On education

Chinese Tiger Mothers

There's been a lot in the news recently about the "Tiger Mother, " Amy Chua, who has written an apology for an Asian Stereotype.

In short, she defends remorseless and aggressive parenting defined by denial of silly things like art (except violin or piano) and social activities, and pressure on preformance in school (primarily in math and science).

I'm familiar with the stereotype she represents with such gusto, but what she's been doing for western audiences has been done much better and more humorously in High Expectations Asian Father blog, where I got the screen grab on Jan 29th, 2011.

Hasn't anyone read, or at least seen, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan? The model has some serious backlash. Relationships between parent and child may benefit from more guidance, discipline and/ or involvement than many (most?) American parents invest - but the bond can be strained and even broken by too much negative reinforcement and withholding of affection.

The Chinese Language newspaper we picked up at Ho's (an Taiwanese market on 95th and I-35) followed a discussion among an ethnic Chinese community - and in the Chinese language (unsimplified). The consensus among those with closer ties to traditional Chinese culture than Hua is not in support of her. They compare her to a traditional story - a children's fairy tale about a tiger who disguiesed herself as a woman to get at some kids by marrying a widower. The story is as gruesome as the original Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and a little Red Riding-hood. Key in the telling is the sounds of the tiger crunching the bones of the children. The tiger is always the tiger's 1st priority.

Interestingly this Tuesday marks the end of the year of the tiger. I had been teaching for a couple years in Taiwan the last time we had a year of the tiger. I taught adults in evening classes and noticed that of nearly 500 students per semester I had no pregnant women in class in the year of the tiger. Once the year of the Rabbit got well under way there were about a dozen pregnant women scattered throughout my classes. Tigers are a strong sign, but they aren't much desired. Also, Tigers are not welcome at weddings.



References

• The Wall Street Journal on "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" - written by the author, Amy Chua.
  
• Slate on why we let the father's role slide from our conversation in "Tiger Mom. Terrible role model"
• And the Huffington Post response by a sociologist and professional parent educator with a PhD in "Why Amy Chua is Wrong About Parenting"
  

Facebook Perils: Article summary and comment

Facebook relates to the specific composition objectives of developing the awareness and understanding of voice and audience. LaRoche and Flanigan (2009) note that students enter college and work discourse communities with unrealistic expectations regarding their rights to free speech, and they fail to recognize what constitutes private versus public expression.

Many students assume that The First Amendment protects their right to free speech and by extension protects them from punishment for posting their social life online. This assumption is false….Facebook pages are often created and maintained without considering the potential audience or appropriateness of the postings. (p. 31).

LaRoche and Flanigan surveyed 118 undergraduate students and 45 employers to assess their tendencies and values. Their research presented images from alleged Facebook posts and, perhaps not surprisingly, found significant differences in what employers and students found appropriate or offensive. Additionally the researchers note:

• Intentionally or by accident, Facebook users tend to make public their private lives
• Government and law enforcement have full access to all Facebook accounts
• Campus police sometimes crack down on drinking and student behavior by watching the site.
• Postings have been used to expel students
• Over 20% of students will add any person who seeks to friend them.
• Some colleges ban athletes from Facebook.

Many of these points may come as a surprise to students. The researchers conclude that while students at public institutions may have the right to free speech, that right offers no protection from suffering the consequences of that expression.

It might be easiest to ban Facebook, but doing so would preclude instructor presence in teachable moments. This is where students are (96% of students surveyed in this research, and none of the dozens of surveys published in the last 3-4 years have shown fewer than 85%). The recent incident involving student use of facebook illustrates a need, and this need iswithin the student learning outcomes defined by the college, specifically

• to collaborate respectfully with others,
• to communicate effectively (and that requires audience awareness),
• to demonstrate an understanding of the broad diversity of the human experience and the individual’s place in society.
• Use technology efficiently and responsibly.

In Chinese, a word for crisis (危機) combines two radicals, the first means danger, and the second means opportunity. All learning comes with risk; we can't teach a constructivist model of knowledge and give students the sort of experience that Dewey deemed sine qua non of learning by hiding from potential dangers.

