China’ single kids – My Teaching Traumas

China’ single kids – My Teaching Traumas
easyrider Jan 30, 2013 17:00

The one child policy has been in effect for long enough now meaning that many of China’s current young were brought up as single kids. I’ve been teaching a fair while now in China and would like to share some trends that I believed have emerged from being brought up as a single child, which I believe have been developed due to not only having the parents around them, but also grandparents,aunts, uncles and cousins all chipping in.

Competitiveness. You’d think that a country of 1.3 billion people and a strong Confucian ethic would pull together as one right? To some extent perhaps, though some of my students have shown heavy competitive traits and jealousy towards each other. The other day, I was playing a simple dodge-ball like game where upon losing, one of the kids (a 13 year-old I hasten to add) threw a tantrum and tried to nail another kid in the face with the ball. Now, all kids are prone to such behaviour, but the fact he was 13 shocked me. I’ve seen repeated behaviour and lack of teamwork ethic in many of my students.

Dependency. Ever seen a 10 year boy hand fed water from a bottle? Didn’t think so. I know the Chinese love children and see them as the future but I can’t help but think some of them are spoilt rotten. They come into my class dressed like the Michelin man and then complain it’s too hot –take your clothes off then! They also go running to mommy whenever they lose a game.

                                                

I read a recent article about China’s future population being pessimistic, selfish and distrusting, and I can see all the signs in the behaviour of these kids.

What it’s made me realize though, is to appreciate the awesome ones when they come along. When you get a polite, creative, or funny student in your class who’s totally beyond their years it really makes you thankful. Is it depressing that these kids are only 1 in 10? Perhaps? But at least it’s giving me some hope for the future of China. As for the rest… who knows?

Tags: teaching English in China China single kids

1 Comments

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DaqingDevil

Hence the term "Little Emperors" I guess. We teachers joke about what China will be like when this generation we teach become the nation's leaders. Will they stamp their feet and throw a tantrum when another country disagrees with them or will they say: I'm telling my mom!?

Feb 06, 2013 07:32 Report Abuse