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One of the biggest challenges I face teaching in China (also my biggest pet peeve) is what I call “school talk”. It seems that students enter a completely different state of mind when they cross the threshold of the classroom. They cease to use common sense or basic logical thinking, and instead devote their brain power (the part that’s not being used on chatting, daydreaming etc.) to guessing what the teacher wants or expects.

I can’t even count the times I’ve seen this scenario in Chinese classrooms: The teacher asks a question, a student raises her hand to answer but it’s not the answer the teacher had in mind. The teacher repeats the question until the student eventually changes her answer. If you ask a question enough times, the student will inevitably give the opposite answer.

Here’s a dialogue from a Morals and Society (品德与社会) lesson I observed at Guan Ai a few days ago: The students looked at a series of pictures showing a kid who broke a vase when nobody was home. (How
cliché!) The kid was very honest and told his parents when they returned. Instead of punishing him, the parents praise him for his honesty. Next, the students look at a picture showing another kid doing something bad.

Teacher: Would you tell your parents if you were him?
Students (shouting in unison): Yes!
Teacher: Will your parents scold you if you tell them honestly?
Students (even louder in unison): No!
Teacher: Would you be scared of being scolded?
Students (louder still): Yes!
Teacher: But would you still tell them?
Students: Yes!

First of all, most of the students are positive that their parents will still scold you for doing wrong even if you tell them about it. But they’re equally positive that their teacher wants them to say that they will tell their parents. Secondly, the dialogue contradicts itself by later admitting that there is actually a high risk of being scolded. (This is only in elementary school. I won’t even go into the cognitive dissonance needed to survive “Politics and Society” class in high school.)
The most serious and obvious problem with this is that students do not do real thinking in classes like this. They do not gain skills in critical thinking, analyzing problems, problem solving, stating and supporting their opinions etc.

Another problem is that when you do not deal with students’ real thinking, education will not lead to changes in their thinking, beliefs or behavior. One of the main goals of the Morals and Society subject is to instill good morals and develop moral behavioral habits. A lot of the lessons are about being honest and hardworking, how to treat family and friends, how to resolve conflicts etc. This goal will NEVER EVER be accomplished if classroom discussions do not get past moral ideals and if classroom discussions do not give serious attention to the fear, pressure and temptation that every normal human being experiences in moral dilemmas. We need to acknowledge those very real and conflicting feelings, and teach kids skills for dealing with them.

Have you experienced this? How did you deal with it? Do you have any suggestions for these situations? Please share!

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