Work Cited

LaRoche, C.R. and Flanigan, M.A. (2009) “Facebook: Perils, Perceptions and Precautions.” The Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 6(5), 31-38

Grammar Matter (?): that vs who

One mechanical or stylistic pet peeves that got violated most in the SP2010 semester is the careless or inconsistent use of that vs. who. These words (along with "which") introduce a type of relative clause, which is particularly difficult for speakers of Asian languages - because relative clauses don't exist in their native tongues. Relative clauses are only found in European languages (tho some Native American languages have adopted the grammatical structure due to the influence of Spanish). But the "That/ who" distinction discussed here is a primarily native-English speaker issue. This concern is shared by many of my colleagues, and this issue sparked the longest dialogue posted to a teaching list-serv this year. Consider some examples. A colleague posted the following, and asked us to compare:

She was a student that worried about the finer points.

To this:

She was a student who worried about the finer points.

It's small and fussy, but in my ear it's like calling a person "it."

I whole-heartedly agree. "That" is way overused - and it denies humanity to the word it refers to - its antecedent. It reminds me of a self-described " conservative Christian" who referred to "children that are abused." Denying humanity to a race or class of people is the first step to violence against that group: the irony. Another prof. here offered:

I agree that it's most important just to get students thinking about word choices. It's pretty common, though, for personalized animals, like pets, to be referred to as "who." However, I too prefer students to refer to people with "who," even when the student wants to write "the damn cop that gave me the ticket!"

Grammar Girl weighs in on the subject with her customary verve here. And Grammarbook.com is less equivocal and more succinct.

WTF: What the fruit?

I don't shy from exotic food - in fact it is one reason I love traveling. A blog post on BoingBoing.net reminded me that one of the fruits I grew accustomed to in my 5 + years living in S.E. Asia freaks people out. Maybe 1/2 the people in Taiwan like Durian though many have never tasted it. If you try it, you'll love it or hate it.

It assaults the senses. The stench is legendary. It looks like a medieval weapon until you crack it open, and then it looks like some alien in its larva stage. People generally describe the texture as creamy and rich - but it's... the experience of eating Durian defies polite analogy. BoingBoing shares

19th century British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace described the taste of durian as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, sherry wine and other incongruous dishes."

One of the comments describes the experience in more visceral terms, in an expression common in S.E. Asia, "It's like sitting on the toilet whilst eating your favorite ice cream." You've got to read the comments. They are inventive and have the ring of truth. Even smelling it alone is unforgettable.

Which is funny. Long before I heard that expression I shared with my Taiwanese friends the theory that no-one falls in love with Durian the first time they eat it, but the smell comes through so clearly when it passes through you - and since, to quote Fat Bstrd from Austin Powers, "everyone likes their own brand" after you've eaten and passed it, when you smell Durian it will remind you of your own earthy odors - in the most positive way possible, and Durian appeal to you in a way it couldn't the first time you tried it.

Which explains why many people never try it. It's a questionable taste to develop since the fruit has more calories than ice cream and may be more unhealthy. Most hotels ban the fruit. I have a buddy who ignored the message in Singapore and left a Durian in his room while he went back out shopping. In Asia they do a very sensible thing and cut power to your room when you're out (if the room key isn't proximal to the room no power). Equatorial climate being as hot as Kansas in August, and heat having a liberating effect on the fragrance .... the whole hotel reeked when he got back - which made him amazingly unpopular.

Beef tendon soup

Common in Chinese cooking, and a frequent ingredient in Vietnamese Pho soups, Beef Tendon is surprisingly tasty and a texture not found in western food. My son refers to it as "beef gummy," and it's one of my "go to" recipes: Beef Tendon Noodle Soup.

Our pediatrician said other ethnic families he serves have asked him about feeding it to children - but he had no idea the nutritional content - other than "It's loaded with collagen - it's probably good for you." If anyone knows a nutritionist help me out. Most staples of authentic Asian diets are healthy - but I want hard data. Several sites sell pill supplements and make some strong claims about the benefits of collagen, but I don't find sources credible - tho they may be correct. Some in Asia will tell you eating collagen is the reason Asians keep their youthful complexion so long, but ...

