Finding their own voice
Teaching March 28th. 2008, 12:09amOne of my middle school classes will disband next week for a month while they prepare for examinations. This is a shame, because I was starting to enjoy their classes more. In particular, I like grading their essay materials and finding out about their unique points of view.
Sometime around middle school students start finding humor, and defending their opinions. Recently our books have had some dour topics that were boring to read when you get the same boilerplate answers. I teach the students to express themselves in class, but with peers they are less likely to say what they really feel. The journals are more direct, and I’ve often gotten surprising answers to some questions:
On the topic of “Should elderly people be put in nursing homes”, The standard Korean stock answer was that not taking care of one’s relatives is dishonorable, and that it is a family duty out of respect in love. No exceptions. 99% of the essays I read were just restatements of this theme.
However, in the middle school class, one of the girls said that old people really aren’t pleasant to look at or deal with, so they should be put in nursing homes so the young people aren’t depressed all the time. It might be selfish to toss people in a hole to keep from being depressed, but she said what she thought, and I made sure to give her extra points for having a unique thing to say.
On the topic of “Should people gossip?” this same girl said she loved to gossip, and it kept people in line and allowed for social connections. She said she’d be lonely without being able to gossip. This was also outside the norm, as most students considered gossip no less than a high crime to a friendship.
Another female student in the class said that to be the best daughter she can be, she should be as beautiful and popular as possible. While this answer was somewhat vapid, she had detailed reasons why this would be the best possible thing for her, and why it would make her parents happy. If she’s going to be able to support an opinion, it’s good enough to pass my test.
The boys in the class are still regurgitating what their parents have taught them and aren’t sharing daring opinions at all. While all the girl’s opinions are counter to my own at times, the fact that they take the effort to explain them and share then well is wonderful.
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