Thoughts from class.
Adult class, Yumi's husband lives in England for work. She must raise her kids on her own. I've talked to her before about it and I thought she had a good gig. I still do think it's good, but it has it's draw backs. She's essentially like a single mum. The difference being that she has financial support. A lot of financial support. But she was saying how she has to raise the kids on her own. Stuff happens and she needs to figure out the best thing to do in the situation on her own. Her son is now 16 and is starting to disrespect her and she has no backup there to support her. No dad there to say "Hey, don't talk to your mother like that". She's on her own.
Returnee class, Takuya's dad lives in Malaysia for work. He gets to talk to him on the phone sometimes and says that he can talk to his dad easier on the phone about his problems than with his mum in person. His dad will be home for a week in November. He says that he would like to be able to do more things with the whole family, like all four of them go for dinner together. He's 15. Oh, and btw his sister is also one of my students in another class.
Interesting how both of those classes collided today.
In the Returnee class we're studying how our cultures influence our perceptions of the world and how do we communicate with those around us keeping our interpretations and their interpretations (that are probably different) in mind.
How do you see these two cases? How do you view the fathers? What is your initial reaction to hearing these things?
It's a difference of culture in how you interpret these two cases. The men have gone abroad for the work they need to do to ensure that their children can receive the moral and intellectual training at good schools that they will need to become good and successful adults. The Japanese put more of an emphasis on formal education whereas in North America (particularly among the right wing Christian community) they put more emphasis on the physical presence of the father in the home as being integral to the development and success of the kids. How would Dobson or FOTF (Focus On The Family) view these two families? Would they lambaste them? Sure there's difficulties about both situations, but what family in America (next to mine of course) is perfect? Who says that a family structure needs to look exactly like This, or This? So much of it is determined by our culture and those around us. What do we value? What has shaped your thinking? If you are a Christian, how much of what you value as being "Godly" is really and truly scripturally Godly, as opposed to what has been fed to you by the MassMediaChristian-eseCulture? It's been interesting to plan some stuff for my class as it's really stretching my own thinking of being aware of what has influenced my own values and thoughts, which often have gone against the major thinking in my most immediate environment. What aspects of life do I take for granted. How would a Japanese man see an American father who is physically present for the family, but does not provide a financial abundance? Maybe the American father is content to see the children regularly clothed and educated at home, but that would appall the Japanese man as being negligent,irresponsible and unloving towards your child's future.
I'm getting sick. I can feel the pressure behind my eyes building. It started yesterday afternoon. I think I caught it either from a fellow teacher or from one of the snotty Kindie kids. My guess is Masahiro. He's all snotty and he just HAD to have a high 5. He's five, I can't deny a five year old a High Five when they've asked for one, no matter how snotty they are. I tried to clean everything, but it evidently didn't work.
