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One of my fellow teachers, Chris, created this with an app during his class.
The seniors are bit livelier in my class, but not much. |
I’ve been talking at length about weekend
trips out of Hangzhou, but what did I actually do when I stayed put? As far as
work is concerned, the fall and early winter are busy in my office, which I
share with four Chinese counselors. Yes, there are four Chinese and one foreign
college counselor (that’s me!) at the international department of our school—a
department which has 50-60 students in each graduating class.
If you are surprised, that makes two of us.
My high school back in Ohio was on the small side—my graduating class had 175
students or so—and we had one college counselor, Mr. Stahlman. I remember
meeting with him to discuss universities and applications one afternoon for no
more than 20 minutes. Although I cannot recall it, we probably had a follow up
meeting later my senior year, and he was always available if I wanted to email
him, but most students barely got to know Mr. Stahlman. That’s not his fault;
it would have been physically impossible for him to have regular meetings or
contact with everyone.
Here in China, however, counselors and
outside agencies hold students’ hands throughout the application process, some
going so far as to select the universities to apply to and writing application
essays. Fortunately our school counselors don’t plagiarize for students, but
this counseling business is just that, a business. Students can sign up for
extra help with our counselors, for a hefty fee of course. If they (or their
parents) feel that our work is inadequate they’ll go to a third party instead.
My first year on the job less than 15
students signed up for the in-house school counseling services, opting instead
for those dubious agencies. This year 2/3rds of the graduating class came to us
for extra help. That steep increase was a promising sign that students and
parents saw the value in our work, but on the flipside it also meant more kids
to help and essays to edit.
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| I share my office with four Chinese counselors |
My workload has never been insurmountable,
and it’s often light, so in a way I actually looked forward to the additional
tasks. Before Shawn arrived to take the Speech and Debate Class off my hands, I
taught an average of two classes a day along with my college counseling duties
(I had four classes each of College Writing and Speech and Debate, plus a
weekly English Corner which I organized). Occasionally I spoke to students
about universities and answered questions regarding school life, majors, and
classes, but the vast majority of the job consists of editing essays.
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| View from the 5th floor window next to my office |
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| A lot of days look like this though; not many blue skies! |
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| Shawn, top left, finally showed up in November |
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| My desk, where most of the work takes place |
Our students’ English levels vary
considerably, but even the good ones often need a lot of work on their
application essays. In China, starting as early as elementary school, academic
achievement is defined almost exclusively by test results, and putting your
inner thoughts down on paper for a university application is an alien concept.
Students also seem to think that using big words and complicated analogies
makes them sound intelligent and impresses admissions officers. I problem is
that many lack the required grammar and stylistic fluency to pull it off, and
the essays sacrifice clarity for wordiness or complexity.
So to make a long story short, most of the
counseling work is sending essays back and forth between the students, and the
Chinese counselors, and I until we have an acceptable product. This might mean
a few quick touch-ups, or it could involve several complete rewrites. At the
beginning of the fall essays trickled to my email inbox, and unsurprisingly
flooded in just before the deadlines. Thankfully those are spaced out, with
early applications first, then the UC (California) system due at the end of
November, and regular applications deadlines starting in December.
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| Our senior 3 (grade 12) students |
Aside from an occasional deadline-induced
busy week, most of the fall was relatively calm, and I was typically out of the
office not long after 4 pm. On weekday evenings I tried to hit the gym 2-3
times a week, although I do less physical activity here than back home.
Laziness and a fear of pollution combined to stop me from running much outside.
Since I loathe the teadmill, I was left with few aerobic options. I did play
tennis several times with Derrick, a Chinese teacher, and mess around on the
school basketball courts, both of which I hope to do more of this spring.
Speaking of the future, this past fall I
was like our seniors—I was applying to universities. Next year I plan to attend
school full-time for my masters, to study International Relations or a related
field. When I was in high school I only applied to one school (Ohio State), but
this time around I wasn’t so sure of myself. My GRE score and undergraduate
grades were good, but my work experience has been uneven and not exactly
career-relevant. I hoped that my international experience would boost my
profile and make me competitive in a field where I’d likely end up working
abroad.
Over the summer I’d crystalized my list of
schools, which topped out at 8. Two were in Europe, one in Asia, and the rest
back home in the US of A. I gave myself a time cushion because I knew grad
school apps, with customized applications and school-specific essays, would be
a prolonged process. I needed that extra time to get everything in by late
December—some regular decision deadlines were in January or February, but I had
a big upcoming trip (more on that later).
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| Robbie, right, with Tina, the school dance teacher. |
So between teaching a few classes, students’
essays, and my own applications, I had enough on my plate. Weekends in Hangzhou
were the same old deal—Vineyard for comfort food, Club 9 for drinks and pool—less
the guys from last year. It was less fun without Ralph around, but I spent a
lot of time with Robbie, and was over at Joanna’s apartment a couple nights a
week, which was a nice change of pace. I
will keep some of the personal details out of this, in part because I don’t
need to broadcast everything on the Internet, and also because this post is
long enough already. More to come soon!
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| In the fall I went with Robbie to several football games. Hangzhou Greentown doesn't have much of a following! |
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| We also played snooker occasionally on weekdays at a local pool hall. |
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