June 8, 2015 is a special day for high school graduates in China. It is the day to witness 10 million students enter college exam sites to try and earn themselves admission into colleges. Students are told that every point they earn on this exam will significantly impact the rest of their lives because whether or not they can make it to a college and what college they get into will define who they will become.
While I still get butterflies in my stomach when I think about my college exam day, I couldn’t find a word to describe how I felt when I saw the picture of the book-tearing event that occurred a day prior to this year’s national college exam day. The picture below is a scene at a Henan Province high school prior to the exam day. Students tore their textbooks, study notes, learning materials into pieces and tossed them in the air like party confetti!
I have heard about students burning their books to mark the end of a painful era of studying, but never as massive and violent as this! In a country where education is seen as the means for everything, what causes this hostile attitude towards the carrier of knowledge and symbol for learning?
If every rebellion has its roots in oppression, maybe the following images can offer us some explanation of the cause.
Nearly three decades have passed since I was a high school student in China, but every now and then I still wake up in the middle of the night startled by thought of not being ready for an exam. Beneath the cold sweat lies the deep fear of “what if I cannot make it” because, as a student, I had been told that this exam was my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
John Dewey states that, “Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” But we as formal or informal educators tend to address them as two separation things. As parents, we say to our kids, “Finish your homework, you will have playtime…” As teachers, we say so to our students, “study hard if you want to get an A…” As a result, it is interpreted by the young minds that once you’re done with your education, you are allowed to “have a life.” This logic becomes even more rational in a society like China where education is perceived as a bitter process.
A Chinese proverb says, “Without tasting the bitterest of the bitter, one can’t get the sweetest of the sweet,” Another states, “Learning is an endless sea where being able to endure the hardship (bitterness) is the boat to keep you afloat.” So, it would seem to make perfect sense to “dump the boat once you reach the shore” or in this case, trash the books once the exam is over.
Yet, as someone who has had the luck of finding the joy of learning and who’s still getting her daily dose of happiness through teaching and learning, I can’t resist the urge to share these beautiful attributes we gain for educating both ourselves and others.
Educating for Resilience
Education provides the strength for people to stand up against life’s obstacles. Facing the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg cited Adam Grant’s theory of things that are critical to resilience: Personalization—realizing (the obstacle) is not your fault; Permanence—remembering that you won’t feel like this forever; Pervasiveness—understanding that this does not have to affect every area of my life and the ability to compartmentalize is healthy. This is not an exam for a psychology course. It is an application of knowledge that salvages a person from falling.
Educating for Redemption
When one is struck by the feeling of loss or loneliness, education provides a remedy–an embracement similar to the one that religion would offer. Jane Juska wrote in her book, A Round-Heeled Woman, “There are all kinds of churches in the world…this is the one for me.” She was talking about the Metropolitan Library in New York where a collection of Anthony Trollop’s manuscripts were housed.
Educating for Nobility
When a very popular Chinese actor Sun Honglei was pressed by a tabloid reporter to comment on another celebrity’s rumored love affair, he refused to comment to the press. “My education won’t allow me to do so,” he said. The Sun has created a number of tough-minded heroes in the movies. With this one statement, he just created one for himself in real life. Education dignifies a person even though nobility is not a subject of any course.
Educating for a Fuller Life
Besides equipping us to make a living, education provides us with a way of thinking that leads to a fulfilling life. In 2014, faculty, staff and alumni of Duke University compiled a list of 14 suggestions for their graduates. The number 1 suggestion was, “Pay close attention. This is your life.”
Education makes us observe, absorb, and engross more from this one-time-only offer of life.
Jose Bowen, the author of Teaching Naked, once warns us that we, the professors, should never use ourselves as examples for students because in their eyes we love school so much, we are still here! However, if we have the ability to make school and study pleasant, that passion for learning might become contagious.
I once told my students that I was practicing Shawn Achor’s suggestion of listing three things that will make me happy for the day. “I had teaching this class on it,” I said to my students, “isn’t it pathetic?” With sympathy, consolation, and appreciation gleaming in their eyes, my students gushed out a sweet “Oh!”
I know if I could offer them something beyond the books, something tangible where the sweet and bitter combine to provide a better future, they will at least not hate the books; if I can inspire the desire to learn, then we are moving closer to the answer of why we educate!