Teaching kids to die for fascists
I know a teacher or two in China. Obviously there won't be any sort of personalized content -- if I did they'd fucking murder her, so. We had a conversation a couple days ago on what it was like to be a teacher in the good old People's Republic, and to the surprise of no one a lot of it is just trying to stay alive while trying to teach brainwashed kids. Since this is a issue eveyrwhere, let's talk about it here.
日本是一个大笨蛋!
Good old Pooh-bear is trying to gear up the kids and toddlers into a war with the US of A. That's why when Mrs. Teacher here (an English teacher) tries to do a lesson on other countries, say, Australia, they have to do their damn best to avoid saying anything too positive about that foreign country. After all, what country is better than the Middle Kingdom? Why would you ever leave, when those scary foreigners allow gay marriage *gasp* and have lively debates in the legislative bodies?
No country is as unfairly represented here as Japan. You can routinely hear these little shits go on about how Japan is a massive dick and that the people there are racist pieces of shit who will do backflips to slice your throat if you so much as step foot in Haneda. That's a bit of an exaggeration, sure, but that's not far (as I see it, anyway) from what these people seem to think about Japan -- a backwards place full of backwards people, stuck in the attitudes of the war.
Anyone who's ever actually been to Japan know that's not even remotely true. You can tell clearly who's been to Japan and who hasn't by what they say online about Japan. I and my family and friends have had nothing but positive experience with Japanese people, even when they knew we were Chinese (not by citizenship anymore, but still, I look the part). Nevertheless, this is the environment that these kids are being exposed to, and it will only lead to more tension with the Land of the Rising Sun. Tension that plays right into the hands of Mr. Xi and his cabal of warlords and gangsters in the CCP.
So, when these kids are routinely dressed down and told to hate everyone except themselves, of course they're going to believe it. When the popular animated shows are all about capturing criminals (what crime did they even commit, exactly?) or fighting wars and all their teachers are either telling them propaganda or being complacent by fear of death, even the most inquisitive kids are going to bite. And with this youthful enthusiasm, the CCP will expend them in a war with America that everyone except the kids knows they'll lose. Miserably.
Obviously, this is messed up, but it's not as if most teachers can do much about it. Picture the scene. As a teacher, you find yourself in a difficult situation. You know that your students are being fed a diet of propaganda and lies about the world outside their borders. But you also know that speaking out against this could put you in danger. Maybe you could try to sneak in some truths here and there, hoping that some of your students will catch on. Maybe you slip in a few examples of how other countries are actually doing well. But even then, you have to be careful not to upset the wrong person. After all, it's not unheard of for students to report teachers who they think goes against what the others are teaching them. And it isn't as if the administration isn't monitoring what content you're teaching.
Poor kids.