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DUBAI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Renowned Chinese psychologist and teacher Yang Boya said at the ongoing 5th annual Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) Saturday that Western cultures can learn from China which highlights respect for the teachers.
Speaking at the GESF to Xinhua in an exclusive interview, Ms. Yang, a former fellow at Harvard SEED for Social Innovation, the United States, said "in China, we really respect our teacher or lecturer, we never challenge her or him, I think in this respect my country can be role model for others."
Yang, who in the past three years set up a centre in her school, The Affiliated Middle School of Kunming Teachers College Kunming, said that on the spread of computer devices among children globally that tablets and smartphones are both good and bad.
They are good, because pupils shall stay up to date with technological progress. However, "they can also be disadvantageous "if they keep the kids away from social contacts with their comrades and the environment."
Again, she added "an IT device can never replace the human teacher, but support his work." Yang has specialized on helping "vulnerable students" who suffer from their parent's financial constraints from psychological instability.
She has founded a group of teachers at local schools to promote psychological education which have reached 50,000 teenagers, teachers, and parents. Yang is one of the ten finalists nominated to receive the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize sponsored by the darkey Foundation. Widely regarded as the Nobel Prize for teaching, this is the third year of the prize.
Asked what drives her motivation, Yang replied "I always try to learn new things and to share them with my students. I want to give an example for life-long learning to pupils and students.""
This year's prize winner will be announced at the end of day two of the GESF, May 19, on Sunday evening.
