Thoughts on Resistance
The Chinese Experience

by Jonathon Chan
Assistant Pastor, Logos Baptist Church
Toronto, Ontario Canada

My experiences with resistance as a facilitator of Dialogue Education have occurred in two different contexts–one in Hong Kong, primarily with teenagers, and another within a Chinese church here in Toronto. The commonality between the two contexts is Chinese ethnicity and culture.

The types of resistance I have experienced or observed when using the principles of Dialogue Education seem to reflect the following feelings and ideas among participants about the Dialogue Education method:

• Too open-ended—in the sense that the arrangement of the lesson was to them a bit too question-driven and they might feel that they want to have more definite ‘answers’ toward the questions posted.
• Not enough content—participants would compare Dialogue Education to monologue teaching (MT) and relatively speaking they would feel that Dialogue Education offers far less content than MT.
• Tired of thinking—Chinese people at my church, though they are primarily college graduates, would feel tired of pondering too much, too often.

The issues specified above, as I see them, tend to relate to the way Chinese learn. I am inclined to track it back to the tradition of memorization, as most Chinese treasure that, as well as were taught that way when they were very young. Critical thinking comes in very much later. In general, teachers in Hong Kong are still using the traditional monologue method of transmitting knowledge, though that does vary depending on the style of the teacher, and recently there have been significant changes in teaching approaches.

Another issue is the perception of knowledge and its relation with the process of learning. Knowledge is usually identified as ‘information’, i.e. dead, and the process of learning is to take and understand what is ‘there.’ This is significantly different from the way Dialogue Education approaches knowledge and learning.

The way(s) I come to terms with resistance in these contexts:

1. Announce the possible methodological difference prior to, and along the way, as we proceed with the lessons
2. Attach to the teaching/learning a certain ‘text book’ and ask the students to read it either before or after the lesson
3. Affirm time and again critical thinking/brainstorming and whatever ‘answers’ or opinions are given and shared in the process
4. Comment and respond to sharing(s). Monitoring and supporting democratic participation is particularly helpful in building trust and safety in the learning process for Chinese learners who traditionally expect a ‘check and evaluate’ process from the ‘master.’

The questions that remain for me related to these experiences are:

• How shall I initiate further research on content after classes, if content is relatively less in class?
• How do I know that they have learned?
• Is the way Chinese learners perceive knowledge problematic, having close association with ‘information’?

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