Silver Bow Kiwanis Kiwanis Club Meeting, Oct 8, '13

12:00-1:00 Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Today we were joined by Matt, Laura, David, and Paul from the Circle K.

Mark announced that there is a Circle K meeting tonight and a Key Club meeting on Thursday.

Matt also handed out several more of the long-service recognition pins and certificates to people who could not make it to our installation dinner last Friday, as well as presented some new member certificates to people who hadn't had their certificates presented yet.

We had a drawing for a shirt from the 50/50 proceeds, and the winner was Paul Tash.

Paul Vang introduced our speaker, Pat Munday, author of "Montana's Last Best River," a book about the Big Hole and a professor at Montana Tech. Pat spoke to us about his six months in China as a Fulbright Scholar.

The country of China is about the size of the 48 contiguous states, geographically, but has more than three times the population of the entire United States. The school Pat was teaching at had about 65,000 students, and he was teaching in a graduate program specifically targeting minority students. There were over 50 minorities represented in the program.

There is no sex education at all in China, even from parents. It was forbidden under early communist rule. This has resulted in a very naive young population, to the point where some mothers do not know what to expect during pregnancy or childbirth at all, and may not even understand how they came to be pregnant. This is also resulting in a surprisingly high rate of unwanted pregnancy in college women. Some schools are now considering a course in human sexuality as a possible undergraduate elective for some colleges.

In contrast to the US, college students in China are predominantly female. Only about 10% of the current college students are men. This is believed to be because with China's "one child" policy grandparents dote on their grandchildren excessively. Boys are often bought video game systems and encouraged to play and enjoy themselves to the extent that their grades slip, and they do not meet the college entrance requirements. Girls, on the other hand, and often given more practical toys and expected to be more proper and formal overall, resulting in better grades.

However, all the students in the college are very dedicated to their work and expect to have classes and homework take nearly all their time. Recreation time is not expected. Despite this, the students still have a lot of fun. Soccer and ping-pong are very popular, and whenever there is a moment of free time, people will break out their cell phones and start Karaoke.

Presentation

Pat Munday, Academic Youth Culture in China

Menu

French Dip and Fries

Attendees

26

Event Updated

9:49 Wednesday, October 9, 2013