XINHUA: Official-flavoured names taking over in the schoolyard

I find this article interesting because of the way it adopts the pro-Cultural Revolution stance of heaping the blame for a modern problem on traditional culture, that problem being the Communist Party presence on campus. I may be up a creek with no paddle here, but it's as though the Party is trying to retain face while paving the way for reducing its own influence on campus. I love the way both the writers and the speakers feel the need, in making their criticisms, to lay down their pro-harmony credentials!

TEACHERS BECOMING "DIRECTORS", OFFICIAL-FLAVOURED NAMES TAKING OVER IN THE SCHOOLYARD

From: Xinhua Net Zhejiang Channel

Reporters: Liu Lili & Zhang Daosheng

Before our eyes, more and more students have started calling their teachers in administrative positions names like "Head", "Director", "Secretary" etc. Even among the students, "Squad leader", "Chairman" and "Minister" have replaced "classmate", "brother" and "sister".....

More than a few people believe this "official title-isation" of school titles could have an unhealthy influence on the formerly simple staff-student and intra-student relations. But others believe it could allow students to become accustomed to society earlier and that there is no need to stop it.

---Schoolyard "official-flavoured" naming becoming heavier---

With higher-education's proportions continuing to increase, almost all higher-ed institutions have large numbers of Directors, Deans and mid-level cadres, outside of the overall school leadership. Additionally, under every institution are large numbers of Department Heads, Office Heads, Student Office Heads, Laboratory Heads, etc. and most those who have taken on such positions are actively involved with teaching, many with high technical posts and high-level backbone positions. Since these teachers began their administrative roles they became leaders, and for students, "teacher" has become "Dean", "Director", "Section Chief", etc.....

Not only has the addressing of teachers changed, more than a few classmates have started calling each other "Chairman" and "Minister". Besides the various types of higher education institutions' student organisations, there are also the Communist Party Youth Leagues, student unions and other organisations etc., and each one has created numbers of its own Ministers, and Vice-Ministers. Additionally each class has established a "Squad Monitor" and "Assistant Squad Monitor" and "Union Branch Secretary", and even within the classroom there are floor leaders and classroom leaders.

Zhejiang Forestry College 2nd year foreign languages major Gu Jiewen said: "In first year when we first entered the university our class were all very close. Since then many classmates have taken on school and college cadre roles, and many of their classmates have begun calling them "Minister" etc.; I think there is now a distance between classmates. Since then i have also taken on a student union leader role, and younger students have started calling me "Minister". So many people say it that i'm used to it now."

Zhejiang University Chinese Department researcher Shang Yiying said: "Before, when i used to come to the school administration bureau to deliver reports and analyse activities, it didn't matter whether the others had administrative positions, we just called them all "teacher", and the feeling was very cordial. But recently under the "leadership" of some high-level students it has started to be more convenient to address people by their official title, and i've started calling these teachers "Director", and "Division Head" "

In opposition to the "official title-isation" phenomenon in the schoolyard, Zhejiang Forestry College's Youth League [Party??], has issued the following suggestions to the student body: "Within the schoolyard, it is better to address each other as 'teacher' and 'classmate' "; "Let student-teacher and inter-classmate relations become more upfront."

Many students have expressed support for this suggestion. Gu Jiewen believes the "bureaucratisation" of schools isn't desirable and could easily ruin close relations between teachers and students. "There are now fellow students suggesting a return to the previous ways of address, and i absolutely agree."

---Addressing according to position in order to be ready for society?---

Those behind the proposal believe that since the official titles' "invasion" of the schoolyard the change has not only been in name-calling, it's also had an influence on relations between classmates and teachers, to the detriment of the construction of harmonious culture within the schoolyard.

Regarding the proposal, Zhejiang Forestry College Youth League teacher Wang Kang indicated his support: "Relations between teachers and students and relations between students and students can't be equated with other relations in wider society. We can't simply regard it as administration being administered or as relations between higher and lower levels." He said, "I believe this proposal can help clean up schoolyard culture, and can actively help to maintain proper student-teacher and student-student relations; it's deserving of support."

However, there are also those who believe schoolyard name-calling doesn't matter at all. They say schoolyard "official title-isation" can help students understand and become ready for society, and it really doesn't have any disadvantages for their future.

Zhejiang Forestry College Economic Management College student Jiang Feng believes getting students used to addressing their counterparts by strict titles has no disadvantage. "Isn't it just a name? I believe that addressing people by their title is a form of respect," Jiang Feng said. "And our whole society has developed this kind of atmosphere - after university students graduate, they'll definitely want to be using official titles for their bosses and superiors. This isn't just a traditional rule of interpersonal communication, it's about good communication and has a use in exchange between people. I believe that when students start using these official terms of address while studying, it has the benefit of allowing them to integrate into society faster."

Other students believe social intercourse is a field well worth knowing, that knowing how to address someone is a point of refinement and that calling people, particularly those in high positions, by their titles can express greater respect and thereby facilitate opportunities for communication.

Zhejiang Forestry College Student League Cadre Zhang Lingling said: "Despite the lack of closeness shown by the official addresses between students and teachers and among students, you can't kill the [practice] with one whack of a stick; and especially among those later-year students marching towards society, there's no harm in learning proper manners at school. And besides, the callng by official title of leaders and Cadres within the school environment also corresponds to a trend in society."

On the opposite side, experts and teaching personnel generally believe the "official title-isation" is actually the embodiment of the Chinese people's many years of official-minded ideology, and that it is not worthy of promotion. In the schoolyard, for them, calling one another "teacher" and "classmate" is better.

Zhejiang Forestry College Youth League Secretary Cai Yonghua has assumed the work of overseeing student cadres for many years. He believes that university students are the group of young people who grasp knowledge best among society, and are leaders of social trends; despite society's existing official addresses, he says, especially in official circles, this isn't society's actual direction.

"For thousands of years, in every dynasty of China, there has existed the "Scholar-official" and his official-minded ideology. But this doesn't mean it's right or popular," Cai Yonghua said. "When it comes to university students, we should still be actively promoting harmonious student-teacher and student-student relations. Only then can they, after they graduate, lead society's practices to facilitate greater harmony between people."

Zhejiang Forestry College's Professor Wang Changjin has continuously undertaken research into traditional culture. "China's culture really emphasises moral relations, specifically speaking of superior/inferior and equal relations, and so as long as we accept each other, what we call each other makes no difference," Professor Wang opined. "In general, official titles are used for work purposes, but China's official-minded culture has a very deep influence, which people often take from their work into their general lives."

Professor Wang said the promoters of schoolyard "official title-isation" were taking a one-dimensional view because systems of organisation in schools, civil society and work units weren't the same.

Zhejiang Forestry College Assistant Director of Students Ma Xiaohui said: "Some university students call their superiors by their official titles because they think it will benefit them in their career, the reason being that they have brought their thinking from their homes and society into the school; we can also say it's the influence of traditional Chinese official culture on them. But in fact, employers are humanising and are becoming more and more human-oriented. Many work-units' ideas are even the exact opposite of the students', and this is a huge change brought about by social development."

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Original link 老师变"处长"，官味称呼入侵校园