not gathered more.
It was an experience I had with a student, Alan.
When Alan was in the eighth grade, he majored in "trouble". He had studied how to be a bully and was getting his master's in "thievery".
Every day I had my students memorize a quotation from a great thinker. No one complained about his daily routine more than Alan---right up to the day he was expelled and I lost touch with him. Then one day, he called.
He told me that after being sent to juvenile hall, he had become so disgusted with himself that he had cut his wrists.
He said,"As I lay there with my life running out of my body, I suddenly remembered that dumb quote you made me write 20 times one day. 'There is no failure except in no longer trying.' Then it suddenly made sense to me. As long as I was alive, I wasn't a failure, but if I allowed myself to die, I would most certainly die a failure. So with my remaining strength, I called for help and started a new life."
When he had heard the quotation, it was a pebble. When he needed guidance in a moment of crisis, it became a diamond. So, gather all the pebbles you can, and you can count on a future filled with diamonds.

Responsibility and Learning

January 21st,2010    by Eric

ONE of the wonderful things about being a foreign educator in China, is that Chinese students are so eager to learn from you. They have been trained from an early age to be knowledge sponges, looking to soak up as much new information from their teachers as they can. Secondly, Confucian education demands a high degree of respect for teachers. The title "Lao Shi" is one of reverence in Chinese society, though teachers tend to be poorly paid. Even greater is the respect in China for foreign teachers or "foreign experts" as they are called. Despite the fact that most foreign experts in China have no previous expertise as teachers of English as a foreign language but are employed as such, the Chinese government welcomes their contribution by bestowing a respectful title upon them. Thus, Chinese students hold their foreign teachers especially in high regard, which is perhaps why so many people who come to China to teach end up staying here longer.

It would be hard to find this level of appreciation for teachers among American students. Young people in the U.S. have a somewhat different attitude toward educators; they are taught to question, not simply absorb, so they decide for themselves if a teacher is credible. American students may reject their teachers, confronting them and even publicly disagreeing with them as part of the learning process. American young people are less accepting of information at face value, preferring to evaluate for themselves as to whether or not what the teacher says is true or useful.

The status of the teacher in eastern and western education has a major impact on the way students take responsibility for their learning. Chinese students become heavily reliant on their teachers to give them the "right" information and can easily blame the teacher if they do not do well in the class by saying, "the teacher didn't teach me enough." American students tend to be more independent as learners, and teachers encourage them to do research on their own, form study groups and seek answers from outside sources. This gives American students more flexibility in gathering information, and also encourages them to be responsible for their learning. Responsibility in this context does not simply mean memorizing the "correct" answers to pass an exam, it refers to the sense of ownership that makes learning meaningful.

In Chinese, people express modesty by saying that they gave all their knowledge back to the teacher. This implies that the person never really owned the knowledge in the first place, but simply borrowed it from the teacher to pass the exam. But it also implies that the person never cherished this knowledge, because he or she never owned it, and so they neglected it and eventually forgot it. It's just like the difference between living in a dormitory and living in your own house. No one who lives in a dorm takes very good care of it, especially the public areas. But once you own a home, you make it beautiful and keep it clean because it has greater value to you. This is pride of ownership, and what is owned is cherished. What is cherished endures.

As much as Chinese students appreciate their foreign teachers, they should not forget that responsibility for learning comes from within, not from without. The teacher cannot "give" someone English. No one can "get" English from a teacher or from a book like one can get a cold. Responsibility for learning can only come from the learner, when he or she freely chooses to own the quality of his or her learning experience, versus relying on borrowed knowledge from experts.

Today is a New Day

January 12th,2010    by Eric

TODAY IS A NEW DAY

Donna Levine

Your tomorrows are as bright

as you want to make them.

There is no reason to carry

the darkness of the past

with you into today.

Today is a wonderful new experience，

full of every possibility to make

your life exactly what you want it to be.

Today is the beginning of new happiness,

new directions and new relationships.

Today is the day to remind yourself

that you posses the power

and strength you need

to bring contentment, love and joy into your life.

Today is the day to understand yourself

and to give yourself the love

and the patience that you need.

Today is the day to move forward

towards your bright tomorrow.