I audio-recorded all the classes. Here's the transcript on our discussion of the Great Wall and labor. I've edited out repetitions and rephrasings, and points where the conversation wandered off topic. (I wish I could just post the recording, but I can't because I refer to the students by name.)
Me: "Okay, so I have one question... you guys learned a little bit about the great wall last week... how was the great wall built? I'm curious to hear what you guys have to say about how that happened."
Student: (Her voice is too soft to hear in the recording, but she mentions that Emperor Shi Huangdi "made the wall").
Me: "Okay, and how about the second part of this question? Where did the labor come from? Do you guys know that word? What does 'labor' mean"?
Student: (His voice is to soft to hear in the recording, but he mentions workers).
Me: "Yeah... where did the work come from, who did the work?
Student: "Commoners did the work, and a lot of people died during it".
Me: "So commoners did the work... average people did the work... the people who did the labor, did they choose to do the labor?"
Many students: "No, Shi Huangdi made them do it!"
Me: "If Shi Huangdi is forcing peasants to build the wall, how do you think he feels about them?"
Student: "He feels superior! He doesn't want them in his life."
Me: "So, what she is pointing out is that because Shi Huangdi thinks he is superior, she doesn't think he'd want to spend time with the peasants or go hang out with them. Because he feels superior, he feels he can force them to do things. Do you think the wealthy people in ancient China also felt like Shi Huangdi? Would they have dinner with peasants, or let their children marry a peasant?"
Student: "I don't think so. They probably think the peasants are stupid."
Another student: "That wall is stupid. It's not going to keep anyone out. They can just use ladders!"
Me: "But the horses can't climb ladders. They're worried about nomads invading with horses. The wall keeps the horses out."
The students eyes lit up like he had just had a major realization, which made me laugh inside.
I was viewing this five minute opening conversation as a way to set the stage for the theme of prejudice that week. I didn't want to make any explicit connection between forced labor and potential prejudice, because I wanted to see what students would come up with themselves. Following this short discussion, we moved on to some journal entry reflections on prejudice: I was curious to see if any students would, following that discussion, mention that sometimes wealthy and powerful people had prejudices against poor people. That didn't turn out to be the case... a story for the next post.
