Wrap-up of Thursday

Thursday’s class was full of tensions. Everyone wanted to speak. I felt like I have to express what I intended to say at class.

During the first period of our class, Kim and Markus mentioned the educational experience of East Asian students in American culture. This topic was brought up again in class. When I first run into this account of this perspective of Asian students, I really thought to myself that “Come on, again? Leave Asian students alone” However, when I thought about his question more seriously, I realized there was a need to repeat such a topic. Every time, when I am with a freshmen coming from China, I seem to see the similar behaviors, the way we presented ourselves in class and interact with others, which I did two years ago. I think I don’t have a general answer to such complicated question. However, from my own experience, I think everyone has a distinctive background. Many factors decided one person’s way of learning in a new environment. For me, I usually made mistakes and then learnt from them and tried my best to fit in the new environment in order to achieve optimal results.

Secondly, we talked about the sophisticated ways of expressing particular concepts. Some of us had strong opinions about this topic. As a non-native English speaker, I constantly run into troubles understanding some serious academic writing. Personally, I enjoy the uncertainty in my reading experiences. I respect the complex level which writers are trying o create. As the expert in his or her topic in that field, the writer has the complete authority to determine his or her work and maybe use such a way to filter the reader groups. Also, I think to keep an open mind is very important anytime. Sometimes, learning experience can be a progress of connecting dots. Every exposure of new ideas will leave some marks in mind and eventually those dots can be connected in a surprising way. We just can’t realize the meanings of something we encountered at the time.

Thirdly, I want o talk about some part of Tillie Olsen’s Silences. I have to admitted that I didn’t understand the reading fully. However, the part where author stated that” It took family death to free more than one women writer into her own development” really strikes me. Author continues this argument with more female writer. Why women can’t have it all?  Is the second shift of women besides family really that hard to realize in today’s circumstances?  Why we are in “a time of more and more hidden and foreground silences, women and men? Some writers were silenced in order to preserve the essential values and lost the creativity. Some writers were silence when there are interruptions in the lives. However, others continued their commitment to literature and devote themselves to writing completely. People made different choices and prioritize some options in lives.