2008 Woodie Awards
Utica College Welcomes New Staff
Amanda Bertram
Issue date: 9/21/05 Section: Professors
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Amanda Bertram: Tell me about your education?
Dr. Desheng Zong: I received my Ph.D. at Tulane University in 1998. Before I did my graduate work there, I went to Nankeen University in Tianjin, China.
AB: You said you went to Tulane, which from what I understand is now under water?
DZ: Yes, a large portion of the city is. For the most part the college is dry and straight. Mostly it's the street across from it.
AB: Do you still have friends in New Orleans?
DZ: I have old professors there. I have a very good friend there. She's a fairly old person. When I first went to Tulane they were my host family. They had a program for that, which I don't think they do anymore, but we became very good friends. Her husband died a few years ago and just before the storm hit, I called her and left a message on her phone. I haven't heard from her so far but I think she's ok.
AB: What's different from the education you received in China compared to what you received in the U.S.?
DZ: Basically, the format. In China, students are used to taking notes and they come to class prepared to take notes. They don't ask a lot of questions. You don't have a lot of classroom discussion. They're used to that. They take exams all the time. It's the tradition. You don't want to encourage the students to say whatever they want to say, you know? In China, there's a proper way to learn things. You learn knowledge. Knowledge is something that's passed down from generation to generation. There, you don't ask questions before you thoroughly master things. But here, the idea of knowledge is something you pass to others. For example, here you talk about certain issues, ethical issues and what's wrong with them. That's how you learn, you get clear about them, you talk about it and you don't worry about not being able to get what others are saying and you think that's knowledge. The other thing is you do a lot of homework and you solve a lot of problems and then you acquire knowledge.
AB: Interesting. There's a big difference. What would you say is the most rewarding thing about teaching?