Sensei Michael

The Oriental people (by Oriental I refer to the narrower definition – people of Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese ethnicity) tend to be more “title-conscious” than westerners. We live in highly regulated and patriachal societies, and respect is something very important to us. This “respect” also tends to be reflected in the “titles” and positions occupied in society. When my Chinese acquaintances (those I do not know well) speak to me, for example, they always refer to me as 曾老师 (“Chan-Teacher”) or 曾总 ("Chan-General Manager"). It is a mark for respect for me as an educator and someone to learn from, or a senior company staff. Those who know me well calls me…Michael. Only laoda would call me by my Chinese name…and it sounds really weird. Not even my parents use my Chinese name! I was chatting with Dr Pan once (on my favourite topic, of course – aspects of business in Shanghai…we also chatted on the viability of an English-medium boarding school here) when I asked her a...

A teacher has again come under media scrutiny because of her abuse of a child. Police arrest childcare teacher suspected of child abuse The video has gone viral and the public could see how the teacher man-handled the child, eventually causing the child to suffer a fracture. The story from the school to the parents was that the child had suffered a fall. The parents demanded to see the CCTV and were horrified to see the images (the mother was clearly hysterical at the suffering her child went through). I am a teacher and also believe that no child should be subject to what the child was subjected to. It is clearly a breach of the duty of care we have as educators, not to harm our charges. I was a school manager and believe that management should not lie to their parents regarding what had actually happened. It is clearly a breach of the duty of care we have as managers, to assure our customers that their child is safe in our hands. Now that I have put all my beliefs ahead, I wish that ...