Not long ago, I ran into a friend of mine, an English teacher in
I still don’t know if I should laugh or cry. He told me that what he deplores most is that the kids he’s teaching look like “tofu”! That is to say, not energetic, very passive. According to him, the main cause is probably the lack of sport and most of all the lack of motivation. Even if his remark is excessive, I agree with him, on a certain point.
The Taiwanese kids I know are very nice kids but excessively shy and don’t seem to have any demonstrative interest to things around. It is the same for some youngsters of my age: when I arrived in Taipei, I would often offer my cousin to go out, visit museums, go for a walk (maybe not the best idea on a hot day of August) or just go to a bar to have a drink with friends. She would always politely refuse, saying that she was not interested. Even going to a bar seemed to her very boring! And no speaking of political issues either. My cousin just showed disinterest in anything not closely or directed related to her such as her work or our family. I believe she’s not representative of all Taiwanese youth but she’s also one of many Taiwanese youth. On the other hand, there is the merging of a “We” generation, expression invented by Newsweek last year to describe a part of Asian youth getting involved in public actions, NPOs, etc. Even if that “We” generation tendency seems only a little twitching, there are already real demonstrations of its rise, among Chinese students also!
Today’s favourites
Internet and Asia’s “We” generation by Li-chun Lee (June), editor.
Asian Children are bored… by Kailing Wang, editor.
Encounter at Shanghai International University by Benoit Vermander, chief editor.
