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.

Been, whom I met in 2007, invited me to have dinner at her place with her mother, grandfather and a close friend. A delicious meal was cooked by her friend, who comes over almost daily to cook, and exchange cooking tips with Beens mother. I sincerely enjoyed spending time at Beens place, which is way out in the sticks of Beijing (Li Yuan).
It took almost 2 hours to get there by subway, which was a reminder to me of just how huge BJ is. Li Yuan is still within the periphery of the 6th Ring Road. My starting point was in the North East, between the 2nd and 3rd Ring Road, Beens home is in the South East. How long would it take to get from the South East to the North West? And to think that there are many who make this kind of commute daily.

December 2nd was the final teaching day after a 12 week course with Class 06. After working hard at finishing their assignments, and putting together a presentation for the head of the department, the class, with fellow teachers Hong Rongman and Zeng Yu Lin, invited me out for dinner. Above a teeny clip of the dinner table. Afterwards we all went to a karaoke bar, of which I fortunately do not have any clip, as my first experience at singing along with a bad cover version of Madonnas’ “Like a Virgin” should not be recorded for history. It was bad. I did, however, very much enjoy watching the students sing and dance…some of them have truly great voices. It was the first time I had been to a karaoke club, and I found it quite disarming. Their style of singing ranged from shyly singing along to outrageous play-acting, making believe that you yourself are the star. It all seems so innocent and sweet.

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