What is up with the boys?

 

As I stand at the front of the class, talking about Edgar Allen Poe and his depiction of a pandemic in “Masque of the Red Death,” there is a striking pattern.   My female Chinese students sit in the front of the room.  They have their notebooks open and ready.  They have printed out the story that we are reading.   All of them have handed in their assignments; some hand it in 5 to 7 days before it is due.   The class, a course in American Literature, is specifically designated for English majors, and most of the English majors at Jiao Da are women.

In contrast, the men sit at the back.  They have their phones open, no notebook, no class text.  Half handed in very few of the assignment.  Those that did are significantly poorer in their language skills than the women.   I had a few strikingly strong male students – particularly in my writing class (Shawn, Jasper, Rex, Williams, Mark), but many were just scraping by.  When they handed work in, it wasn’t just weak, it was completely off.

So, what is up with the boys?

In America, there is a similar trend:  more women are enrolling in Universities than men, and women, in general, are doing better.  An article in the Atlantic, a few years ago, speculates:  “The problem has its origins as early as primary school, only to be fueled later on by economic forces that discourage men from believing a degree is worth the time and money.”

  

This is not the problem with male Chinese students.   All see the value of attending University.  Most have spent their lives preparing for the big exam (the Gaokao), which not only determines their placement in the University, but also determines their major—and their career.

It is not that they don’t see value in an education.   It is more that they don’t really like the major in which they have been placed.  Jiao Da, my university, is a leader in Science and Technology.  It is one of the C9 schools—like Cal Poly or MIT.  Students come to the school for the famous name.  Male or female, they all want a diploma with Xi’an Jiaotong University at the top.  But, they (especially the men) want a degree in science.  A major in Art or English from MIT is not at all like a major in Chemical Engineering or Computer Science from MIT!

Unfortunately, for the male students in my class, when the acceptance letter comes, it says that “you have been accepted to Jiao Da in the English department.”  This is a blow to the boy who was hoping to be a Chemical Engineer from Jiao Da, but only got an acceptance as an English major.  A Jiao Da diploma from the Chemical Engineering department will open company doors for you.   An English major will lead to the relatively low paying job of a translator, teacher, or tour guide.

This is strikingly different from the situation that the women in my class face.  In high school, more Chinese girls make plans to major in English. They plan on teaching, working in the travel industry, or working in foreign language translation.   They put their energy into studying English language early in their primary years.  The boys who had plans to major in Science and Technology however haven’t put any of the needed work in learning English during primary and secondary school.   Thus, when that acceptance letter comes, it is a major dilemma:  Do you accept the school for the name, even though your major will be far from anything you’re interested in? Or do you accept a lower ranking school to major in what you actually want to do?  In the words of Justin, one of my “back-of-the-room” American Lit boys:

“Thank you, Wendy  Laoshi, I also enjoyed your class very much.  Although my English can not work very well like other girls because I touched English too late, I tried my best to do all of your assignments with my limited ability. No matter what happens in future, I will remember your colorful class and how nice you are.  I also hope America can lose off from the crisis of COVID-19,  And keep good health, and have a nice future.”

Another student was even clearer articulating his needs.    My students were asked to write a persuasive essay about what one thing should be improved at the University.  Some wanted a better cafeteria.  Others a more spacious dorm.  Some asked for a better library.  However, my weakest male student decided that what was necessary was subtitles for his English language classes.

That, in a nutshell, is the struggle facing my boys!

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One of the assignments that I offered my writing students was the option to compare science to the humanities.  More men chose this topic than women.  Most argued that the topics, although appearing different, have more similarities than differences.

Lance points out the similarities in logic:

To start with, logic is an important similarity in both humanities and science track. It’s a kind of stereotype that only science have something to do with logic and humanities have no logical structure at all. While the fact is, humanities, like art, literature, history, politics, great logic sense and skills are needed to learn them well. People are studying humanities, like the opinions, theories, rules, principles, under which it is logic that they’re focusing. [Sorry!  His sentence is a bit confusing here!] Shakespeare’s sonnets get excellent logical structure as well as rhyme, not less but even more than mathematical proofs. So do plenty of poems, history events, paintings and music.

(Notice, all of his examples argue that there is logic to humanities.  However, there isn’t any justification for logic in science.  Science is obviously logical! And hey look, so is English!  he seems to suggest. )

Jack too observes similarities. He notices that while both have different frameworks, they use similar vocabulary:

“For instance, we often mention quantitative changes in philosophy. What we call “the quantitative change” is that things that accumulate to some degree will change greatly into another form. Meanwhile, this principle is also applicable in physical field. When the temperature of the water is gradually dropping to zero degree, water changes from liquid to solid ice, which proves that there are similar regularities in both philosophy and physics.”

Again, the writing is very obscure.    I think what he is trying to say is:  just as ideas in philosophy can quantitatively change, so can physical things.  Kant turns into Nietzsche; water turns into ice.  He then cuts to the chase to ask the question: Which is more important: science or the humanities?

“…  the relationship between [the two subject] is so close that it’s not necessary to figure out which one is more important than another. Admittedly, the science track has a more obvious impact on society but it doesn’t mean that humanities are useless. For example, to make real progress in science and technology, we will need scientists not only with sufficient knowledge, but also with passion for his endeavor and a will to benefit mankind. If the scientist has many evil thoughts or wants to take revenge on the world, his knowledge will become a sharp knife for a killer and the world will face devastating disasters. In short, we do not develop science and technology for the development itself, we do it for the well-being of humanity as a whole.

