Learning lessons for the future

More young people are volunteering to work in less-developed areas, driven by a desire to devote themselves to the country’s future.

At the same time, they gain an education about national conditions at the grassroots level, which may help refine their values.

Universities offer a range of volunteer programs that encourage students to teach in less-developed areas during the summer and winter vacations, or even for a year.

The students start out with high ambitions, but sometimes they are frustrated when they meet unexpected obstacles and they feel powerless in the face of less-developed local conditions.

Because they need to adjust their mindsets and get back on the right track, they grow as individuals during this process of change.

Zhang Xiuli, 46, grew up in Shanxi province. In 1995, she began studying at Xiamen University in Fujian province, having chosen the school because she dreamed of living in a coastal city.

When she graduated in 1999, she volunteered to teach for a year in an underdeveloped part of Xiji, a township in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

She recalled that on the sleeper train to Ningxia, she and the other volunteers were excited, imagining that their help would bring great changes to local children’s lives.

However, she began to doubt herself after the first test because the students’ grades were not as good as she had expected. She was not sure she could survive her time in Ningxia if she wasn’t a good teacher.

At the same time, she felt that life was unfair for people born in that backward place.

“It was then that I realized people can’t decide where they come from. I encouraged my students to see the outside world through education,” she said, recalling her experiences all those years ago.

She now works at Xiamen University, but she often thinks of her peers in Ningxia. She stayed for a year, but the local teachers will work there for life.

Zhang’s experience reminded me of a volunteer program I undertook while studying at Xiamen University.

During the 2015 summer break, I was one of about 20 students who traveled to a town in rural Xiamen for two weeks to provide afterschool courses for local children.

Although Xiamen is a developed city, there are still many left-behind children in the rural areas who need access to summer activities.

I overcame many difficulties there, including a lack of internet access, mosquitoes and the intense schedule. I also experienced, for the first time in my life, planting rice in the fields like the villagers, standing ankle-deep in mud.

That experience was a valuable part of my life. While teaching the students, we were also receiving life lessons in overcoming difficulties.

The experience of working at the grassroots level also broadened my horizons and provided insights I could never have discovered in the college library.

I am very happy to know that many students from my alma mater are so excited by the TV series Minning Town, which told the story of a volunteer teacher from the university, that they have also offered to teach in poor areas.

Nowadays, many college students are willing to add volunteer work to their graduation choices. I think they will gain a deeper understanding of national conditions after seeing a different China, a country in the throes of change.

Like me, most university students are their family’s only child, and they have rarely met difficulties.

As such, they have to adapt to the rural working and living environment by themselves. By undertaking volunteer work, they learn valuable lessons in life and become more down-to-earth.