Ralph Jennings is a journalist and long time resident of China. He currently lives in Taipei. From mid-2000 to 2006, he had an advice column in the 21st Century weekly newspaper in which he answered letters from thousands of students and young professionals. Below is a letter from the archive, with an introduction by Jennings.
In another sign of the crazy, ambitious, fast-changing times, youth in China have gotten bold about fighting back against perceived injustices. University students don’t mind confronting teachers, usually via letter or the dean, about lazy instruction or unfair treatment of classmates, both of which are common practices. Adult children, if they must, will quit talking to rigid, verbally abusive parents. Entry-level workers suddenly walk off the job. Guess who wins? Teachers blacklist, snub or downgrade students who challenge them. Parents seldom admit fault or change their ways. Employers explain away angry young workers as one-off malcontents. Blue tells this representative story:
Student letters to a foreign agony uncle
Dear Ralph,
I’m a college student in civil engineering. Something happened this term makes me very unhappy. My major teacher, a strange and strict man, is a famous engineer in my city. I didn’t know more about him until the day I handed in my design work. He said my work was nothing but rubbish. I was so grieved to hear it that I didn’t sleep for two days, in order to finish my work. But he only said it was rubbish and didn’t even look at it carefully. I retorted that it’s not rubbish. I thought there was nothing more to say, but my classmates told me the teacher wrote a mark under my name on his notebook. After the examination, I found I had failed in my major course. It’s impossible. I studied well, reviewed carefully and did well on the examination. Some classmates who didn’t study well passed. How can he do this? It’s unfair. I did so much, working harder than others, but got a no-pass because I talked back to him? I look down upon the teacher, no matter how knowledgeable he is. I want a face-to-face dispute with him, but I know it’s useless.