This is part 3 of a series on childhood in rural China. Part One. Part Two. I tried writing this part of the series earlier this weekend, but got stuck every time I tried to find a way to change the topic to one that would help balance it out. Nothing worked. I finally decided that it was a story that needed to be told, and that to soften it in any [...] Keep reading »

This is part 2 of a continuing series, part 1 Primary school in China’s countryside pales in comparison to the education offered in the big cities of the East coast. From the moment my students started school they were behind, and never really had what could be called a fair chance. Village primary schools are often single level cement struct [...] Keep reading »

One of the most common questions I get is about how much I could talk about religion when I was working in the classroom. In the US there is a lot of confusion about how much religious freedom there is in China (more than you think, but less than there could be), but that is a gigantic issue. So a glimpse of this is how I teach Christmas. Usually [...] Keep reading »

During the break the students mostly left the classroom and stood out on the balcony “enjoying the fresh air” for a few minutes. One girl stayed behind to chat with me, I wish she hadn’t. “Tom,” she said, “Your face is very white and round.” “Oh,” I said, completely unsure of how to respond to t [...] Keep reading »

September 2007 When I arrived in Longzhou there were only a few days to get settled before the semester would begin. On Friday Millie brought Kyle and me over to see the Foreign Language department, Thai and Vietnamese were also popular majors at the school. After some back and forth with the vice-dean she turned and told us that our class schedule [...] Keep reading »