Q:
Who or what has had the most influence on
you in your career as an educator?
A:
My grade 1 Chinese language teacher had a big influence
on me. At the time, she was old. She liked every child, but
she was very strict with us. I was able to build a strong foundation
in Chinese because of her instruction and teaching style. And
that is when I started thinking about how interesting becoming
a teacher would be. When I was in grade 3, my family was placed
on the ‘Black Five’ list1. The list was compiled during the Cultural
Revolution and included large and small landowners, counter
revolutionaries, criminals, and rightists. Every day my teacher
would pick me and other children whose families were also on
the Black Five list up at our homes and walk us to school. After
school she would also walk each of us home to protect us and
ensure that we arrived safely at our destinations. These two
teachers in particular have had the largest influence on me as
an educator. The love and care they showed me as their student
helped me to overcome the external pressures that existed at
the time – teachers were looked down upon then and called the
‘Stinky Ninth’ category2, behind people on the Black Five list and
several other categories of people – and endeavor to become a
teacher.
I have never regretted my decision to become a teacher, because
after many years in the profession, I still find joy and happiness
in my work. My work is not mundane, or trivial. Something new
always happens, even if I am teaching the same group of students
“Our focus is to develop their higherlevel thinking skills by giving them
ample opportunities to explore…on
the content that is provided.”
every day and even if we are working with the same book. Students
ask different questions, which require me to think of new ways
to teach so that they are able to understand the material and
concepts being discussion. So when I work with students I also
learn from them. In fact, I have been learning new things, and
improving myself daily for the last 30 years. I welcome and enjoy
this process of change.
As a teacher, I will never become financially rich, but I am afforded
happiness and a sense of accomplishment. I am blessed to be
able to do something that I love. I always tell my son that no
matter what he does for work, he should make sure that he does
something that he likes. And then everything else will be fine.
1: The Black Five (黑五类 hei wu lei) refers to five socio-political groups of people in the Cultural
Revolution: landlords, rich farmers, counterrevolutionaries, bad-influencers, and right-wingers.
2: The Stinky Ninth (臭老九 chou lao jiu) was the commonly used dysphemism for intellectuals
during the Cultural Revolution.
Dai Min with students at ‘China Experience Week’
in Yunan Province
www.keystoneacademy.cn
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