“I’ve noticed that so-and-so expressed herself well in her writingbut her grammar is pretty dreadful. What do you think? “Who’s that? Which class? “You know， that class you are teaching. “Oh， well， I’m not their homeroom teacher. Not sure who youmean. The first class of each term David will devote time to clearly explaininghow that class will go for the term. “They need to know whatis expected of them. At the same time they ought to know what theycan require of the teacher. David told students that if he failed to examine their work adequately，simply adding a checkmark， for instance， or to correct thehomework they hand in， that they need not do any homework the nexttime he asked for it. He said he couldn’t require anything of students ifhe was not responsible for his part.
“You’ve checked every little detail of seven years of homework? I asked a little incredulously.
“Yeah，” he responded as if it were perfectly obvious.
“Oh， there was once…” One year David had three classes of “TheBackground of Western Culture” with 50 students in each class. If allthree classes were given the same homework in the same week， hewould inform one class that their homework would only be graded forcontent one week. Alternating classes， he could correct everything thenext week. “But that was an exception. I wasn’t really willing to haveto do that. He has one other valuable skill he often employs. “I never needto take attendance. One look and I can tell who’s not there， because Iknow all my students. If anybody’s missing I just ask his or her friendswhat’s up， or if they are ill. “Do that once or twice and all the students know they better notcut class. “Education is purely an exchange among teacher and students. He believes that no matter what course is being taught — and especiallyat the primary education level — having computers or multimediainstruction is not all that important. The people involved are thekey.
“I saw a lot of stuff working in Guangdong Province. Maybethere’s a kid whose parents have divorced and no one’s checking upon his studies. If he doesn’t study well the teacher just bawls him outfor being lazy or something. But that kid doesn’t need us telling himwhat two plus two is. He needs someone to care for his well being. Heneeds a good adult role model in his life to help him figure out life. If exchange is so important， much respect for others must beshown. David has a great dislike for odd school activities that interruptthe students’ studies. Classes are often canceled then， and he feelsthis is truly disrespectful to the students. David organized the “EnglishCorner” for Northwest University for Nationalities to give studentsmore opportunities to practice their English. But this English Cornerhas the special feature of having a weekly speaker. Every Sunday atthree in the afternoon， David starts the corner by speaking for about 4minutes on a topic， which leads to free discussion. To entice expertsfrom other schools to attend his corner， David’s policy was that anyforeigner who stayed till after six would get a free dinner on him. You300 can guess for yourself how many free meals he had to give away in sixand a half years. It amounted to the greatest regular expense of David’
s life in Lanzhou.
Even with all this， David claims that he’s not that good of anEnglish teacher.
“I teach what I think is most necessary for them to learn. Buteven something like English Corner isn’t really helping students passthe required national exams.” His voice drops off upon saying this，his blue eyes looking down to his fingers， the nails of which show thescars and signs of the lack of vitamins in his Dongxiang diet.
Education Volunteer WorkOne afternoon I rode a local bus with David from one of hisschools back to the county seat. Once on the bus， the fellow taking themoney said， “David， tell me， why did you leave Lanzhou to come hereto Dongxiang? He replied teasingly， “Dongxiang’s a swell place. The young man couldn’t comprehend this. “What are you talkingabout? Lanzhou’s a lot better than here.” David has faced such questionscountless times.
In 2000 David began his “education volunteer work” in Dongxiang，coming to the county from Lanzhou for three days every week.
Gansu’s Dongxiang Autonomous County is the only county inthe nation especially for the Dongxiang nationality. It is also a nationallyrecognized impoverished county. According to the 1990 nationalcensus， the Dongxiang have the highest illiteracy rate of any group inChina， a staggering 82.63%。 The average person has only a second- orthird-grade elementary education.
One of the main reasons David left the States to come to Chinaas a teacher was that he felt it was a little redundant to teach in such adeveloped place. His choice to leave Lanzhou was based on the samelogic.
“Lots of people are working in higher education now. The nationalgovernment funds it. Northwest University for Nationalities nowhas seven foreign teachers. In comparison， basic education is quite neglected. He recalls an article from the Economist which placed Chinasecond to last in the world for their emphasis on basic education. “Theilliteracy rate tells all you need to know about the poor level of basiceducation in Dongxiang. If I’m supposed to think about staying inLanzhou because the conditions there are better， I might as well justhead back to the US. I’m not saying it’s wrong to make places with decenteducation even better. First you just have to guarantee decent educationfor places that need it the most.” He says it’s just like cosmeticdentistry or some surgeries. They are not bad in and of themselves， butthe basic provision of adequate health care for everyone ought to bethe first priority.
Upon meeting David， I asked him， “So what is it exactly that youare going in Dongxiang?” With a queer little smile he replied in Englishwith， “That’s a good question，” but didn’t answer me.