collective rhythm

One of the most beautiful and curious parts of my job is that I get to have daily conversations with students where we exchange information about our backgrounds, our countries, and our cultures. While I try to convince myself that I'm the teacher in the classroom, the students have no idea that they are actually teaching me every moment.

I had a student say something very articulate today.

In a class about the meaning of different gestures around the world, I had the students make sentences about giving advice to foreigners who come to China, and the manners they should be aware of. One student in my class said, "foreigners should remember that they need to respond to the collective rhythm of the group. They can't make decisions based on themselves, but for the good of the group."

Now, while my immediate reaction is, "Well, that's communism for you," I also thought about what a unique perspective this actually is. The collective rhythm. While at times I find myself fighting against a kind of collectivism in class, encouraging students to be different or to take responsibility for themselves, I'm realizing there are certain aspects of students thinking that I can learn from. So, I allow moments like these in class to teach me.

In North America, its so easy for us to be individuals. We are who we are - we strive to be unique and self-reliant. While I think being unique is an important value, I also think that we have become, at times, so self-reliant that we start to live too much for ourselves. What this student said just made me change my perspective again.

Its refreshing to be taught something if we allow ourselves to listen.