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JISHOU, HUNAN — I think one of my students just came out to me. Or maybe the student was just sharing about a friend coming out. Hard to say.
My students have to keep diaries, which they hand in about every other week. I read them, make lots of red marks in them, and hand them back a week later (usually). Most of the entries are pretty mundane, but occasionally a student will reveal his or her deepest emotions, worries, troubles or thoughts. I usually respond by writing something in their diary, since I assume the student is attempting some kind of dialogue that may be less embarrassing than talking face to face.
Since I’m sworn to secrecy on this particular matter, and all the other personal items in the diaries, I am going to be deliberately vague here. I teach about 300 students, none of whom will likely see this post, but gossip transcends space and time. I am leaving out a lot of details. I am not going to say whether the student is male or female. I will refer to the student only as A., a letter which has no connection to A.’s English or Chinese name.
(Note to my Chinese students abroad using Facebook. Please DO NOT talk about this article with anyone at JiDa. 谢谢阿!)
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JISHOU, HUNAN — University life for students in China mixes the regimentation of a secondary boarding school with the freedom of young adulthood. After five months here, I still find the combination baffling.
In a similar vein, I have learned that Chinese parents and secondary schools are generally far less liberal about their children’s social connections, especially dating, than most Western parents. This parental control can extend into the child’s university years, as well, to an extent that would drive most Western students batty.
Whether the added supervision of teenagers and young adults is a good thing, I cannot and should not say. It’s not my culture, after all. On one level, I can understand the motivation for such tight control of youngsters. A child here is a precious investment in a family’s future, and because of national birth-control laws, an extremely limited resource.
Most Chinese families can legally have only one child; if they live in a rural area, they can legally have two. There can be dire consequences for couples who have a little oopsie, and produce an additional child above the legal limit. Those consequences include hefty fines, additional taxes and job demotions or barriers.
Chinese culture is more conservative than Western culture, so there is already a cultural reluctance to grant young people a lot of freedom. If you also consider that any child is a one-time-only gift to a couple, parents probably want to protect their children from harm and from potentially dishonoring the family. Thus, parents keep a close, draconian eye on their teenagers’ social life.
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The 15-year-old Ohio girl charged with sending nude photos via cell phone to classmates will not be listed as a sex offender.
The Newark, Ohio, high school student agreed Nov. 20 to court-mandated conditions, which for a teen are essentially house arrest, to avoid being charged with a felony and ending up on sex offender lists for the rest of her life.
She needs to comply with restrictions on cell-phone and Internet usage, as well as a curfew, and the case will apparently be dismissed in the spring and the whole fiasco wiped from her record, according to this report in her local paper.
Earlier in the fall, the girl had taken nude photos of herself with her own cellphone, and sent them to several classmates. The pics promptly went viral in Licking Valley High School, and school authorities soon went berserk, pointlessly confiscating cell phones (closing the barn door after the horses are gone) and calling the cops to arrest the girl for sex crimes.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Three layers of stupid. First layer: the girl sends the photos. Second layer: school goes ballistic. Third layer: law enforcement over-reacts. At least the courts are sensible.
Here’s the icing on the stupid cake. The local newspaper insists on identifying the girl as a foster child, as if that status explains everything. (“Look, she’s a foster kid, and you know they’re trouble. A regular kid wouldn’t be a perv.”) The first report about her made a point of telling the world she was fostered out. This most recent one quotes her “foster mother,” perpetuating the label.
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The news had a couple of teaching-related items this past week worth commenting on.
Two Mississippi school districts have banned teachers from texting their students — to avoid any hanky-panky with the kids. Meanwhile, a small school district in Texas has decided to allow its teachers to pack heat while on the job — for protection from wacko students.
Sad, sad commentaries on the American educational system …
According to Associated Press and ABC News reports, the two Mississippi districts (Lamar County, southeast of Jackson, and Lauderdale County, east of Jackson) imposed the new restrictions on teachers following the convictions on sexual misconduct charges of two teachers from elsewhere in that fair state. School district attorneys made the recommendations, apparently.
While maybe well intentioned, it’s a stupid restriction. Texting, like dancing, does not necessarily lead to sex. Cracking down on teachers and students texting each other will not eliminate teacher-student liaisons. After all, that kind of “extra-curricular” activity happened long before Web 2.0 — or for that matter, the Bell telephone system — became a reality. Some teachers — myself included — use instant messaging for far more boring reasons, like communicating with students about homework — hardly ideal foreplay.
A related controversy involves teachers and social-networking sites. A CNN story suggests some legislators (gods forbid!) are also looking at preventing teachers and students from associating with each other on Facebook, MySpace and similar sites, for the same bass-ackwards reasons as the Mississippi texting bans.
This is a preview of Teachers: Get off Facebook, and make sure the safety’s on . Read the full post (837 words, 1 image, estimated 3:21 mins reading time)Possibly related posts:
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