Students, facing questions, keep their heads down

Ralph Jennings is a journalist and long time resident of China. He currently lives in Taipei. From mid-2000 to 2006, he had an advice column in the 21st Century weekly newspaper in which he answered letters from thousands of students and young professionals. Below is a letter from the archive, with an introduction by Jennings.

Chinese college students who show for lectures, sit in the front rows and finish their homework naturally know the answers to questions raised in class. But they are so afraid of the humiliation that would follow from a wrong answer, or from unpolished delivery of the right one, that they freeze up when given chances to shine. The risk of laughter from the class turns the correct answer into silence. And what if the teacher joined the jeers? Kendra is tired of hiding from her own superior knowledge.

Dear Ralph,

It seems that I have a self-contradictory personality. Every time in class, I really want to raise my hand and answer the teacher’s questions. But almost every time I back out due to lack of courage at the last minute. Also, I feel that I am no cleverer than my classmates. I have become introverted and sometimes dare not to share my ideas in front of them, which never happened in senior high school. Can you give me some advice?
-Kendra, via e-mail