I was unable to find anyone in a different country to talk to for these next 8 weeks. My sister knew someone who taught in China for 2 years that said he would be willing to help me out. His name is Kyle he taught kindergarten in China for 2 years. He now is living back in the United States but knows enough to help me out this assignment.
This week I asked him about poverty in China. In Beijing there is a huge difference from rich and poor. Here in the United States they are normally located in different locations. "The school I worked at was a private school but just on the other side of the fence were slums"(Carmean,2014). Every morning he went and bought bottled coffee from a little shanty store. They was a mother, father and son that owned the store. They also lived in the store. There was only one bed and only a curtain separated the bed from the store. They had no running water. Where he lived there were many of these stores."There was a public restroom and shower that these people used and when you walk by them in the summer the stench is something that can't be described. I did have the misfortune of going inside one before. No stalls and holes in the ground, which is common but these were the crudest most vile receptacles I've ever laid eyes on. One could literally rub elbows with the person next to him"(Carmean, 2014).
Since he worked at a private school he did not teach any children that were in poverty but the bar district would be filled with them. The children would come up to you and sell flowers or just beg. It was very sad from him to see this but these children were trained to do this. The adults would also beg but was always accompanied by a child. "A big difference is that they don't beg like American beggars beg. They are quiet, never aggressive. As for the poor people, they are always happy"(Carmean, 2014).
They were always happy even though they did not have much. He loved going to their restaurants because they had the best food and they were always very nice to their customers.
It is amazing how poverty is so different in other countries. I am glad to hear that they are so happy in China. For me it opened up my eyes that you may not have anything but you can always be happy.
Very interesting information. Whenever I think about education in China, I think of hard core disciplined expectations. Even the families that are from China who attend our schools here seem to have extremely high expectations for their children's education. They appear to push their children to the max and in my opinion almost too much.
ReplyDeleteI am not overly surprised that the children living in poverty were happy. As the saying goes, "Money does not buy happiness." Happiness comes from having a loving home with adults that are there for the child. According to an article in the Early Childhood Education Journal (2013) entitled “Family to School Strategies for Responding to the Needs of Children Experiencing Chronic Stress” by Fields, E.M., Knopf, H., Swick,K, J, & Williams, R.. Children living in a stressful setting, such as what might occur when living in poverty, need three things to be happy. These are safety, attachment, and consistency. Those children must have all of these.
It is very interesting information, and China has represented the high percentage of the population. But I never imagine that poverty people in china live in this poorest situation, what it is amazing they are happy even they are missing the basic need of life education, adequate home, nutrition. But I think their happiness is coming from the warm relationship between them. Which is the important to their early childhood development, they feel secure because they do care of each other’s.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post it was very interesting. I was unable to find someone to talk to as well at first. I am glad you were able to find someone to help you with this project. Your post was very informative and I learned a lot about the poverty in china
ReplyDelete