A hundred bowls of dumplings

A hundred bowls of dumplings. I'm a bit overwhelmed thinking about it--hosting three different oral English classes on three different evenings for three different jiaozi (dumpling) extravaganzas in my fourth-floor apartment, a stone's throw from the university.

But who could turn down these enthusiastic cooks?

The first crowd waited for me at the foot of the hill, some holding bags of extra groceries, half of them dressed like they were going to a prom. A few like me figured blue jeans were okay on a Saturday night, but I did a quick change when I saw the finery most were sporting. Another class, on another night, met me at Gate Two of the university, all of them wearing matching white T-shirts. It was easy to keep track of them as we traipsed on down Tiansheng Road.

Three times on three different nights we made thirty some bowls of dumplings--and various other favorite dishes from home. Whether really fabulous or just first-time cooks, they immediately dived in to the activity,

and nobody left before at least trying to clean up and mop the floors. 

What would they be doing otherwise? My students say that most but not all would be in their dorms with their three (girls) to five (guys) roommates, and in their rooms some would be surfing the web or playing video games. Most, though, would be studying. That's what they do on weekends. They study a lot. Even on vacations.

And when these students aren't studying, they're working, eating, or doing other things together. They're together almost 24-7 for four years. They might not have brothers and sisters, but they have thirty-some classmates who might as well be.

This study-around-the-clock culture certainly comes with a price and the exam culture has some unintended negative consequences, and yet, I think the West might do well to look East. Others are, including Andrea Orr who wrote The United States Can Learn from High School Students in India, China and Chen Huabin in Parents' Attitudes and Expectations. It's not that the schools are better in the East--I don't think that's the case--but the priorities in the larger culture support what's going on in the schools. Learning and teachers are privileged in the culture, and home-life supports learning from the earliest age. Students grow up with an expectation to hold some personal desires in check for the sake of a long-term goal.                                                        

My students this semester are scholarship students who hale from all over the country, and they'll return to their home provinces to teach English for at least ten years. That's the deal. And do they mind? Well, most do want to be teachers but, even if they aren't smitten by the idea, they are pragmatic. They take precious little for granted. They know there are millions of Chinese twenty-somethings competing to fill the untaken spots, wherever they are. 

In the meantime, they're thrilled when they have a little reprieve--something so simple as making dumplings at a teacher's place.