I start with large beef soup bones cut into pieces - and the bones don't need any flesh. Asian markets have good soup bones - unless anyone knows a butcher in the KC area who'll cut up bones for stock (if so share in the comments). Hint: throw in some previously boiled eggs - peeled - and let them stew. By the time you serve the eggs will take on a nice rich color and flavor throughout.
Bones cook in the crock pot (slow cooker) over night with the spice packet shown, and a small handful of star anise. That's important. Add also some garlic, a couple red peppers, some whole black pepper corns, some orange peel (fresh or dry. I generally dry and keep orange peel).

FYI: Chinese food and "medicine" are more closely related than westerners generally understand. The revolutionary AIDs drugs that made life so much better for Magic Johnson and others was developed by a Taiwanese researcher and derived largely from star anise. Wish I could remember where I learned that [Citation Needed].

Cook the broth 12 + hours, and then throw in the raw thawed tendon 3 hours or so before you want to eat. Hint: I struggle cutting raw tendon and I like knives. Cook the tendon first and it's easy to cut. Throw in green onions, a little brown sugar and a dash of white pepper if you have it. It's a rich relatively clear and light, though savory broth with a clean body.

30 minutes before serving I add 3 -5 tomatoes cut in wedges. Serve over noodles - the fresh frozen kind you find in Asian markets is the best. I like the Korean Oriental Market on Metcalf in Overland Park for the bones and the tendon and most all produce. Ho's Market in Lenexa for the spice packet and the noodles.

Soup photo by W. Hsu. Anise image from flickr

what I'm reading - for fun

I'm reading Chinese Americans by Kwong and Miscevic. I'm barely into it and I've learned:

• America's favorite cherry - the large, sweet and succulent Bing - was developed by Ah Bing, a Chinese immigrant horticulturalist, in 1875.
• Lue Gim Gong, the father of the Florida citrus industry, developed the frost resistant orange tree in 1888.
  
• The best doctors in the old west were Chinese traditional herbalists (btw: the Chinese knew how to prevent scurvy by at least the 1400's).
• The Chinese American community had it's share of gunfighters.
  
• Keno was brought to America by Chinese immigrants - originally called "pak kop piu" (white pigeon ticket).
  
• 25% of miners by 1850 were Chinese.
• it was no coincidence the large #'s of Chinese laborers came to the US during the heat of the slavery debate that lead up to the civil war. And plantations in the south sought to replace African American slaves with Chinese indentured workers (who didn't get the vote until the 20th century?) That didn't work out.
  

There's so much from this book I don't want to forget. I will post again on it ASAP, but I only get to read it during my son's nap and sometimes before bed.

Book Report: Brothers

Brothers, by Yu Hua is available in Chinese or English, and in Audiobook form at the Lawrence Public Library. It's long - but I loved it.

The New York Times says

“Brothers” is, in fact, very much a social novel of the late 20th century. It deals with the emergence of China as a capitalist market state, a story familiar to anyone who reads the newspapers, and it’s as blunt, puerile, libidinous and trashily sentimental as any 24 hours of American reality TV. All that ought to make it a blockbuster in the West, as it has been in China, where on its release in 2005 and 2006 (in two volumes) it sold more than a million copies....Imagine a novel written by William Dean Howells together with D. H. Lawrence, updated by Tom Wolfe and then filmed by Baz Luhrmann, and you’ll have some idea of what “Brothers” would be like, had it originated in the West.

It has been criticized as low-brow and crass (especially at home in China), but I doubt anyone who actually read The Faire Queene or Ubu Roi would say that. The author also wrote To Live, which became an amazing movie that China banned - which of course made it a monumental best seller there and abroad.

Book Report: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

This novel by Dai Sijie, is available in Chinese or English - and can be found in audio format in English. Set during the cultural revolution, it treats the it's protagonists with warmth and humor - and the book has been well received critically. It has love, illicit sex, betrayal, and references to western literature. It's set where I've traveled - and I've included some personal pictures - and I may need to tell my story of the young toughs, the stick of dynamite and the Red Chinese Army soldiers. Synopsis: I was clever, something very bad happened, and it wasn't my fault; but this post is about someone else's story.

