September 19, 2011
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‘I’d Rather Be a Prostitute than a Teacher’
‘I’d Rather Be a Prostitute than a Teacher’
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screenshot of the blog of the Hangzhou female teacher Can you believe those are the words of a high school teacher?
In China’s traditional culture, intellectuals had upheld social mores. This trend seems to be reversing. With the coming of annual Teacher’s Day, a female Hangzhou teacher wrote, ‘I’d rather be a prostitute than a teacher’ in her blog. The current status of China’s educational system, moral values, the quality of teachers and their relative low living standards are concerning. It worries everyone who is concerned with the future of education in China.
This teacher, claiming to have double degrees from a prestigious university wrote, “I’d rather be a prostitute than a teacher. I know many people will condemn me for my words. I do not know how students will react. Forgive me. The saying ‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration’ is only for fairy tales. A good life doesn’t depend on others, but is about how
well you can sell yourself.”
She describes her life: “I receive just about RMB2000 (USD300) a month as a lecturer. I live in a rented room, which can only accommodate a bed and a table. I have to be very careful with my expenses. In order to save 1 RMB a day on electricity, I have to live without an air conditioner and switch off the fan, even though I am sweating profusely.”
Another woman, Mrs. Wang, is a retired teacher in Beijing whose husband is a professor at Peking University. As a young researcher he went through many trials after others stole his research results. His wife agrees with her husband’s words, “Choosing to be a teacher is choosing to be poor.” Many teachers struggle in today’s cash-driven society to comply with their professional code of conduct. According to Mrs. Wang, “In the pursuit of money many teachers just want to make extra income by tutoring. This reflects on the students and parents. Students do not learn important things these days. In the past teachers were regarded as ‘gardeners for the future flowers of the country.’ They are like doctors looking after the souls of the next generation, but present-day ethics seems to be far removed from that.”
Although money is necessary, if values are measured solely in monetary terms, what will society’s future be?
Hu Ping, Beijing’s Spring Magazine’s editor-in-chief, thinks Chinese society now laughs at poverty but not at prostitution, and values are reversed, which affects the perceptions people have of teachers. “In the Chinese tradition, teaching is a very respectable career, but now it has a poor reputation. One reason for its poor reputation is certainly related to wages; the other is that teachers face tough choices in today’s China making it difficult to assume the role of educators for the community. Just like other industries, the educational field has its shortfalls making it challenging for teachers to feel like an honorable person in such an environment.”
Prof. Zhang Tianliang from George Mason University commented how in the past the teacher’s job was not only to teach skills but also how to handle life. It was important to teach them how to be good people. Now teachers just pass on science and technical knowledge to the next generation, without addressing moral values. This leads to a fast decline in human morality. The teachers can no longer win students’ respect if they take this approach either. “The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) itself is a criminal group oozing corruption. Students’ minds are actually instilled with this ideology, so the current generation has been disjointed from traditional culture.”
A teacher commented on a blog, “Chinese society and its educational system make teachers’ morals unsustainable. Dutiful teachers feel humbled when facing rude students and low wages, and even more so when their own children look down on their careers.”http://en.kanzhongguo.com/realchina/i_d_rather_be_a_prostitute_than_a_teacher.html
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