After a long break from classes due to Golden Week, I was looking forward to blogging about my adventures. Before I was able to start typing, on my first day back, I was told to correct some introductory essays at one of my schools. Most were pretty good! It was fun to learn cool facts about these 3rd year students who rarely speak to me in English.
One essay, however, horrified me.
Now, I've had to endure a lot of hardship at this particular school from kids who have disrupted the class and distracted their neighbors, from kids who have given me the middle finger in class (or have written "f*ck you" on the board during games) to kids who have tried blatantly staring at my chest while I try to explain something to them. I've learned to deal with inappropriate questions and situations in a light-hearted manner, but I just couldn't laugh off this particular instance.
In this essay, the student wrote about liking "big breast [insert nationality here] GIRLS" and about not "fuxking [liking] [insert another nationality here] girls".
I wasn't really sure where to begin "correcting" this essay. I can teach and fix grammar, I can help pronunciation, but this...
#1: Ok, I get that a lot of people like women with big breasts..., but is this really appropriate to be writing about in a school essay? To a female teacher? It seems like common sense to me, but I guess not... :/
#2: I'm not going to mention what nationalities the student mentioned. It doesn't matter. You shouldn't be objectifying and generalizing the entire female population of ANY nation.
I don't know what caused this particular student to think this way, but it got me thinking...
It made me realize just how important traveling abroad and international exchange is. By experiencing another culture and talking to people who think differently than you do, it really does broaden your horizons and allows you to see the world from multiple perspectives. It unlocks a new appreciation and respect for the global community that these kids, who've been on this mostly homogeneous island their whole lives, simply have little access to (despite how Westernized their society is becoming). This is why ALT's jobs are so important! Although we're technically here to teach English, just being around these kids, giving them the opportunity to interact with us, and exposing them to a different culture can help prevent future misunderstandings about people from other cultures that they're unfamiliar with. If they're really interested, maybe they will travel abroad someday, make international friends, and share with each other their ideas and culture.
Anyways, although this particular instance popped up in my little town, this happens all over the world. This kind of hate, which comes from misinformation, lack of information (sometimes, rather, a lack of willpower to gather the necessary information), or refusing to understand or respect other fellow human beings, sadly, exists everywhere. Not just here, but many people around the world would benefit from this kind of global exchange...
How nice would it be for everyone to realize that everyone (no matter what country they reside in) is just trying to make the best of their life despite what is going on in the rest of the world? We are all trying to find happiness, trying to be economically successful, and we want to be surrounded by our loved ones, friends, and family. We all want to live life the way we want to.
As unique as we all like to think we are, we're all far more fundamentally similar than our outward appearances or political/religious/sports affiliations, etc. would suggest...
My advice to the world: (Well, those who have been willing to read this far are most likely not the people who need the advice...)
If you have preconceived thoughts about another person/group, please find those individuals in your community and listen to them. Experience their individual personalities. Give them a chance before you let other people decide your opinions of them.
Who knows? Maybe you'll make a friend or two. Or maybe you'll find some people you just can't stand! But that's ok, because you're bound to come across individuals of all sorts whose personalities who are...less than agreeable... Such is life. Well, hey, at least you tried! And maybe, just maybe, if you continue to put in this effort and encourage others to do the same, the world will become a little bit better of a place...
Anyways, I'll step off my soap box now. Thanks for listening! Next up, is a post about my Golden Week travels. :]
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