回复: 中美教育巨大差别：和美国教授探讨为何中国人课堂发炎不积极。
关于他问了class monitor是作何用的，俺给予了解释。其实只是翻译的不恰当，这边也有班长，只不过人家叫 class representative, or class rep in short
Stephen--
Being quiet in public, especially in the classroom and at a meeting, in China, is more of a national psychological issue than a political issue in terms of freedom of speech. People here are afraid to make mistakes about what they have to say, and even more afraid to say something carelessly that might offend someone in presence.
When I was in middle school, it was already quite OKAY to criticize Mao or Deng Xiaoping in class. Fortunately, my teacher encouraged me to do so and also spoke highly of me for being audacious.
Class monitor is a bad Chinglish translation. It should be translated as Class Representative, or in short, Class Rep, as what we call in Canada. Class Rep's job is the same as Class Monitor, collecting assignments, handing out test paper, conveying instructors' messages, etc.
Class Monitor is not to "monitor" the remark or behavior of any students.
Kids in North America are very lucky. Basically they have nothing to worry about; they can easily get student loans, and can work at 7/11 or Starbucks to pay tuition or even travel overseas. I love seeing them coming to school with a skateboard under their arm. They are in general, in comparison, not vain, not snobby, not like Chinese especially Cantonese from Hong Kong. I'm glad that Sarah and Jonah were not brought up in China or by their biological mother.
I had this classmate, Nate, from Kansas City. I always wonder what kind of family education he had, coz he had no shortcomings at all. He was punctual, polite, very helpful, and he was neutral when they saw other students having friction. He had never been mean to anyone, had never said a bad word, and had never spoke ill of anyone behind his or her back. He could wear two or three jackets, two pairs of shoes all year around. I asked him, "How come you don't have any human stains?" He smelled his underarm and asked me, "Do you mean I'm not stinky?" There are quite many young people like him in North America.
One thing I've noticed is that the students there are more moral than students in China. For example, in China we love nicknaming people we don't like and everyone follows by using the nickname. In Canada, me and a Jewish girl in my class nicknamed a bitch we all disliked as "stinky," but no one else followed. Instead, they still preferred to call her by her name Jaime.
Also, I've noticed that young people in North America like to make funny faces when they have a picture taken, but Chinese people will work hard to strike a perfect pose. That's a BIG difference.
