My Own Cultural Insensitivities Unveiled

Today I had a huge wakeup call. Recently, I've been working on a "tolerance" unit in my Oral English class.  The lessons, I thought, were fairly well-thought out and were supposed to inspire the students to think beyond stereotypes, see the error of prejudice, and apply this to their everyday life.  Two weeks ago was the intro to this unit, and after discussing stereotypes all day, I ended class by reading off stereotypes Chinese have of Americans (which they laughed at, agreeing they believed most of them before meeting a foreigner), and then I read stereotypes Americans have of Chinese (taken from http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2004/0212/cu18-1.html as well as a survey I did with my college friends).  For homework, students were supposed to write a letter to an American explaining how the stereotypes made them feel, and why these stereotypes were wrong (with the intention of bringing stereotypes "home" so they could feel the dangers of stereotyping).  The week following (last week), we talked all about love, and then this week we're focusing on hate and the danger of hatred (with focus primarily on hate crimes).  I finished reading their letters to an American today, 10 minutes before my first class on hatred started, and was particularly taken aback by a letter written by one male student (who I like very much).  After explaining/correcting the misgivings Americans have of Chinese, this boy explained a holiday that Chinese have on December 22^nd, where many Chinese (particularly in Guizhou) will eat dog because of an ancient belief that says eating dog at the beginning of winter will keep you warm.  He then said the following:

"Dear American,[…]I know you don't eat dog meat, but in China, we do on special occasions.  I know in your opinion (not only yours but other Westerners) that this is very stupid, cruel. I once saw my foreign teacher's photos online. She took many photos of the market about the shoppers selling dog meat. I can tell she took the pictures not just because of interest, but because of some other opinions. Maybe she feels it is stupid or cruel and maybe she is a little angry. She once told us she has three pet dogs. She believes dogs are her friends and I want to tell you, I believe dogs are my friends, too. I and many Chinese no longer eat dog on December 22nd because we love the dogs, so instead we eat mutton."

Wow.  Here I am, working on ending stereotypes and prejudices in a foreign country, and yet I have, in turn, been very culturally insensitive to their own culture.  Of course this student's suspicions of my dog market opinion was correct, and of my motives of putting the photos online.  How terribly insensitive of me! And what a terrible wakeup call!  I am grateful, though, that he addressed this issue because I think it helped make my lesson on hatred/hate crimes/prejudice all that more powerful for me.  I was able to learn from my own lesson about what it means to be open-minded and tolerant. What an amazing moment of self-realization.

I now want to say that if there is anything I have said or posted online that has been at all culturally insensitive, I apologize for my insensitivity. Sometimes, in dealing with my culture shock, I forget myself and what I stand for. I'm truly sorry.

I also want to say that, in spite of my huge realization of my own prejudicial flaws, I did have a series of extremely proud moments in this hatred lesson.  The light bulb that was so obviously flickering in their minds today, and the open-minded, new-realization comments that were coming out of their mouths were unbelievably remarkable.  They had never been challenged to confront their own prejudices before (as I, too, had not) and were expressing such deep a thought process today that would make any teacher proud!  After class, many students lingered behind to discuss thoughts that were boggling their minds in new, unfamiliar ways.  This unit has been such a cool learning experience for all of us! :)