By the age of twelve, I had been exposed to two cultures with different values and emphases on each. I did not know what to choose or how to choose among the values taught to me, but I knew despite which values I embrace as my own, I would never forget the cultural lesson revealed to me while attending an elementary school in Beijing, China.
When I was in second grade, attending school in the Qinghe district, there was a divide between the “smart students” and the “struggling students” in my class. The hierarchy was in four levels. The first rank indicated perseverance; second rank indicated great intelligence; the third rank is for the president of the class; and the non-ranked were considered the “struggling students.” To make matters more apparent, the school system promoted us to wear the symbols indicating our ranking each day, perhaps to motivate other people or set students apart from one another. I belonged to the second rank and I was quite happy with that arrangement. But when the time came to sign up to run for class president, I shared my ideas about particpating and that shed an entirely different spectrum of the culture that was influencing me.
“Good Morning, everybody!” said Ms. Liu. “Are you all ready for another week of school?”
“Yes, we are!” responded the class.
“Before we get …show more content…
I was astounded at the lack of support I was getting from my classmates of three years. We all had shared personal stories, studied with each other, and laughed with one another; I even considered them as some of my best friends. I was inundated with discouraging protests and disparaging looks. More than anything, those protests made me question if I was even qualified to participate. They made me believe that I wouldn’t be a good enough of a president to the class. I became overwhelmed and I didn’t want to defend my ideas anymore; I went back to my desk and buried myself under layers of
When I was in second grade, attending school in the Qinghe district, there was a divide between the “smart students” and the “struggling students” in my class. The hierarchy was in four levels. The first rank indicated perseverance; second rank indicated great intelligence; the third rank is for the president of the class; and the non-ranked were considered the “struggling students.” To make matters more apparent, the school system promoted us to wear the symbols indicating our ranking each day, perhaps to motivate other people or set students apart from one another. I belonged to the second rank and I was quite happy with that arrangement. But when the time came to sign up to run for class president, I shared my ideas about particpating and that shed an entirely different spectrum of the culture that was influencing me.
“Good Morning, everybody!” said Ms. Liu. “Are you all ready for another week of school?”
“Yes, we are!” responded the class.
“Before we get …show more content…
I was astounded at the lack of support I was getting from my classmates of three years. We all had shared personal stories, studied with each other, and laughed with one another; I even considered them as some of my best friends. I was inundated with discouraging protests and disparaging looks. More than anything, those protests made me question if I was even qualified to participate. They made me believe that I wouldn’t be a good enough of a president to the class. I became overwhelmed and I didn’t want to defend my ideas anymore; I went back to my desk and buried myself under layers of