My autobiography explored some memorable and defining moments during my early years. In this paper, I critically reflect on the experiences and underlying assumptions of the autobiography based on the concepts of ethical relationality, indigenization, and global politics. Consequently, I seek to explain what the experiences mean to me and also to challenge the notion that they are typical early life experiences. As noted in the autobiography, the small restaurant beside the primary school was one of the key points of reflection at a young age. Considering that I could not afford the prices, I often felt incapacitated in my quest to experience the local delicacies. The situation was worsened by the fact that my financial challenges were a wider problem for my family.
“The price of their food was expensive for me at that time, because my family had some trouble with the economy. A bowl of noodles with nothing inside will take about 7 yuan, for me it’s already a large number. So, every time when I cross that corner, I would stand there for a long time, and then leave”. (autobiography).
It was not just me who could not afford it, my family could not afford to eat at the restaurant. While this was a common experience for many kids in the school, I now realize that it was not the norm for all pupils in the country. Some came from wealthy families and could afford not just the noodles but also a car ride to school every day. Thus, my difficulty was an example of a larger social problem of poverty that went beyond me as an individual and affected many people in the community. Many people were poor because they did not have access to the financial resources required for purchasing goods and services. Despite the financial difficulties, I also experienced great kindness. The restaurant lady taught me that there were alternative forms of economic transactions that did not involve the use of money.
“One day, the lady suddenly asked me to get in. I was puzzled and went in with her. She asked me to sit down in a corner, and went back to the kitchen. No more than 10 minutes, she went back and brought me a bowl of noodles. I was shocked at that moment. Maybe she saw that I didn’t move, she then told me that this noodle needs a price: talk with her after I finished the noodles”. (autobiography).
Her approach made me understand that part of the existence of poverty was because those who held resources did not want to empower those who were lacking. She created an alternative transactional model, where I would give her the communication and company she needed, while I would get the noodles. Moreover, she was a caring teacher who exemplified the tenets of ethical relationality and indigenization. “She was always smiling warmly. She taught me a lot, not only basic techniques like how to wash plates and who to cook dishes, but also how to become a better person” (autobiography). The lady showcased key characteristics of caring by involving herself in taking care of my needs, committing herself to me, and shifting her attention from herself to me (Owens & Ennis, 2005). Besides being a friend, she became a home science and life teacher. Her education on character development combined communal norms with legal aspects. She was able to train me by adapting world knowledge to our social background. Her approach mirrored indigenous approaches to teaching that are culturally responsive in terms of curriculum and pedagogy (Allan et al., 2018). Currently, I perceive that such indigenous approaches to teaching are mostly lacking in many educational settings. My second experience involved teaching children how to sing.
“I learned how to teach children to sing and how to lead a team as a small leader. Once, due to my negligence, the score of our team could not be found. At this time, I was very depressed and even wanted to launch the chorus”. (autobiography).
Through this experience, I have learned that a teacher cannot be perfect in their work. The journey to excellence in teaching is a lifelong process with many pitfalls and new learning opportunities. My teacher helped me to learn that lesson through her empathetical support. “However, she comforted me that no one can do their best for the first time. Just try hard next time. As long as you don’t give up easily, you will become better” (autobiography). Through her response after my failure, she demonstrated a good example of ethical relationality. Besides, I also understood how to learn by observing others.
“I will carefully observe how the big brothers and sisters in the team warm-up, cooperate, and practice with the team. Step by step, when those big brothers and sisters retired, I grew up as the deputy head of our choir. Slowly, I accumulated various experiences, from which I learned that giving the best care to a student is not only an encouragement when she is depressed, but also teaching her how to slowly learn how to deal with the thing that makes her depressed so that she is no longer afraid of it”. (autobiography).
From this example, I understand that teaching has to be a holistic process that encompasses all aspects of life and curriculum. However, not all teachers embrace this concept and a significant number tend to focus on delivering academic content at the only substance of the educational process. My experience with the headteacher shows that she did not have proper comprehension and appreciation of the emotional and social needs of the pupils in the school.
“So I asked my headteacher, the only thing she said is, “shouldn’t you find your reason for such a thing?” This sentence pierced my heart like a sharp thorn” (autobiography). Retrospectively, I believe that her perspective and response had the influence of global politics in education. One of the effects of global politics is the interpretation of education as a commodity and the student as the consumer (Gil, 2013). This approach reduces education from being a holistic experience to a commercial product. Consequently, the teacher is expected to refrain from providing social support to pupils and instead focus on fulfilling curriculum demands. The requirements for teachers to strictly adhere to the academic curriculum without building healthy relationships with students have become the standard in most developed nations. Teachers have little freedom to nurture students beyond what is permitted through national educational policies. This realization means students in the current decade are learning less of the indigenous aspects of their nations than in previous times.
As evidenced in my story, the inability of the headteacher to protect me from bullying was also a reflection of deregulation. Deregulation is a consequence of the mercantilization of education, which results in the removal of various protections from those in need (Gil, 2013). Hence, the vulnerable are highly disadvantaged in the education system and are expected to individually figure out the weaknesses that make them susceptible. After examining my experiences, I now understand that while I held the assumption that teachers were holistic educators, the reality was that global influences on the education system were reducing them to sellers of commercial product. The influences are mainly from international bodies that shape the relationships between global processes and educational policies.
References
Allan, B., Harrison, S., Biin, D., Simcoe, J., Smith, D., Chenoweth, J., & Stein, J. (2018). Pulling together: A guide for indigenization of post-secondary institutions.
Gil, L. V. (2013). Global politics and education systems: Towards education markets? Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 2(2), 95-101. doi:10.7821/naer.2.2.95-101
Owens, L. M., & Ennis, C. D. (2005). The ethic of care in teaching: An overview of supportive literature. Quest, 57(4), 392-425. doi:10.1080/00336297.2005.10491864