(Minghui.org) Just a few months ago, the child abuses that happened at the Ctrip childcare center in Shanghai and RYB Education's nursery school in Beijing caused public outcry and anger. People are deeply concerned, “If this is what the daycare centers in the largest cities are like, where can parents find teachers or child caretakers that they can trust?”
In fact, good teachers do exist. Here are some examples.
Misbehaving Kid Treated with Respect
Kai is one of those children who tend to antagonize other kids and irritate them by screaming. His own mother was infuriated at times by his behavior. When Kai started at his new kindergarten, he insisted that he wanted to play rather than sit during class. The teacher told him, “OK. Then you can play by yourself.” Kai was surprised by the teacher's calm reaction. As he played by himself, he did not want to be left out and was actually paying close attention to what was being taught in the class. He also glanced at the teacher once a while to ensure that the teacher did not notice him listening.
When it was time for the midday nap, Kai said, “I don't want to take a nap.” The teacher said, “OK. Then you don't have to take a nap.” Kai was puzzled again that the teacher did not scold him or even get angry, which was completely the opposite of how people usually reacted to him. Because the others were all sleeping, Kai got bored playing by himself. He started to get drowsy and his eyes almost closed. The teacher reminded him, “Kai, you said you did not want to take a nap. Aren't you going to be true to your own words?”
In his first few days at the kindergarten center, Kai discovered to his surprise that the teacher would not get irritated at all by his behavior, which resulted only in his losing face in front of his teacher and peers. When he told his mother about it, she could not stop laughing.
One day, Kai started to cry without warning, saying that he needed to talk to his mother. The teacher tried to calm him down and said, “It will take your mother some time to get here. And it is not easy for her to do that right now. As a good kid who practices Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, you should be considerate of your mom. How about you tell me what you want to say to her and I will write it down and draw it out in pictures? When she comes to pick you up after school, you can give it to her.” Kai started to say what was on his mind while the teacher drew it out on paper. Then he carefully put the paper in his bag and returned to his school routine.
Now Kai looks forward to going to school every day. He has felt his teacher's kindness and respect. He has become a happy kid.
Doudou Kindergarten Excels
The school Kai attends is called Minghui Doudou Kindergarten, located in Yonghe City, Taipei County, Taiwan. Teachers at the kindergarten treat children with kindness and respect, just like Kai's teacher. Therefore, parents trust them with their kids and it has attracted many parents from the greater Taipei area.
Some parents have said, “Teachers at Minghui Doudou Kindergarten never get angry. They are so patient with the kids.”
Others say, “My child's behavior often upset me. But the teachers at Minghui Doudou Kindergarten are so well trained and have different methods to deal with kids. Our kids have become more considerate and they look forward to coming to school every day.”
The major difference is that the head of the school and all the teachers at Minghui Doudou Kindergarten are Falun Dafa practitioners who adhere to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In their eyes, each child has his or her special disposition, temperament, characteristic, and dignity. Therefore, they treat all children with respect and believe that no child is beyond the ability of proper teaching and guidance.
Huiwen was a kindergarten teacher who transferred to Minghui Doudou Kindergarten after she started practicing Falun Dafa. She said that cultivation was an integral part of her work. Whenever she encountered problems, she would ask herself, “Is it because I am not tolerant enough? Is it because I am not patient enough? Or maybe I was too eager to get quick results?” When her mindset changed, she would be able to discern the reason behind a child's misbehaving and the problem would be resolved.
Sometimes children had conflicts over riding a toy tricycle. One child would complain to the teacher, “So-and-so never lets anyone else ride it,” while the real complaint was, “I want to ride it myself.” The teacher would first be understanding and ask, “You would like a chance to play on it, right?” Then the teacher would demonstrate a more thoughtful way to express the feeling, such as, “Would you let me ride it for a little while?” And the teacher would also tell the child to respect the other child's decision, whether it was favorable to them or not. At the same time, the teacher would tell the child who was riding the tricycle to use kind words to refuse to give it up, such as “Sorry, I want to ride it for now. Could you play with another toy?” With these kind and considerate words and attitude, both sides would feel respected and conflicts would not continue.
When teachers practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their work and daily lives, the seeds of these principles will be planted in the hearts of the children through natural and routine interactions.
Mainland China Has Good Teachers, Too
The Minghui website published an article on December 6, 2017, titled “Kindergarten Teacher: The Best Way to Understand and Do What Is Right and Good Is to Practice Falun Dafa.” The author used to suffer from poor health and had a bad temper. She did not like her job, was impatient with the children in her class and sometimes used corporal punishment. After she had the opportunity to read Zhuan Falun in 1996, she understood that bad deeds resulted in karma, which brings about illness and hardships. After she started to practice Falun Dafa, she enjoyed good health and became kind and considerate.
The children in her class were all under 3 years old, so they were not yet very good at feeding themselves or using the toilet. She did not mind the hard, tedious work. She told the children in her class, “In kindergarten, your teacher is like your mother. You can always come to me for anything.”
Because their language skills were not fully developed, they frequently would not say if they felt unwell. If an illness went undetected, treatment would be delayed and the parents would complain. So she developed a routine to check on each child in the morning and monitor their status throughout the day. If she saw a child inactive or unwilling to participate in regular activities, she would check his or her temperature and health. After the midday nap, she would kiss each child on the forehead to show her love and to check their temperature. In her class, there had not been a single case of an undetected illness.
She would also check to see if each child had washed their hands thoroughly before lunch and ask them to do it again if they are not really clean.
To secure additional and preferential care for their kids, parents sometimes would give the teachers gifts. Prior to practicing Falun Dafa, that was exactly what she would seek out. But after practicing Dafa, she would not accept parents' gifts anymore.
Another good example was published in a Minghui article titled “Daycare Teacher: Following Dafa's Teachings Makes Me an 'Extraordinary Teacher'” on December 28, 2017.
These are not special cases but typical of practitioners, because Falun Dafa teaches practitioners to be good and selfless and to put others' needs before their own. That is why kindergarten and daycare teachers who are Dafa practitioners do their work with the utmost sense of responsibility and treat all children with kindness.
Good Teachers Persecuted
Since Jiang's regime launched the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in 1999, the morality of Chinese society has been degrading at an alarming pace. The cases of child abuse referred to at the beginning of the article are merely one of the consequences.
According to the limited statistics reported by Minghui, 221 teachers in the education system in China have been persecuted to death over the past 18 years. They could have been great teachers just like those mentioned in this article.
In addition, thousands of good teachers in China have been fired from their schools and imprisoned for refusing to give up their belief. Some were tortured to disability and mental illness. Some were fined large amounts of money, their wages and pensions reduced or denied. Some suffered prolonged surveillance, harassment, threats, and house arrests.
The author of the aforementioned Minghui article “Daycare Teacher: Following Dafa's Teachings Makes Me an 'Extraordinary Teacher'” was arrested and taken to a brainwashing center four times for not giving up her belief in Falun Dafa. The kindergarten authorities, pressured by CCP officials, reassigned her to the housekeeping division. Only after the parents submitted a petition demanding she be allowed to return to her original position did the authorities relent and restore her to her post.
The author of the aforementioned Minghui article “Kindergarten Teacher: The Best Way to Understand and Do What Is Right and Good Is to Practice Falun Dafa” was under pressure as well. The higher level officials once came to inspect the kindergarten and see if there were any teachers that practiced Falun Dafa. The head of the kindergarten protected her and did not report her. He said, “Falun Dafa practitioners change in two great ways: their health improves and so does their work.”
Category: Perspective
