A piece of reflection of the project "Know Thyself"

I watched Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower on the Saturday after “Know Thyself” project. One of the students in the project said to me that she learned a lot about China and Hong Kong after watching it. I said to her that the content is probably one-sided, which I believe she is intelligent enough to know. However, I still had to say it out: to remind myself. 

I hold myself tightly while watching it, but tears still came out without any notice. It’s a documentary about democracy vs. one-party government,  pre-screening of candidates voting vs. true voting, young vs. old, history vs. present, freedom vs. brainwashing, borders vs. free competition, and the identities (who we are?)… Instagram was blocked in mainland China by the “Great Firewall of China” since the start of the Umbrella Movement initiated by Joshua Wong in Hong Kong in 2014. That’s exactly the time when I began to visit the information outside of the Firewall. Before that breaking point, I worked in a company which had its own VPN to access the outside world but I had no intention to know what was happening there. People need certain strong and special influential factors and opportunities to break their normal world. Otherwise, why bother??? We are safe and cozy in our own bubbles. :)

After living abroad, I realized that it can be extremely beautiful to flee away from the previous safe and cozy bubble. It first makes you suffer from cognitive dissonance but it also makes you understand “who you are” from a brand new perspective. That’s the premier reason why I started this one week project “Know Thyself” with high school students here. It’s so easy for me to notice the differences by simply living in another country. However, how to bring the differences to the students, who live in such a homogeneous town in Northern Finland? Are they willing and ready to recognize, embrace and reflect on the differences? It’s one week of trial to my assumptions and plans. Now it’s officially ended. 

It was difficult to divert my thoughts away from what the students said to me during that week. I have learned so much of them and from them. 

1. friendship is one of the contributory factors to join, stay or quit a new course 
2. friendship is a great compensation to boredom
3. friendship is fluent but limited as well (I would imagine that if the students were not from Merenojan Koulu, it would be a bit challenging for them to join in the somehow closed/ groups. It would be great if we encourage a more integrated/inclusive culture when the fresh lukio students starting their school)
4. learning emerges easier and quicker when students “teach” about their own passions (Teenagers have their own languages; students enjoy learning from each other)
5. it’s much easier to build learning on the “real” experience. As a teacher, I should do my best to offer the experience to my students（hot pot, tea and cheese taste, campfire are positive examples from this project)
6. it’s necessary to put students into different learning environments, which creates different opportunities for students talk to others  
7. we tend to look for similarities but avoid the differences (however I believe, if we don’t appreciate the differences, then learning can only stay on the superficial level)
8. we are not ready to confront different opinions. A good example is that we can’t afford a deep discussion about Coco Chanel or Jordan Peterson (As a teacher, I lack of the skills to conduct a profound discussion on these controversial topics)
9. students are afraid to be judged by the others (“Judgement” itself should have be integrated into some courses. Where is it come from? Why are we so vulnerable in front of it? How to overcome it?)

I was bothered by the fact that I am not ready to have further discussion on the controversial topics, which makes me a less competent teacher. I thought of Coco Chanel and the awkward discussion we had after one of students introduced her to the rest of us. Some other students reminded us that she was a lover of Nazi officer or something like that. I know nothing about Coco Chanel but Chanel as a brand. Still, I said: it must be not that easy. I know myself and I know how complicated people and things can be. Boys in the group turned up their nose and argued: but help Nazi to kill Jews?? I was put into silent. One thing I believe is that: the situation must be more complicated than we thought/knew, or willing to know. Next day, after students talked about their complicated fathers, I brought up Jordan Peterson’s podcast, in which I think he explained well about how we humans tend to simplify the complicated world. (I like complication, by the way.) Again, another controversial person… And again, I couldn’t host the topic longer or deeper.

After watching Joshua and organizing those thoughts in my head during the weekend, I decided to watch The Pianist, a film I watched once when I was in China many years ago. Didn’t remember anything special, to be honest. I even visited Warsaw and Kraków two years ago but I couldn’t relate as much as my two other friends. I feel more sad when reading the historical stories about 20th century China, which exactly epitomized the narrow-minded humans: we can only understand things to which we have the attachment.  

I was disgusted by how the nazi treated Jews in the movie and I kept wondering: what made Coco do it? What I would do if I lived in that situation? Would I sacrifice my life and my family to help Jews? If I was a Jew, would I fight back or choose to die dignified? What I have done so far while reading western media talking about the Xinjiang re-education camp? I did nothing! Nothing…Nothing… 

The curiosity drove me to read Hal Vaughan’s “Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War”. It was stunning for me to read the Excerpt as follows:

We also know that at the turn of the twentieth century, Catholic institutions such as Aubazine indoctrinated Catholic youth to loathe Jews. Chanel was no exception. She was often given to anti-Semitic outbursts… When the conversation turned to how new fashion boutiques were springing up like mushrooms in Paris, Chanel declared, “I only fear Jews and Chinese; and the Jews more than the Chinese.” 

We are so much moulded by the environment and culture we grow up, aren’t we? To understand differences across time and space needs a lot of effort to put people back to the contexts, to understand the complexity. Unfortunately, we often simplify things by only looking at the results or by categorizing them. Next step, we make judgements, form tribes and build walls. However, can we, as normal human beings, take on the complexities? In other words, is it necessary for us to understand the complicated situations across history and globe? If the answer is yes, how to prepare ourselves and young students to go through the upset reality laden with conflicts? 

I am not here to ask for the answers. But I appreciate I have the chance to look for the answers from working with the students here. Great thanks to those who have spent that special week with me.

With love~

Campfire is on!

A collection of the photos~

Someone is hosting a tea ceremony!

Hot Pot in Kalajoki!!!