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Dear Jean,

I have been an ESL teacher for 6 months now in Western China and so far I have been able to avoid talking about politics. According to my contract, I am not allowed to talk about politics in China or “anything that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.” While I am more than willing to honor the school’s wishes, I am always baffled when I get together with my foreign buddies and they talk about the intense political discussions they have had in their ESL classes. They also have the same stipulations in their contract but they always like to talk about politics (and also sex). Is it ever OK to talk about politics in my ESL class? What if the students bring it up? Can we have a discussion as long as I do not let it get out of hand? Thanks for your time!

Cassie in Central China

Jean Answers Cassie’s Question

Dear Cassie,

You should definitely stick to your determination to NOT talk about politics in your ESL class in China especially when such a discussion would involve talking about the Chinese government. While there are plenty of ESL teachers in China who do get away with talking about politics in their classes, there are also plenty of teachers who have gotten in trouble for doing so. It is always better to honor your contract and avoid having students complain about political views that are different than their own.

You can, of course, feel free to teach your students about the political system in your home country. This would fall under ’sharing your culture’ and should produce some interesting discussions.

As for your friends who seem to love to talk about politics in China, I would admonish them to be careful. In China, it is OK to talk about almost anything until someone claims that they have been offended. If too many students complain about a teacher sharing his or her political views and the school already has ‘an axe to grind’ with that ESL teacher, he or she may very well be dismissed from the school.

With that said, I will readily admit that I have talked with students about politics in my classes but only in situations where I know that it is acceptable. For example, if you have a small class size with students who you know well, it may be OK to have some light political discussions. Otherwise, save your political discussions for outside of the classroom; there are plenty of people with whom you can argue about politics without getting into trouble.

By the way, Robert Vance wrote an article a while back entitled Why Talking About Politics in China is a Bad Idea. While I do not necessarily agree with everything that he wrote, you may pick up some other points of views on this issue. Be sure to look at the comments that follow.

Sincerely,

Jean 

Ask Jean about China is a weekly feature on TeachAbroadChina.com. We welcome any questions related to living and working in China. Feel free to submit your questions by clicking here. We look forward to hearing from you.

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