A discussion

 A couple weeks ago, I heard an interesting discussion about teaching.  My cousin and his girlfriend are traditional Chinese martial art teachers, so was the friend they had the discussion.  

I remember what lead to the discussion was about what they think they should be called  by their students.  The friend told her students to call her 師父.  When she first got the school, everyone called her 師姐, it's natural, because they were all students to the previous master.  But one day out of blue, she got a call from the old master, who told her, she should let other students start to call her 師父.

My cousin and his GF, started to asking each other what should their students call them?  They said they never thought about it.  Their students always refer to  them by their names.  And from there on, the discussion sometimes went to what this title meant.  And then it turned into another interesting direction.  It is about how should they teach their students.  The friend said she thought many students behave badly.  They need to be reminded.  My cousin and his GF said they are reluctant to do so.  But the friend said if it's adult class, she cannot do too much.  But if it's kids class, she said they are more like a clean slate, she should teach them.  My cousin and Michelle, said they rather have the kids realizes something by themselves.  

As I was listening, I find it interesting.  I was thinking it's a difference between USAn (the friend) and Chinese(my cousin and his GF, although they are USAns as well).  But then I thought of opposite examples from both sides as well.  If the thought was around American and Chinese, I think it's kind missing the point.  Like the previous Tiger Mom discussion.  I bet there are some scary USAn moms too.  And I feel my cousin's upbringing kind of reflect his current attitude.  So, again, it's still a individual family styles, don't matter where you are from.