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American Dream Profile Series: Xiqiang Hong

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Xiqiang Hong lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966 and eventually immigrated to the United States. I was given the privilege to talk to him about his thoughts on the American Dream and how his life experiences shaped his perception.

When I spoke with him, he was very friendly, but also very practical and to the point. Hong was born in the Fujian Province in China. He now lives in Beverly, where he moved in 1994.

“I came to Massachusetts for a postdoctoral job at New England Biolabs,” he said, “Before that, I came to California in 1983 to study for my PhD graduate study.”

Hong now works at Cell Signaling Technology in Danvers. Cell Signaling produces reagents such as antibodies that are used to study the cell signaling pathways that affect human health. Hong started working at the company when it was started, as it branched off from New England Biolabs.

We eventually began to talk about events in life that have impacted us both positively and negatively. He told me about his life as a teenager during the Cultural Revolution in China and it was extremely eye-opening.

“Before my college education, I had only 6 years of schooling, 5 years of primary school and 1 year of middle school (in 1966),” Hong explained to me, “In 1966, when the Culture Revolution broke out and schooling was stopped in China, I was in my 6 th year of schooling.”

The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement that’s goal was to preserve Communism in China. It also aimed to get rid of any remaining traces of capitalism and traditional Chinese society. Schools and universities were shut down and a movement known as the “Down to the Countryside Movement.” This movement rounded up privileged and educated children and teenagers and sent them to work on farms. Hong was one of these children, just 13 at the time.

“In the next 10 years, nobody would think there was any chance for education restoration at all in future. But I still kept learning knowledge through self-teaching in my spare time. It was viewed by many as ‘useless’” Hong said.

Hong spoke about how he chose to keep educating himself, though it did not seem that he would ever get the chance to attend college (interestingly enough, Hong described himself to me as a person who is not very ambitious).

“But, I did not do it because it was useful in terms of preparing myself for a college admission,” Hong said, “I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought knowledge was useful, and it’s shameful to just let the time slip through.”

This proved to be a very critical decision for him, as a member of what is sometimes called China’s “lost generation,” which Hong mentioned.

“Then in 1977 the country had the power structure changed. The new administration restored college education and I was able to pass the exam to be admitted to a college, whereas many of my peers (a group of 60 million youths) could not simply because they had stopped learning.”

His college education in China brought him to California in 1983, at the age of 30. There he completed a graduate study and obtained his PhD.  It was when he came to the USA, that he first heard of the term the “American Dream.”

“I can’t recall exactly when. But definitely after (probably not long after) coming to this country, from TV news reports, I believe.”

Hong is not sure if he believes in the concept of the American Dream completely, “Sort of. But before I came to the USA, I did not hear the word, though I certainly came with the idea of enjoying a great life opportunity.”

Hong also mentioned that back in China there is sort of the concept of the “Chinese Dream.”  This represents new opportunities that he himself did not have, leading to his moving to the United States. Here he has begun to form his own conception of the so-called “American Dream.”

When talking about his personal thoughts on the term he said that to him the American Dream means, “Opportunity and freedom to develop yourself.” Over time, he thinks he has learned what makes the American Dream work for him.

“More and more I affirm the belief that American Dream means not just opportunities but also hard work to make the dream come true. In Chinese, we have a saying similar to “You reap what you sow” but in the good connotation.”

The last thing Hong said to me was a summation of everything he spoke about.

“The essence of this story,” he said,  “I guess, is regardless of your environment and opportunities, sometimes you just have to do the thing you think you should be doing, even if it would seem useless practically. Then when the opportunity comes, you grab it.”

Editor’s Note: Sabine Smith is completing this series of profiles focused on the American Dream as an Honors Project for Journalism I. 

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Teaching during COVID

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Coronavirus has been raging on for a while and most schools have been closed down since March. With 11 million confirmed cases in the United States and with an average of roughly 150,000 cases a day it is perfectly reasonable to assume that classes will continue to be online for the foreseeable future. Obviously, remote learning can be a big shift, especially when teachers have never taught in or are unfamiliar with the online format.

Three teachers here at NECC, Professor Mark Reinhold, Professor Stephen Russell, and Professor Stephen Slaner, gave us some insight on what it was like to have to adapt to a new teaching model during the pandemic.

Mark Reinhold has been teaching for 22 years, 16 of which have been at NECC. He teaches a range of science classes, such as geology, physics, and chemistry. Reinhold talked about the struggles of adapting his classes.

Reinhold said, “Adapting to an on-line format last spring on such a short notice was considerably challenging. I am the type of professor that thrives on interacting with my students and adapting my class to the interests of the class based on those interactions.”

Reinhold also cited the biggest challenge for him as a science teacher was having to adapt labs into an online format, “The biggest challenge was probably adapting labs to an on-line format. I have specific labs I like students to do and without doing this face to face, students tend to struggle.”

Stephen Russell has been teaching for 23 years, 17 of which have been at NECC. He teaches history and government classes and has been conducting his U.S History and World Civ classes online. Russell said that the online format was not particularly new for him, as he has been teaching online classes since 2005.

