Last monday I shared a farewell lunch with Professor Tong Huiming, the head of the College of Design of the GAFA, and Jiang Jun, who introduced me to the GAFA in the first place. It felt good to be able to say my good-byes in person, and to talk a little about the views that I experienced within the department that I was teaching at this past semester.
During my stay here I have heard a lot of criticism from people within the education system itself about the disconnect between many teachers and their students. There are quite a few teachers who do not seem committed to sharing knowledge, but are more interested in upholding their status as “professor”, and using students as cheap (or even free) labor to aid them in their business practices. The attention of these teachers focuses mainly on aquiring cool highly regarded and well-paid assignments rather than investing energy in their students. In itself this is not unique. The income for teaching is often not great (not only in China) and combining your professional practice with your teaching practice can be challenging. However, in my view, in order to have any chance at effective education, there should be mutual respect, at least to begin with. A topdown approach, whereby a teacher enforces their view on the students, rather than opening up their mind and ear to the possibility of another point-of-view, is not the way forward. Within my class, there were already quite a few individuals who have thoughts, opinions of their own, and it is upsetting to see how their sometimes really good, out-of-the-box ideas are stifled by the narrow-minded focus of the leadership. And it is really frustrating to see how the work of students who, without much imagination, make works that comply to the very narrow rules that are enforced, is received with great enthusiasm because it ticks all the boxes. Sigh.
I’m hopeful that with someone with the vision of Professor Tong, who is well versed both in the culture of the Chinese education system and the politics involved, and at the same time knowledgeable about other methods of teaching, that this disconnect will change. He plans to internationalize the GAFA by taking on Chinese teachers who have had experience outside of China, either through study or work. My dear friend and colleague Hong Rongman, who studied in Holland for 2 years, is an example of such a teacher. His approach, which is open minded, smart, critical and heartfelt, connects with the students. His lessons are not a monotonous uninspired monologue but rather an enthusiastic attempt at stimulating students to look at the world in different ways. A new generation of teachers that combine a knowledge and experience of an other way of looking with their own Chinese culture is, I think, the way forward.
