"Taiwan is NOT a part of China!": The poisoned professionalism in education

"Taiwan is a country, you know. Taiwan is NOT a part of China!", after bringing up the fact that he had lived in Taiwan for many years, the online English tutor said to his Chinese student. This comment immediately triggered the student's mother, who was sitting right next to her son during that virtual class. "Taiwan IS a part of China, sir. If you keep....", the response was again interrupted by the tutor's claim that Taiwan is independent of China. The heated argument ended with the English tutor giving the parent the middle finger and exiting the virtual classroom.

I ran into this clip posted by a Taiwanese mainstream news channel on YouTube. As expected, many people in the comment section praised the English tutor for bravely enacting his freedom of speech. Some comments continued on arguing why or why not Taiwan is considered a part of China. What crossed my mind, though, was how this kind of inflammatory debate has become increasingly misused as a badge for supporting democracy and a political tool to exacerbate the already polarized politics involving Taiwan and China.

Politics in the Classroom

The fact that the tutor expressed his support for Taiwan so naturally and confidently in front of the Chinese student shows how this attitude is deeply ingrained in him:

If encounter someone who potentially disproves Taiwan's independence (e.g., a Chinese student) -> then EDUCATE that person and EXPRESS your stance!

My first reaction was to question the professionalism of the tutor. He obviously neglected his duty as an educator while turning the class session into a space for his political propaganda. Was his intention to become viral on the internet? Did he feel a sense of mission to "correct" a political stance that he disagreed with when he saw one? Or did his years living in Taiwan cultivate his aggressive, anti-China sentiment? There are many possibilities behind his decision, but nothing justifies the inappropriate timing that potentilaly poisons any noble intentions. Think about it, even if he intended to "educate" the Chinese student, had he considered the actual effectiveness of this behavior? Perhaps due to his action, the student's parents would only try harder to indoctrinate their son about how Taiwan is indeed a part of China. In the end, the only thing he changed was his employment status (he was immediately fired after the incident).

Poking China with Taiwan

Another phenomenon that I wish to point out is the "Poking China" sentiment, which is substantially reflected in the comment section of the video. Many who commented simply ignored the unprofessionalism of the tutor and saw the video as an opportunity to affirm their support and to mock the Chinese. Why do people feel so natural to use Taiwan's independence as an offense to the point that they lose focus of the issue?

Well, if we look at both Taiwan and the Western media, we can see plenty of evidence that " "poking China" and "poking China with Taiwan have become trends in the media. In Taiwan, the media dedicates an entire genre to portraying the Chinese as uncivilized, close-minded, and brainwashed, especially when the subject of Taiwan is involved. Words such as "Chinese aunties"(describing older Chinese women who are aggressive and have no sense of social decency) and "little pinkies"(describing Chinese people who have a strong sense of nationalism and are easily offended) are often used in the titles: "Chinese auntie freaks out on the plane"; "Chinese couple freaks out over 'anti-China national day' sign on the street in Taiwan". "Little pinkies freaks out in a hotel in Japan over the employees not expressing Taiwan is a part of China; "Little pinkies disturbes British pianist's street performance". Namewee and Kimberley Chen's 2021 big hit It Might Break Your Pinky Heart made fun of how easily Chinese people are offended when it comes to protecting their nationalism, and since then has accumulated 73 million views on YouTube. In the U.S., it is also common for politicians, comedians, and talk show hosts to intentionally bring up Taiwan when making fun of China.

Of course, I'm not justifying the irrational behaviors of those Chinese people involved in the incidents, nor am I denying that some Chinese also actively engage in inflammatory attacks and pokes on the media, nor am I generalizing the anti-China sentiment to all Taiwanese and Americans. However, it's important to see what these trends indirectly give birth to: they make criticizing China and bringing up Taiwan not simply showing support for democracy anymore; the intention behind them now contains a flavor of simply wanting to mock and trigger the Chinese, and begging for attention and support from the internet. These intentions also attach a radical, aggressive emotion to this subject, resulting in people's rationality often being overridden when facing relevant social interactions. Ultimately, this results in some people feeling that it's "just" to explicitly make a politically correct acknowledgment (e.g., Taiwan is independent) regardless of the social context.

However, as we can see from the tutor's case, even a political belief that is widely accepted and considered "moral and democratic" loses its value when used in an inappropriate setting. Regardless of the nature of the message, a clear line needs to be drawn between education and politics. Even if sometimes politics are inevitably relevant to the discussions in the room, it should be examined with a distanced objective (instead of being forced upon the student), and the original purpose of the discussion must not lose focus. Democracy and freedom of speech are not excuses for us to abuse our political beliefs as we please. If we carelessly allow political passion to flood into education for the sake of affirming our identity, then we are no better than members of a cult who are trying to brainwash others to empower our religion.

Thus, we need to be aware of the shortcuts that our lazy brains construct ("duh, of course you should be on Taiwan's side when it comes to the debate on its independence, so praise the tutor's bravery and don't worry about the rest), which are often products of the highly concentrated and opinionated political media that are pushed to us. Finally, despite there might be instances where we feel a strong urge to "correct" someone else's political belief, we must always stop and ask ourselves a few questions:

1. Do I feel a rising sense of emotion that might sneakily creep into my decision-making process?

2. Is this an appropriate time and space, with the right audience to make my political claim?

3. What is my motivation for making my political claim? Does it effectively fulfill my intention in the bigger picture?