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Friday, March 03, 2006
THE STUDENT SUICIDE EPIDEMIC IN CHINA As the sun rose to offer a rare blessing on Guanghzou today a fifth school related suicide took place. An undergraduate at out school, jumped to his death. Earlier this week, at another school, a freshman, a senior student, a post graduate and an unhappy teacher, at different times. ended their lives by leaping from buildings on the school grounds. I have always taught that depression is anger turned inward and that suicide is the most extreme act of violent retribution save murder. I do not know what drove these people to violence. I am lost as to why they are now gone. What I do know is that they are part of a raging epidemic of suicides in China. The pressures of teaching and being taught are great in China. There is much to be angry about as China careens its way through an economic and population explosion. But knowing the ills that pervade the system is no balm for a parent or teacher on a day like today. I am re-posting an article I wrote on teacher's day last year in memory of the students and their parents (who must be steeped in immeasurable grief) and those who taught them. I hope that one day their families and friends can find some measure of peace. A Child's death is the one life development that cannot be anticipated. And it steals the future while squandering a past. Today brought to mind my feelings on education and on my thousands of days as both professor and student. I have always remained grateful to two teachers in my life: Kenneth Fouts and Doug Tureck. They taught me to value education and they gave me faith in my ability to learn. My father had an eighth-grade education and my mother, raised in an orphanage during the Great Depression, attended high school. Ken and Doug tuaght me to believe in my ablity to learn. Can any teacher ever hope to do more? I am even thankful for the scoundrels that cared only for a paycheck because they taught me how not to mentor. I recently received an email from a student of mine more than twenty years ago. It simply read, "Thank you for changing my life." Could a teacher ever hear anything that could mean more than this? Japanese students kill themselves for failing to pass exams to top schools. They live, even in the worst of schools, a life far better than their Chinese counterparts. Students in China toil under the most difficult of circumstances: They carry the weight of continuing the early success of their country's great economic growth. They carry the burden of hopeful families, who gave their life's savings to send them to college while living on an average income of $800 a year. They study in classrooms without air conditioning when the heat exceeds 1o5 degrees. They live in dorms, sometimes twelve to a small room with minimal amenities. They hang-dry their clothes, eat Ramen Noodles and hope for summer jobs that will pay them $60 or $70 dollars a month so they will have "disposable income" in the fall. A study done two years ago showed that more than 60% of students had serious mental health issues and more than 10% had considered suicide. China's "Baby Boom" generation is here (the one-child policy is not as old as you think) and schools are expected to quickly triple in size. Teachers and administrators have an incredible task ahead of them. But, it is not books or air conditioning or fancy multimedia displays that create a learning environment. The administration, Chinese or otherwise will always be slow to change, and there will never be enough money or resources to do the best of jobs. None of this matters in reality: It is a dedicated, well informed, caring teacher that can, and will, instruct from a closet with only a broken pencil and a scrap of paper if he or she must. I care. And, despite the hardships I have outlined in other posts, I regard it, prosaic as it might sound, as a privilege to teach my students. The weekend of teachers day in China they called me, emailed me, and invited me to many activities. They gave me cards and plants they could ill afford. I know they have changed my life far more than I have affected theirs. In return I will strive to be better. I will never forget the kindness and (Lord knows) patience of my early mentors. I will not look to create elegies for my funereal, but instead find a way to become content guiding my charges toward becoming more than they had ever hoped to be--by their OWN best efforts. Last year one teacher here, a man in his sixties with a remarkable education and career behind him, asked me how he could teach his classes here better, how he could create more motivation in his students. THIS was, this IS, a teacher! And this is the kind of teacher I hope I will be in the next decade and long beyond it. This is also the spirit I hope pervades my students: to learn and to hunger for more. If you are a student: Call a former teacher that gave you something you needed in life, no matter how small. Believe it or not they may never have heard the words "Thank You." If you are depressed, find someone, anyone, to talk to about your heart. If you are a teacher: Remember that anything you say and do, at any moment in a classroom or hallway, can impact the outcome of a life forever. Forever. cartoons China politics TEFL TESL Aisa Japan Teaching Abroad Student Suicides Suicide Lonnie Blogs at ONEMANBANDWIDTH Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Lonnie at 2:24 AM |
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