Alumni News & Notes
Claudia Carroll, Ed.M.'02: Gypsy to Rock Star
by Lory Hough
A 69-year-old teacher who recently lived in a senior citizens apartment complex in California isn't your typical VIP, but in August, when Claudia Carroll, Ed.M.'02, walked into a small public elementary school in Yongding Village, a rural area of Taiwan, to teach art and English, she was treated better than a very important person: she was treated like a bona fide rock star.
Students went out of their way to meet her and giggled when she said hello. New coworkers gave gifts and brought friends and family for a glimpse. Home-cooked meals appeared on a daily basis. The local newspaper interviewed her and a press conference with the Ministry of Education was planned. One day, the local postmaster even asked for her autograph. "I'm fan," he said, "because you leave home and come all the way here to teach our kids English."
A self-described gypsy at heart, Carroll said she wasn't prepared for the huge welcome she got (and continues to get, a few months into her year-long commitment).
"I'm surprised beyond belief. I keep wondering if the bubble will burst, but it just gets better," she said through e-mail from her apartment, a two-bedroom attached to the school.
When asked why Taiwan, Carroll said, "I didn't really choose Taiwan: it chose me."
Initially she thought she might teach in Mexico, where she had spent a year teaching privately, or Paris, one of her favorite cities, but the need in Taiwan was greater, and, she admits, the benefits and salary couldn't be beat.
"The Ministry of Education in Taiwan is absolutely dedicated to bringing English-language teachers to Taiwan, and so it offers them a wonderfully appealing situation," she said. "I have housing on the school campus and national health insurance. I was given roundtrip airfare and my salary is direct-deposited into a Taiwan bank."
But the best benefit she gets isn't as tangible (or bankable): while she's given the freedom to teach the art she's interested in, she also gets full respect from her students.
"I never actually wanted to teach in public schools [in the United States], as my interests in the arts -- perfect for the Ed School's Arts in Education program -- were very eclectic, and I neither wanted to teach just one subject, nor, frankly, have to deal with the discipline problems in U.S. public schools," she said.
At the three Taiwanese schools she teaches at, discipline is not an issue.
"The children are expected to behave. This is not to say the class does not get lively. It does, but respect for the teacher is paramount," Carroll said. It's a culture where shoes are taken off at the door, she said. "Last week, amusing to me, I taught an English workshop to the principal and the teachers in my bare feet!"
The students are even expected to take turns sweeping the classroom floors.
"The children have fun doing it. Each child has his or her own little red broom and dust pan and take a proprietary interest in them. Two children each day get the 'coveted' assignment of sweeping up in the teacher/staff office, and they love that," she said.
Asked what will happen in a year, when her contract ends, she said, "Oh it would be very difficult to leave now. But I just live life one day at a time. I know I would never want to return to being a 'senior citizen' again, living in a lonely apartment with no lively kids and educator friends around!"
To read Carroll's online blog and to see more of her photos, go to http://claudia-carroll.typepad.com/taiwan.
About the Article
A version of this article originally appeared in the Winter 2007 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
PHOTOGRAPH: LIN SHU FANG
