So I went back to work at EMC Monday and found a white guy sitting at the desk next to mine. Turns out the company has finally hired a real English teacher, as opposed to an underage drunk college student. Although one may perceive this as added competition, the truth is that Dan's addition to the office really eases the burden off of me. He's a BU grad who has been teaching English in China for 5 years at every age level from pre-school to grad school. So yeah 百人's got some experience with China. Conveniently, my job description doesn't change much - I'm still doing all of my 1 on 1 talks and giving presentations twice a week. Dan will help out with those presentations and setup a course on his own.
Speaking of presentations, I've had two good ones this week. On Tuesday, after an email of the Chinese translation of Steve Job's 2005 Stanford commencement address circulated the office, I decided to go over the speech as the presentation. In addition to improving my coworkers listening comprehension and understanding some colloquial expressions, the speech proved to be an inspiration to everyone. I almost felt guilty playing it, because Jobs strongly encourages the graduates to "never settle," to find what they love. If EMC sees a mass migration of many of its employees who saw my presentation, I hope I don't get sued. Also, I love that speech...I mean I haven't heard anyone say they hate it, there's a reason why its so watched on youtube.
Today's presentation was about American education system, particularly colleges which I love talking about. The differences between universities and university life in China and the United States are massive and in abundance. I don't have a comprehensive understanding of college in China but here are some significant changes I've noticed:
1. The best universities in China are all public. Government funding does everything in China
2. Early in a high schooler's career, they choose either a liberal arts or a science track. And that's that. No more literature classes for 16 year old physics students.
3. Each high schooler then takes a standardized test corresponding to their track. Its an intensive 3 day event, and the results directly influence the type of school that people can apply to. If you ace the test, you get to apply to "top tier" schools which are clearly defined in China. In my presentation today I wish I could have emphasized the lack of this aspect in the American education system.
4. When you pick a major, that's basically all you study.
5. The fall semester runs from September - February ending before the Chinese new year. The spring semester runs from March to July and kids are finishing up now.
6. College kids don't party like we do. It really is a harder working environment. That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of kids my age out at the bars, but its a very different mentality from the American "no parents no rules" one.
7. No serious college sports and scholarships, although there are varsity teams that compete against other schools.
8. Tuition costs as much as 10,000...yuan a year. Wow.
9. All the good schools are in cities.
I enlisted the other intern here, Brandon from MIT, to explain life at his school. I think we gave a nice balanced look, coming from very different academic schools. I was a little stunned to hear that he was a 4 time North Carolina state track champ and ran a 4:20 mile in high school. He also got an 800 in the Math section of the SAT. Uh, I um, I got an A+ in Junior year calculus... I also fit a coke can between my abs. I'm going to curl up in a corner of inadequacy now.
Oh and my iPod just broke. What the fuck. My iPod is such an integral part of my life now, I've had days where it was with me for upwards of 16 hours (I typically sleep with it). My human body is probably at least 3% iPod.
And 5% Facebook.
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