Like “Stand and Deliver” (Except Not)

By Ernie | Friday, April 18, 2008 | View Comments

I meant to blog about this L.A. Times story on Zhao yan feng, a University Instructor from mainland China selected by the college board and the Chinese language council to teach Chinese to high school students. In South Central Los Angeles.

Have you ever watched a horror movie, where the best friend of the heroine is walking through a darkened parking lot by herself? And you scream “NO, DON’T GO THROUGH THE PARKING LOT” but you know she can’t hear you, because she’s going to get slaughtered anyway?

Yeah. That’s kind of how I feel about this.

Truth is, I didn’t go to school in South Central L.A. but I DID take a Chinese language class in high school, taught by a guy in a very similar situation. And we treated him like shit. Except to our teacher, most of us were Asian – taking the class because we thought it would be an easy “A.” It was, but we still ended up playing cards, gossiping and mouthing off in the back of the class anyway. I’m sure he thought we were the good kids gone bad, and god help us if he ever had a kid, because I’m sure he would have put him in a private Chinese school.

It almost feels like an afterthought that of COURSE the educational systems between the United States and China would be completely different, but I’ve seen and heard the stories before; eager teachers hoping to make a difference in society, yet slowly becoming disenfranchised and some of them dropping out in the middle of the year completely. The article tries to end on a bittersweet note, focusing on students that took him seriously, but I can’t help but feel like it’d be a worthless cause, only because I’ve lived it.

What next?

View Comments to “Like “Stand and Deliver” (Except Not)”

John wrote:

Why the hell would Zhao Yan Feng be sent to South Central Los Angeles. That is crazy. An American teaching in that environment would have problems, let alone a foreigner! I feel really sorry for this guy – he got screwed.

Posted on 18-Apr-08 at 3:41 pm | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:

That was a really difficult article to read. My heart breaks for Zhao. Props to him, though, for taking it all with such grace.

Posted on 18-Apr-08 at 6:53 pm | Permalink
Lana wrote:

He didn’t totally get screwed. People in a totally different culture (and race) are learning his language. Some students are interested and learning. Zhao himself is learning to adapt and learn himself. Not a total bust. If you can get just one to learn, I’d say, it’s a success…and he certainly has more than one student learning Chinese. It’s gonna take time for the culture shock on both sides to wear off. The man and his class are doing well.

Don’t think it’s quite…I don’t know…for him to say that poverty isn’t a deterrent to learning. All Chinese don’t go to Harvard or are wildly successful. For poverty to not be an issue with that is a little naive.

Also, people will kill you for nothing. Depends on what nutjob your happen to be robbed with at the time. Heck, Lee Dong Gun’s brother got stabbed to death for what…staring?

Posted on 19-Apr-08 at 8:44 am | Permalink
This teacher has balls - Smatterist wrote:

[...] we’re talking about teachers, 8asians.com wrote about a recent LA Times article on one Zhao Yan Feng. Zhao’s journey to America began [...]

Posted on 05-May-08 at 1:58 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » Not Enough Foreigners Learning Chinese, say Officials wrote:

[...] Cultural differences greatly enhance the problem; because there is still a dearth of Chinese teachers in America, many American schools and organizations have had to import teachers and professors from China. My old high school’s Chinese program had a visiting teacher from China who had no experience teaching Chinese at all; he taught English in his native country. Just because you speak the language doesn’t mean you can teach it. [...]

Posted on 18-Mar-09 at 3:23 pm | Permalink

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