I really like teaching debate. It's gotten to the point where everyone knows each other, so practices are really fun and we joke around. The students know that we are looking out for their best interests. They're excited about their recently announced scholarships and travel opportunities. I've been selected to teach at a debate workshop in South Korea, and hopefully the students can come with me!
It's funny to call them "students" since at least one is older than me. Debate has opened up some really interesting conversations about democracy, need for free speech, etc. These are the same debates we have in the US and Europe -- with the exception that relatively few people in the West genuinely think that those things aren't fundamental or neccesary. But in China this is a different story. Some of my students think that for China, the priorities are bringing a billion people out of poverty and maintaining stability. They point out success in dictatorial places like Singapore, the failure of the World's largest democracy (India) against corruption, the collectivist nature of Chinese culture. These are not arguments that I haven't heard before, but it's really interesting to hear them from intelligent people who really believe them. It's interesting to hear young people like me defending the practices of their nation, while asking me to do the same about the US.
Chinese education is really focused on rote memorization. People point out how the US is falling way behind Asian countries in math and science-- but this is only measurable on standardized exams. Of *course* Asian countries are doing better -- it's all memorization-based, which works out very well for these exams. After working here, I am less worried about developing nations taking over the West intellectually. Students also lack 'basic' education -- it's all highly specialized. As long as these countries focused on memorization over critical thinking skills, I don't think the West has anything to fear.
This makes debate an especially interesting activity, as students are actually encouraged to have an opinion and use creativity in forming arguments.
While visiting Tianammen, I told a student about how any US citizen could go to the White House and shout "Obama Sucks!" all day long and not get in trouble. She didn't believe it. This is now my dream field trip for my students.
