Su taitai, the Asian Grandmother I sometimes wish I had.

Not to say anything against my grandma; she is crazy and awesome in her own way, but Su taitai is really something else. I mean, how many tech-savvy, politically-opinionated, worldly grandmas do you know? Gosh, I hope she doesn’t Google herself one day and stumble upon this pseudo-love letter to her. Embarrassing!

Su taitai is an enigma for many students; she is definitely not the traditional little old Chinese lady that you see. There is hardly an ounce of “traditional” teacher in her. The worst Chinese teacher I ever head at Columbia was this guy by the name of Wang. In my mind, he was the epitome of everything stereotypical and horrible about a traditional Chinese teacher: rote memorization, rigidly structured quizzes and tests, points system based on participation, embarrassing the quieter students in front of the class, praising and doting on the non-Chinese students for their speaking abilities, etc. Ugh, what’s worse is that he had a feeling of self-importance – he was the best at everything, knew more than anyone, had infinite knowledge because he was the most learned scholar that China has ever produced in its 5000+ year history. (haha, bitter much, Pilar?)

Obviously Su taitai is the opposite of that. She genuinely cares about her students, even the ones who are quiet and don’t speak that often (i.e., me). She gave me a great big hug when she saw me in her Readings in Modern Chinese class. The work she gives isn’t hard but she expects 10000x the amount of effort you think is sufficient. She wants to push you to do your best; each writing assignment I emailed to her was returned, littered with notes and questions. No work is final until everything is discussed. And she does this with everyone’s work. Sometimes I logged on to my gmail and saw that Su taitai sent me a response at 3am. I found it especially hard when she finally broke down in class and showed us just how much we disappointed her. It was like telling your grandma that the trip she was looking forward to for weeks was cancelled because you’d rather sit at home.

Sometimes I wonder how happy she is teaching second and fourth year Chinese. In the years I have known her I have discovered a few personal facts: she was well educated in mainland China, continued that education in Taiwan, and in the US at Georgetown and Columbia. Although she enjoys teaching, I think someone of her intellectual background would much rather enjoy lecturing and discussing Modern Chinese literature without having to “dumb down” the works. I could totally see her having a Parisian salon, where she can invite people to eat, drink, be merry and talk about any and everything. Oh to be a fly at that party.

Here we are at a class dinner. Half of the class didn't show up but I think she was pretty happy anyway. Isn't she so cute?

Su Tai Tai (Look her up at www.culpa.info) and what American exchange students in China may need to take into account

This is a post dedicated to one of the most memorable professors of my college career, Su Tai Tai. As mentioned, Pilar and I met in her class, and she's probably one of the reasons we became friends, because talking about Su Tai Tai and her particular antics was so much fun.

The thing that the other American students I had the priveledge of calling classmates never understood about Su Tai Tai is that she couldn't be any other way even if she tried. She doesn't think that she is a lunatic, because her idea of being a teacher extends beyond the classroom. This is a quaint Chinese attitude, and personally, I believe Su Tai Tai carries it off with great aplomb.

Chinese professors, especially older ones, do feel the obligation to mold their students into responsible, ethical adults, which is a digression from the average professor at Columbia or Barnard, where the assumption is that you already are (though, from what I've seen... haha nah just joking.) Su Tai Tai also expects an unquestioned amount of respect above the threshold of respect that the average professor requires from his/her students, which I also think is Chinese. She meets with a lot of resistance because of her concepts and expectations of us, her students, and I feel bad for her sometimes. She gets outraged occaisionally, but she really is a sweetheart.

I recently talked to my professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong about the respect issue, and she admits she hates it when foreign students, mostly American, troop into her class wearing flip flops or tank tops, or when they put their feet up on the chair in front of them. She says that it reflects a total lack of respect for the class, their classmates, and herself, who put a lot of effort into putting the class together, encouraging discussions etc. I don't know whether to agree with her or not. But let this be a warning to all American exchange students in China: shoes and shirt are required, preferrably one with a collar. That, is the lesson of the day.