Many teachers are behind the times

A student at the High School attached to Beihang University, Xiao Zeng, spends hours chatting online after school every day. She hoped she could chat with her mathematics teacher if she had any problems with her homework. But the 50-year-old teacher had no idea how to do instant messaging.

One of Zeng's classmates said they once escaped punishment after they exchanged answers through text messaging on their cell phones during a test and their teacher knew they were cheating, but could not find any evidence of their scheme.

"Even if teachers get text messages, they can't even figure out what their students are saying," explained Zeng's teacher, who is referring to shorthand phrases like MM for beautiful young girls, BF for boyfriend and PF for pei fu (admire).

However, deciphering text messages is merely the tip of an iceberg. Some students take photos of their teachers with their cell phones and post them on the Internet and poke fun at the photos. Others post their teachers' unintentional mistakes on online forums to entertain netizens.

Different cultural identity from teachers

Xu Qian, a first-year high school student failed in one of her compositions because she mentioned her first love. Her teacher insisted high school students are not supposed to write about love affairs in their compositions.

"I don't know why we can't write this," says Xu. "I watch Japanese movies - high school students' romance is quite typical in their country. Some post-80s authors write about love affairs in their novels. I used to love Chinese class, but I began to hate the class after I failed that assignment."

How to manage the "post-90s generation"?

Educators sympathize with each other in dealing with the post 90s generation.

"You can have different interests from theirs, but you have to accept their interests," said Li Juan, a young art teacher.

Gao Yang, a Chinese teacher adds, "Humor is important, and I try to make friends with them."

That is a similar approach head teacher Wei Huibin takes. "The principal will give me a long face if you don't change your weird hair style." The student cut his hair cut right after class.

A teacher engaged in educational research and surnamed Zhang said children born in the 1990s are very knowledgeable, getting their information from many sources like the Internet and travel. As a result, they have more experience than their teachers.

"More importantly, they are very aware of their personality and independence, so it is not advisable to confront with them as it will turn to be counter-productive," Zhang explains.

Xu Gang, headmaster of Lanzhou Number Eight Middle School echoed Zhang. "Teachers will not able to instruct students if they have no knowledge of what their students are interested in." The headmaster emphasized teachers and students need more mutual understanding between them rather than confrontation.

1

2