In the kitchen...

As a way to fill some of my spare time, and make some extra spending money (which isn't really necessary), I have been working at a small side job this semester. It is similar to the extra job I worked at last semester, although this one was arranged through Cao Xingxing, a good friend on campus. I am teaching some mid and upper level employees at Buhler Changzhou, which is a division of Buhler, a multinational manufacturing company. Our classes are in the main office building, which is situated on a huge corporate campus that features factories, warehouses, a cafeteria/restaurant, and dorms. My class has 10 students (it's odd to call them students, as they are much older than I) and they work as department heads in engineering, quality control, and human resources. They range in age from about 25-45, there are two young engineers who aren't married, but the rest are and most have children. There is only one woman, a young engineer who was just recently married (my chances in the world keep dwindling). Because the company has operations all over the world, many of them email in English almost everyday. Additionally, they use English whenever people from the headquarters (in Switzerland) or other Asian branches come to visit or videoconference. So, the company wants management to work on their English. They want me to do speaking and listening, because, one can't revise or edit a conversation like he can an email.

I have to come up with topics, discussions, lessons, or questions to fill up the two hour sessions twice a week. So, on Monday I decided to talk about women's role in society, business, and the family. As we began class, I was disappointed to learn that the only female engineer was gone on a business trip. As our discussion proceeded, I became quite glad that she was gone. I don't need to write that China is a pretty patriarchal society. Almost all rights and societal positions which women have were gained in the last 50 years. Progress is undeniably being made towards equality, especially in the more developed and educated eastern provinces (the region where I live topping the development list). So, I was blown away with some of the things which the men I was teaching said. Now, these guys are great, funny, helpful, and very kind. But, they have also grown up in a culture that treats women in a much, much different way than mine. To preface, I readily recognize that the fact that my dad does the laundry and sewing isn't exactly normal for lots of American families, I can easily say that I don't (knowingly) have a friend who doesn't consider men and women equal. The men at Buhler happened to have a different opinion. I was told that women were less intelligent than men, less suited for government and business, and should definitely handle the majority (if not all) of the housework. I was floored. These are well educated, well informed men, living in the most developed part of China. They did recognize that women's role was changing, and a few even conceded that they would be okay with a female president, although not anytime soon. I shared some of my opinions, but mainly tried to keep the discussion going with more questions, so I could learn more. It was not as if I had imagined they would have a different opinion, but sometimes things you know are still surprising when you hear them come out of someone's mouth.

I felt much better after English corner the other night. There, when I discussed the same things with a few students, I heard a much different answer. I was with both guys and girls, but some of the guys were actually the most strident supporters of women's rights. I told them I was encouraged by their opinions, and told them to keep thinking that way. I encouraged some of the girls to be more assertive the next time someone asks them the same question. Another positive note from English corner was how willing some of the students have become to discuss somewhat sensitive topics. I think it is just that they are becoming familiar with me, and know that I like to talk with them and will hold my judgment when doing so. One student even brought up the topic of evolution and human development. He doubted that all of humanity/civilization initiated in the middle east. I told him that I did believe this, and the scholarly work I have read also agrees. Apparently he was reading a book and didn't like this declaration, instead thought that the Chinese people evolved/developed separately. He wasn't encouraged by my answer that since it happened almost 300,000 years ago, we will never know for sure. All in all, teaching English here is definitely a lot more than vocabulary and grammar, and is much more thought provoking than one might think.