The faces of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Hungary, Italy, Greece, China, Persia, Poland, Denmark, and countries in Africa and Eastern Europe look back at me from their places at the tables in my classroom. I have arranged the tables in a circle because this is a college class in Listening. In this class we listen to body language and facial expressions as much as sounds. At the top of each class someone reads us a story or a poem. It’s how we come together each week.
Three out of four of the races are represented, absent only are indigenous people from anywhere in the world. The class is dominated by introverts, although the extroverts reign. In some cases, the students were taught to be introverted by the dictates of their cultures, particularly in a classroom. Most pop in and out of American and their native culture and language daily.
During the first couple of sessions we talk about how people in different countries listen. In China people who speak loudly do not get respect. Also, it is not polite to make eye contact, especially when speaking with an elder. In Japan, it is not polite to smile. An exception is made for people who work at McDonald’s.
Across mainland China, through Arabia, and up through Eastern Europe to Norway, anyone there who speaks simply for the sake of talking is frowned upon. The same is true in Sweden. In that part of the world, the culture dictates that one speak only when one has something to say. Silence is highly regarded. As a result, one could say people in that part of the world stare with their ears more than, say, Americans, who statistics show spend much more time talking than listening.
Also, my students explain (and the literature concurs), in China and Japan and Taiwan, students do not challenge the teacher in class. That is considered disrespectful, because the teacher might lose face. To make a person lose face in those cultures is dishonorable and therefore shameful.
Not here in the U.S., though I would like to see my students follow suit. It would serve them well when and if they travel outside of the U.S., and even here in the workplace. Cultivating their intercultural listening skills for the workplace seems a responsible avenue for education as the world becomes smaller and globalizes.
And so I ask, how can I reach my students? They come from everywhere. How can I meet the expectations they bring to the classroom from their cultures without threatening the way they are taught at home? What place do I occupy in their cultures? How do I take them where they are and open their minds?
These questions are important to me because if I do nothing else as a teacher I want to open minds. I suppose it’s my way of teaching peace, of teaching tolerance.
If you search the Internet to discover the role of the teacher, a caveat is required: a location. For instance, keyword, “the role of the teacher in Greece,” or “the role of the teacher in Australia,” or “the role of the teacher in Canada,” and an article will pop up in each category. Expand the search to religion and more options present themselves. For instance, “the role of the teacher in Zen,” “the role of the teacher in Sufism,” and “the role of the teacher in Islam.”
Without the limiter, Internet entries describing the role of the teacher have no end. It’s nearly the same for bibliographic databases. The teacher as counselor. The teacher as doctor. The teacher as conveyor of morals. Books are out there: The teacher’s role in diagnosis. Society and the teacher’s role. The teacher’s role in developing interaction and reflection.
From a lifestyle and Asian cultural perspective, in Buddhism the role of the teacher is to listen. The Venerable Ayya Khema says the teacher is revered as the “show-er of the way."
From another author, the Venerable Dainin Katagiri, I learn the purpose of the Buddha Way is to learn the self. To learn the self means to study the problem of life and death. And so I reason that as a teacher, according to Buddha Way, my role is to guide the student in the way that instinct is a guide.
Just as there are differences in styles of listening from country to country and culture to culture, the teacher’s role is interpreted based on the precepts and values established by each society.
Some of those are:
To be continued…
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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