I love this passage.  It is a beautiful justification for the humanities.  Science can be a sharp knife, but with the ethics offered by humanists, that knife becomes an artist’s sculpting tool or painter’s trowel.  At the same time, I don’t know about you, but that line—“Admittedly, the science track has a more obvious impact on society but it doesn’t mean that humanities are useless”—is wistful. Maybe I’m reading between the lines, but it feels as though he is suggesting that science is finally more obviously useful… although the humanities aren’t useless!  

He ends:

In conclusion, while the science track emerges as a trend of our times, there is no justification to diminish the importance of humanities. Without history, we may replicate the mistakes made by those prior to us; without literature, we may find our life dull and meaningless; without art, we may be constrained in our own mind and feel helpless. In a word, science track produces what we need while humanities build what we are. We can never make real progress in science and technology if we ignore the significance of humanities. Science is like a tree and humanities are like the ground. If a tree is to grow tall and luxuriant, the ground must be fertile. Humanities are equal to science track.

His statement—science produces what we need, humanities build what we are-- is excellent.  It offers justification for his major.  Perhaps this deeper understanding of the relationship between the two fields of study  is why he is so much stronger than his colleagues.

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  While my second-year male students made a strong attempt at embracing their major, my third-year students weren’t as strong or as willing.  Their final assignment demonstrates their weaknesses.  It also uncovered one of the more concerning trend

The final assignment in my American Literature class was:

So, the instructions are:  

1.  Write a rant about what makes you angry. 
2. Turn it into a poem

Most of my students wrote about the issues suggested – ecology, climate change, sexism, global conflicts.    Several of my male students however decided to not hand this final assignment in.  Of those who did, only two  wrote on a par with their female colleagues.  Tiger was not one of these students.  He was was one of the weakest students in the class.  He cut quickly to the chase.   His rant was:

About war, I was angry with it!

It likes a big boom in a peaceful city.

Nobody likes it! It doesn’t make anyone comfortable. The color of it is black that represents a kind of evil. It will catch us to the worst place where doesn’t have sun and happy. It only has terrible and horrible things in those the field of war.

(If you’ve been reading these blogs regularly, you’ve seen the work that my female students have done.  I think that you would agree that his work is significantly weaker!)

Here is his poem:

 Poem

We love the world

We love this life with nice people in this world.

We only love the man who love this world.

We love famous building in this beautiful world.

We love amazing words in various culture.

We love everything that we create hardly

We love peace with a smile

Other male students were more fluent.  However, their subject matter was disturbing.  Jon was upfront about his nationalistic and racist beliefs: 

RANT:

To be honest, I am typically a nationalist, sometimes even a racist. I know clearly that it is not politically correct. But I also know, the judgement is made by the western countries, especially the USA. However, now that I am a nationalist, why should I care about the foreigners’ thoughts?

China develops so quickly that Chinese are willing to love her much more while some foreign governments are not willing to see her so powerful. So nowadays lots of countries stands against us. When there are conflicts between two countries, there are nationalists.

We nationalists hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created in different countries with different nationalities, that they are endowed by their consciences with certain irrevocable responsibilities, that among these are behaving themselves, taking good care of their families and constructing their motherlands.

So, we are just doing our own things to construct our motherland and dreaming about a better life in the future when some countries use despicable means to stop our country getting better and even want to destroy what we have achieved yet, without any reason!

If there is only political conflict, I will not become a racist. I know that when the foreign politicians plan to destroy our country, they are actually taking their responsibilities to construct their own countries. Essentially, we are all nationalists, in different ways. I would be hostile to them but never disdain them. Maybe one day, I will be the guy to destroy their country if necessary.

Here is his poem:

I should have a cozy family

I should have a cozy family,

if I have the ability to protect it.

Many years ago,

a lot of my neighbors came.

I should have a cozy family,

if one of my sons still be here.

He now just lives near us,

and regards his neighbors as his friend.

I should have a cozy family,

now I have one indeed.

I have earned so much,

and built a big, beautiful house.

I should have a cozy family,

and then I would invite some friends to visit it.

I share my way to succeed,

believing that they could also succeed one day.

I should have a cozy family,

if I had never invited anyone here.

I have treated them so well,

with a heavy price.

I should have a cozy family,

I could have a cozy family.

I will have a cozy family.

As I read his rant and accompanying poem, I see similarities between his thoughts about his country and some of the rhetoric coming out of our  current leadership. In his rant, he even co-opts the Declaration of Independence into a new declaration for China:  “We nationalists hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created in different countries with different nationalities, that they are endowed by their consciences with certain irrevocable responsibilities...”      I’m delighted that he can conjugate his verbs (I should…  I could…. I will…), but wish that his vision for a “cozy family” didn’t  include being “the guy to destroy their country if necessary”  !!  I guess I finally find it sad that a foreign-language learner is wary of globalism and a world with diminishing boundaries. 

In the end, I guess that it is hard to unpack the gender-dynamics of my Chinese classes.  Why are the men so much weaker than their female counterparts?   Perhaps, here, it is systemic – men placed in majors that they aren’t interested in.  Perhaps, here, it is political – men who have “Pro-China” beliefs are majoring in a language that asks them to break down borders.  In their classes, they are asked to write about other cultures when their interests are more provincial and nationally based.   As I sit here in China and helplessly read the news from home about the US’s growing nationalism, I wonder if there are any easy answers to some of these big questions for either of our countries.