Tradition is the best argument for new ideas

China is a seamless blend of traditional and modern ideas, with people drawing on both to achieve their goals. Sometimes, though, people can get mired in the past, and won't accept new ideas without a lot of effort.

A few years ago I worked at what was, for want of a better term, an English "factory". It had an amusing name, and it basically worked like a large sieve - students were poured in, their money was extracted, and they emerged with a smattering of extra English.

It was an extremely frustrating place to work in - entangled in meetings, bureaucracy and red tape. Hours were spent wrangling over minute points, and tempers would boil over.

It did nothing for my blood pressure, and I wasn't happy there.

For instance, I'd have a bright idea, such as getting the students together and having an informal party, where they could meet each other, and mingle with people they don't usually have classes with."

Being new and naive, I took it to the school's Chinese leader, who listened to my idea, and said: "Well, Stuart, that sounds interesting, but we can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because we've never done anything like that before."

And so I would go away, dejected, and forget about the whole thing. My outlook on teaching was tarnished, and the work became just mind-numbing repetition.

Eventually, my time at the school finished, and I went on to pastures new - only to find the same mindset was in play there.

This time, however, I'd done my homework. When I was younger, I watched a clever, witty TV series, Yes, Minister. The basic premise of the show is of a newly elected politician trying to get his ideas made into policy. In his path was the entire civil service, which had an entrenched mentality about preventing new things occurring.

I spent some serious time on the sofa, watching it and taking notes as to how things transpired. I looked at the "something must be done, but nothing must be done for the first time" problem, and came up with a solution.

Tradition!

I know, tradition is the idea that something is done repeatedly because that's how it's always been done in the past but how did something become a tradition to begin with?

Because someone was brave enough, or foolish enough, or just downright stubborn about doing something their way that they went ahead and did it, and other people started to do it that way too.

So, I adapted my party idea and took it to the leader and said: "Let's have an annual Spring Festival party - and we can theme it around each year's animal, so it's always different!"

After a couple of meetings, the idea went ahead, and the students started to look forward to the party. Rat decorations were made, and cheesy recipes found.

The party itself was an absolute hit, with students having a great time playing "pin the tail on the rat", and generally squeaking about the place. I even managed to find a Remy the Rat - the star of the Disney film, Ratatouille - costume to wear!

Afterwards, the leader took me aside, and told me what a wonderful job I'd done of putting their idea into action.

A new tradition had been born at the school.

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