Celebrating 10 Years in Fort Worth - Texas Wesleyan School of Law ...

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Fulbright Lecturer Shares Her Experiences Teaching Behind the great WaLL Last February, Professor Malinda Seymore, along with her two daughters, Zoe and Maya, left for Xiamen University in Xiamen, China, where Seymore began serving as a Fulbright lecturer as part of the Fulbright Scholar Program. During her stay, Seymore taught three courses to graduate level students – American Constitutional Law, Women in American Law, and American Criminal Procedure. Seymore and her daughters arrived in China on February 26 and returned to the U.S. on August 1. As Seymore enters “two brave new worlds – China and blogging” – we follow her adventures via this brief series of capsulized excerpts, in which bracketed summaries are followed by italicized personal reflections in her own words. To get the whole story, visit Seymore’s original, dated entry blog, complete with photos at http://xiamenadventure.blogspot. com/2007/02/its-almost-time.html. This touching, often humorous and engaging account will transport you to her unforgettable “Xiamen Adventure.” Although this story deals only with Seymore’s teaching experiences, in the full text of her blog you’ll also find a fascinating journey through cultural, political, and personal frontiers that will make you an eyewitness to the struggles, triumphs, inspirations, and revelations of her five unforgettable months in China. Orientation to “the Orient” [After officials from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou presented their overview of the social, political, and economic realities in China – with an emphasis on South China, home to Xiamen – Seymore was on her own for lunch. The afternoon orientation session, presented by a speaker from the Ministry of Education, covered issues in Chinese higher education. He tells them that one of China’s priorities is the “internationalization” of higher education, and obviously, the Fulbright program is part of that. But another thing China is interested in is attracting more foreign students, apparently liberalizing visa requirements for students.] “... Something to think about if you’ve always wanted to learn Chinese!” Constitutional Law [Seymore began with the basics of what a constitution does and how it regulates 1) the relationships between the three branches of government, 2) the states and the federal government, and 3) the people and the government.] “... Although the students seemed familiar with the first and third items, the concept of federalism – how the Constitution structurally protects individual liberties – seemed new to them. ... One student asked a very good question about “checks and balances” in relation to the Iraq war – did Congress agree with the executive’s decision to go to war? So that was fun.” [Although the tradition in Chinese law schools is for the professor to just lecture, and students are also concerned that what they say in class could be reported by other students to the powers that be, Seymore ponders how she can get her classes to talk.] 2 “... It’s important for me to get them to talk, since it is frankly boring just to lecture! It’s also about the only way I can figure out if they are understanding the material. [Her solution? Moot court arguments in class.] “... That way, they would have to talk, and they would be making the arguments that the lawyer representing their side of the case would make, not their own arguments, which was a form of plausible deniability.” [In their study of congressional power – Article I of the U.S. Constitution – Seymore assigned her class the famous 1819 case of M’Culloch v. Maryland. The question: Does Congress have the power to incorporate a bank? (“This case is really about how broad or narrow the power of Congress to legislate should be, not really about banks at all.”) Seymore told half the class to represent M’Culloch and half to represent Maryland.] “... I was THRILLED by the quantity and quality of the presentations. I actually got everyone representing M’Culloch to speak! We ran out of time before the other side could argue, but they’ll have a shot this week. …” Women & Law [In Seymore’s first Women in American Law class, it was hard to tell how many students were actually enrolled – several students who had not registered
Photos by Malinda Seymore story feature asked if they could sit in and listen – she even discovered three faculty members sitting in!] “There were about 14 in the room, but only nine on the class list I passed around. VERY interesting.” [After fielding personal questions from the women in the class (why did she adopt? why was she single? and – her favorite – what was she looking for in a husband?), Seymore turns the questions back on them, using the issue of marriage as a way to talk about autonomy – and how the ability to choose a career instead of marriage or a career together with marriage was one of the issues that drove the second wave of feminism in the U.S.] [Discussions revolved around the legal status of women in Anglo-American tradition prior to reforms in the 1800s; how women essentially ceased to have a legal existence after marriage, could not own property, sue or be sued, enter into contracts, etc.] “... This was all quite foreign to them – in some ways having a “rule of law” come late to your country allows you to skip that stage in the LEGAL treatment of women, no matter how badly you treat women in FACT.” [In a brief overview of the contrasting culture of marriage in China, whether marriage in China was better for men or for women, and whether men or women in China had an easier life, the class agreed that men in China had an easier life and benefited more from marriage than women did.] “ ... So, all in all I think this will be a great class. It will be especially fun for me to learn about differences between Chinese and American culture, and to discover the similarities, too.” teachable moment in the midst of tragedy [When Seymore overhears her Constitutional Law students are speaking – in Chinese – with the distinct English words “Virginia” and “shootings” sprinkled in, she seized the opportunity to link this tragic event to constitutional law – and what the U.S. Constitution has to say about guns, as well as the related societal and the legal issues.] “... I don’t mean this to sound so coldly clinical – it was, of course, a horrific tragedy – but my job as a teacher is to see what lessons, if any, we can draw that are relevant to the subject matter of my class. Thus, a little Home Away from Home Living in China for five months was an adjustment for Seymore and her daughters. Their balcony came complete with a washing machine, and like every other balcony in China, it was common to see clothes hanging out to dry. The Seymore family living room housed the refrigerator near the desk in the alcove. Also pictured is the room Seymore’s daughters, Zoe and Maya, called home. This photo was taken from their door. “The cleaners had just changed the sheets, so their comforters are folded at the foot of their beds, and their blankets are folded at the head of the bed,” Seymore said. “I guess that’s how the cleaners let us know the sheets had been changed because usually the beds were made.” The final picture is of Seymore’s kitchen, somewhat smaller than she is accustomed to, and if she needed something from the refrigerator, she could, of course, retrieve it from the living room. 3 intellectual detachment is needed even in the face of horror.” What Defines a “Gun Culture?” [Seymore asked her students if they worried that such a thing could happen at Xiada Law School; they assure her it could never happen there – China does not allow individuals to possess guns. She asks about the guns carried by armored car guards – what if one of them went crazy? “The guard would act out his craziness another way,” they said. “He would not think of shooting lots of people with the gun.” China, they insist, just doesn’t have a “gun culture” like the United States.] “… Really, I said ... then why do my children come home from school each day playing bang-bang games with their fingers as guns? They did not do this in America.” [The students told Seymore that children playing gun games proves that there is no “gun culture” in China – they don’t have to be taught that guns are dangerous because they will most likely never even see a gun, much less own one.] “… I will have to say in support of their “no gun culture” argument, that in all of my Chinese TV viewing I haven’t seen a single gun in any show.” Changes in attitude [Leaving behind the slightly dry “powers of government” material, Seymore’s Constitutional Law class is enmeshed in learning about constitutional guarantees of fundamental rights and individual liberties.] Loving v. Virginia [In their study of Loving v. Virginia (where the Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to ban interracial marriage because of a fundamental right to marry), Seymore asked her students whether interracial marriage was considered a problem in China. They assured her that it was not. She then asked how their parents would react if they were to marry a Caucasian person. Although the men said this would be no problem, the women said their parents would see it as a big problem – that the children would not be Chinese and would not be raised to understand Chinese values. This led to a great exploration of what it meant to be Chinese. Is ethnicity enough, or must you have language and culture as well?
Page 1 and 2: Texas Wesleyan fall/winter 2007 Tex
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