• study questions
  
• Map available - large.
• Wikipedia on the book by Dai Sijie
• Wikipedia on author (semi-autobiographical?)
  
• Poster images found at Stefan Landsberger's sight.
• history of Chinese Communist Party
  

Characters:

1. Ma - our narrator most of the time. Dr's kid. 18 ?
   
2. Luo - Dentist's kid. 19
   
3. The Little Seamstress (aka: ) age? Innocent or sex kitten?
   
4. Tailor
5. Village chief - ex opium grower.
   

Setting
Phoenix mountain near ChengDu, Yunnan? Year (?)

Books worth reading.

• Nien Cheng, Life and Death in ShiangHi
• Kristoff and WuDunn, China Wakes
• Yu Hua, Brothers
  

Pictures from my travel in the area

Wht2doNKSwhnURbrd

As a young college writer, sometimes a road trip inspired me. I've always enjoyed travel - and I like to get to know my surroundings. The road trip is a fundamental method of ethnographic research. You gotta look for connections and relationships and be open to serendipity. The openness to serendipity works best with early drafts. I learned the hard way.

This road trip to Rock City, just outside Minneapolis, KS opens possibilities for research in: Biology - specifically botany (what is that plant and how does it survive?); African American history re: George Washington Carver - who lived here for a good minute; Geology and more.

And these privies? Solidly built.

So what places do you know of that make a good day trip from the Lawrence/ Johnson county area? Relate the educational merit. Share at http://dixoncomp.pbworks.com/Wht2doNKSwhnURbrd.


btw: the ides of march reference - click here

Gen 1.5

On a surprising number of Comp 1 papers this week, I find myself writing about the Gen 1.5 experience and how excited I am to have students with first-hand knowledge. This could be an topic for the SRTOL paper.

Generation 1.5 refers to students with the characteristics of both 1st generation immigrants and 2nd generation immigrants. They typically entered the U.S. in their childhood - though some sources say true Gen 1.5 students enter between the ages of 3-5, and other sources say they enter the country as teenagers. All agree that the experience involves public schools during a pre-adolescent or early adolescent stage.

Kids seem to learn language better than adults, and partly because kids play. Gen 1.5 youth learn language more from the playground, or extra-curricular activities, than the classroom. Their oral skills rival native born English speakers, which can cause problems. Other native speakers assume Gen 1.5 are fully fluent and cultural insiders. Sometimes people have less patience for Gen 1.5 learners because on the surface they look and sound fully "American," and yet they don't catch every word or cultural reference that a student born to 2nd or 3rd generation Americans might. I see this with how people treat my wife - tho she's 1st generation with phenomenal language skills.

Gen 1.5 face particular challenges with writing. At least 6 of my Gen 1.5 students have told me stories this week of being laughed at by students and mocked by teachers. Generally the Asian students smile and laugh with the group.

Therese Thonus, now Writing Center Director at KU, wrote an interesting piece on the essential role of writing centers for Gen 1.5 students. It's titled, "Serving Generation 1.5 Learners in the University Writing Center," published in TESOL Journal in 2003. Look for it in the Eric Database or thru google scholar. Gen 1.5 students need to disclose their linguistic background to the peer consultant at the WC and ask them to function as a cultural informant. Most people assume Gen 1.5 students can hear grammatical anomalies as well as native English speakers, but they don't.

Mark Roberge explains it in easy-to-understand language, but I disagree with him on a couple key points. 1) age is much more flexible than he suggests and 2) they do have a home language - though it may be defined as an interlanguage (see also creole, pidgin, etc). Interlanguages count as "a language of nurture" for the Students Right to Their Own Language paper, though academics have been slow to realize and acknowledge that.

What American location is most famous for it's creole? New Orleans - They just won the Superbowl and everyone's yelling, "who dat." Ever wonder what that means or where it came from?

I'd like to share research at the social bookmarking site.