US teacher values child-parent link

Donald Cohn

Email of the writer: 1793367393@qq.com

THERE is a growing but worrisome tendency nowadays that Chinese parents are sacrificing time with their children to make enough money to be able to provide high-quality living conditions, which is getting them away from supervising their children, said Donald Cohn, an American who teaches literature at Shenzhen Yaohua Experimental School in Futian District.

“From my experience [of teaching], the influence of lack of parental link for a child could last a lifetime and even spread to the third-generation,” the 50-year-old who hails from Washington D.C. said. “Parents need to make the best use of their time to stay with their children because they need day-to-day inspiration in growth.”

“Chinese children are very intelligent. That’s great, but I have to say, generally, they are more adept at answering questions than figuring out questions,” he said. “What I want them to learn is the ability of free thinking.”

In his opinion, the ability to think independently is very important for a student.

Chinese and Asian history was one of Cohn’s majors during his college years in the United States, making him grow close to the ancient country.

In search of a solution to the mystery that had perplexed him for years — what has kept China working for thousands of years — he decided to see the country with his own eyes in the early 1990s. Shenzhen was the first city Cohn visited on his maiden trip to China in 1993, and he has come to the city frequently ever since.

A witness to the city’s takeoff, he said he was thrilled by the improvements in the social status of Chinese women in the past years.

“I’m happy to see that Chinese women are well respected,” he said.