About Tony

by franderam

Tony sitting on the bed that he shares with his grandmother.

This is 续德寿 (Tony). Right now, he is an 8^th grade student at Big Dynasty Mountain Middle School in one of the poorest counties in Yunnan, China. I greatly admire Tony—he has a spirit that contrasts his outward shyness and frail body. Despite his mother’s suicide, his father’s severe alcoholism, his poor household, his lacking Mandarin, and the black coal stove next to the bed he shares with his grandma, Tony works hard every single day for a better future – his better future.

Tucked away deep in the terraced mountains that line the Lancang River (known to those outside of China as the Mekong River), close to the border of Myanmar, the Big Dynasty Mountain West Town is far away from just about everything. Located three hours away from the nearest city means that the closest bookstore, the nearest eyeglass store, established clothing stores, large-scale restaurants, knick-knack shops, and grocery stores are all also three hours away. Refrigerated milk and yogurt are special treats when families decide to make the long bus ride that twists and turns sharply with the curves around the mountain, which might be as often as two or three times a year. Comparatively, one might say the people in the town are well-off. Tony lives yet another three hour walk up and down a mountain outside of the town, a trek that he makes by himself twice every weekend to leave and arrive at the middle school.

Last fall, I was able to make the hike with his banzhuren, a kind of homeroom teacher whose responsibilities are more akin to a second parent than teacher, to his village.  The purpose of the visit was to better understand Tony’s life at home, the situation of his parents, and to encourage both parties to keep Tony studying past graduation, a result of which over 30% of Big Dynasty Mountain’s students will likely not achieve. Before the visit, the only things I knew about Tony was that his Mandarin was not so fluent, as most people in the village speak only the local dialect, and that I had not seen him wear anything that does not have a hole somewhere or a shirt that isn’t a hand-me-down. The jacket he is wearing in the photo was his father’s and does not fit well—the fabric droops loosely over his small shoulders and stretches down to his knees.

In his first semester of semester of 7^th grade, Tony had a fiercely quiet disposition. He would copy notes, sometimes incorrectly (I later found that his eyesight was not very good), but never answer or ask questions in class. When I called on him, his responses were stuttered and mumbled and would not meet my eyes. His grades in all subjects were in the bottom rung of the class. Still, he tried hard and never acted out in class.

His efforts paid off slowly. First, I noticed a gradual change in his Mandarin, which was helped by some students correcting him in class. Then, I noticed that he raised his hand at least once in every class to answer a question. When I set up an English Club and invited students to submit an application, he was the first in his class to do so. I accepted the application from his hands and heard his strong and resolute voice, saying: “Teacher, this is my application.” At the time, I looked forward to reading it. Near the end of the first semester, Tony had become an active participant and always said his responses with determination. Miss Cai’s and my second purpose of his home visit was to find out how he had come about this change.

Having been to some other students’ homes before Tony’s, I knew to expect his family to speak only the local dialect and to have rustic housing conditions. When Miss Cai and I entered into the courtyard of his residence, we were aghast. The house had paint peeling off, the front entrance was blackened by the coal stove inside the kitchen, chunks of lumber and other farmer’s tools were strewn on the ground, and empty beer bottles lined the perimeter. Tony has no desk, light, or scratch paper. He has no toys and no collections. He doesn’t even have his own room; instead, he sleeps on a hay cot with his grandma next to the burning coal stove in the kitchen. Shocked into silence, I could do nothing but here him recount his family’s story.

When he was young his mother committed suicide and left the house and its up-keep to her husband, as well as her mother and father. Later, they helped Tony’s mute uncle also move into the family so he could be taken care of. Faced by the daunting pressure of the household, Tony’s father started drinking heavily and spent the family’s money on alcohol. When I talked with Tony about this a few days ago, his father had gradually sold of the family’s ten cows for booze and eventually lost his job as a mechanic. While Tony is away at school, his grandmother takes care of the chores. But when Tony returns on the weekend, he cooks food for the entire household. There were more stories to tell, but I asked him curiously what his dream was. He responded while looking me square in the eyes: “I want to leave Yunnan and go to college.”

Tony is special not because he views his education and learning as a “way out” of his dismal situation, but because he knows that the short practice worksheets and answering questions in class are how one takes small steps to reach his goal. Although his favorite subjects are politics and geography, he pays careful attention his more difficult subjects: math and English. He told me that his dream can only be realized if he puts fear aside and seek new ways to learn.

Tony really impressed not just his teachers but also his classmates last spring when he went from being second-to-last in the grade ranking to number four on his English exam. He routinely seeks out Miss Cai and myself to drill off the most important grammar and vocabulary for each unit. If he has a question, I always know that he will never be afraid to ask it. Students seek him out, now, when they have questions. I, myself, am no longer afraid that he will not understand something or he shyly looks down and stutters. However, I worry about the exhausting road ahead of him, which includes extremely difficult entrance exams into high school and, later on, college. Tony’s road in life will stretch beyond the control of Miss Cai’s and my own abilities to help him. Right now, I can only teach Tony of a compassionate world outside Big Dynasty Mountain Middle School. I sincerely hope that this kind of world is real.