The presence of foreign students, particularly in geography classes, can have great benefits and bring heavy difficulties. Having multiple Chinese students in my classes made my first teaching semester challenging, to say the least.
First of all, the presence of foreign students makes me continually check my perspective and present the information as unbiased as possible. Yet, having a very educated Chinese national sitting in the front row to pose opposition or different opinions on almost all tense topics made that goal of unbiased presentation difficult.
On the other hand, this made me double and triple-check all my facts, and in the end, this left me with a well-vetted lecture series. This is especially true for the Russian Realm, North Korea, and China. As anticipated, areas experiencing ethnic and territorial disputes, such as Tibet, Xinjiang Province, and Taiwan, were very irritable topics. One way these students could “boycott” the Western perspective was to purposefully miss the map quiz question to locate the Republic of China (Taiwan) by not answering the question at all.
Keeping face as an authority in the classroom while accepting commentary from this student was a balancing act that took practice. My advice for this situation was to openly discuss with these students after and before class. This time allowed one student, in particular, to give me their full perspective and opinion before the topics were discussed in class and also allowed me to explain the details more fully to them. This process was especially helpful in talking about the territorial disputes in China. At the beginning of these discussions, their first comment was, “You will NOT say there are two Chinas… “ etc. By the end of the semester, however, the tone had to change to “I respect the way you presented the situation.” This transition took time, and there were certainly several uncomfortable moments in class when I would simply have to tell them, “We will talk about the issue after class, but for the purposes of this class, you need to know these facts.”
On the other hand, I had another Chinese student who welcomed the Western perspective and the information he had been guarded from his entire life. For example, presenting the events of Tiananmen Square and the numbers reported for the deaths of those under Mao caused both reluctantly and curiously.
Regardless of each foreign student's attitude, it is important to remain the professor and now allow the student to take over your class. However, it can also be the best days of the semester when a student opens up and tells their side of the story to support or challenge the presented information. Be ready to walk a tightrope.
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