He did however, state that he greatly altered the way he taught classes, specifically U.S History I and II. Russell said, “I considerably revised my U.S. History I and II on-line courses during the summer, partly to accommodate students who had not taken on-line courses before, but also to take into account the turmoil that the U.S. has been going through since the killing of George Floyd, the injustice that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and the challenges posed by the Trump movement.”

Stephen Slaner has been teaching for 37 years, 14 of which have been at NECC. He teaches history and government classes, two examples being American Government and Politics and The Vietnam War. Like Stephen Russell, Slaner has also had experience teaching online. He mentioned however that he has never taught completely online before.

Slaner talked about his biggest challenge with the online schooling was keeping students interested, he feels that it is more the stress of being in a worldwide pandemic than the on-line classes that causes students to lose focus. Slaner said, “The main challenge for me is to sustain student interest in the face of the pandemic. I don’t think the online aspect is as much of a problem as the pandemic.”

When talking about the disadvantages and advantages there was some overlap between answers. All three teachers agreed that one such advantage was flexibility.

Reinhold said, “There is a lot more flexibility especially for those who have to juggle jobs, families, and school. Being able to work when it’s convenient for the student is a huge asset.”

Similarly Russell said, “The advantage for the student is convenience. With the asynchronous format adopted by NECC, students can log into the class at their convenience within time frames set by each class.”

Slaner thinks that while the flexibility can be an advantage for students, it can also be a disadvantage for them. He said, “That also is a disadvantage in a way, because if students are unrealistic in their time management, they may fall behind in the course to the point where they drop out.”

This is a very scary time right now and clearly a lot is going on in the world. On-line classes are a change for many people, both student and teacher. However, for students it is important to not get frustrated as most teachers are new to an all on-line format. It is important to maintain good time management and communication.

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NECC students get out (or mail in) the vote

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With Election Day near, voting is especially critical. If you’ve already voted, whether you mailed it in or went to the polls, you’re good to go. But, if you haven’t it should be your top priority. 2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year, what with the global pandemic and our country’s two political parties being more divided than ever. It can be hard to decide how you are going to vote, who you are going to vote for, and when. Some people write off voting completely, but this is not a good idea.

The upcoming election arguably, has very high stakes, no matter which side you support. So far, this election has sparked many different reactions in citizens.

Many peoples’ first words when talking about the election run along the lines of worried or scared.

But, Janel D’Agata-Lynch, the director of Civic Engagement here at NECC, says otherwise.

“Well, I’m excited. You know it’s a really exciting time for people like me who are really into civic engagement and politics,” she said.  “There’s always a lot of information coming your way, you know, leading up to the election.”

She also spoke about the general excitement surrounding the actual day of the election, “I actually really look forward to Election Day and kind of watching what’s happening around the country and seeing results come in. It’s exciting,” she said.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on this Presidential Race, you may have tuned it to the recent debates. There have been three, one for the Vice-Presidential candidates and two for the Presidential candidates, the last of which took place on Thursday, October 22nd.

Some argue that the debates mean nothing, while others swear by them. D’Agata-Lynch sees merit on both sides.

“I think it’s important because the debates give insight to, you know, the candidates that are there. I wouldn’t say it should be the only information you get about the candidates, that’s for sure. Because sometimes, as much as I think the questions adhere to getting to understand more about the candidates positions on topics, their answers don’t always get there,” she said.  “Sometimes I think it actually gives you more insight to the personalities of the candidates than the content that you’re looking for. I think it’s great to learn about the candidates when they are able to put forward what their thoughts and opinions are on the issues at hand, but it also kind of gives you a sense of who they are as a person.”

She doesn’t think the debates should give you all your information though, “Then I also think it’s important to go to their campaign websites and read reliable news sources to learn more about the issues that you care about and where they stand on those issues.”

No matter who you want to cast your vote for, it’s important that you do. Some people are not totally sold on either candidate and therefore choose not to vote. Others just avoid voting all together. This doesn’t really get anything done. D’Agata-Lynch wants students at NECC to know why she personally finds voting so important.

“Well, you know, voting is something that a lot of people in the past fought for our right to have, for women, for people of color,” she said. “People labored to be able to get us this right to vote, to be able to weigh in and help decide how our society will function. So part of it I feel is sort of an obligation, for those who came before us and fought so hard for this and the other piece is I feel like we are very fortunate to live in a society that is a democracy in which our voices can be heard through voting. I want my voice to be heard. I want to weigh in on the issues that are important to me and of course, the Presidential Election is very important, but there’s a lot of other things on the ballot that are also very important this year. Some of which might even affect us more immediately than maybe even the Presidential Election, some of the ballot questions. I want to weigh in on that, I want to be able to put what I think out there. I know my votes may not win, but at least I know I tried to help weigh in on what I think would be best for us.”

Still, many citizens, young people especially, still seem very disinterested or are on the fence about voting. Some may be worried that with the pandemic and the many controversies surrounding this election, their vote may not really count. D’Agata-Lynch voiced her thoughts to these people.

“As far as the votes not counting I know that’s something that people struggle with, but ultimately if you vote the vote will be entered in. It will count on some level. Absolutely, they are going to count your vote.”

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Pandemic School: Learning during COVID

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Coronavirus has drastically changed the ways schools have been running. Throughout Haverhill and surrounding areas, schools are all going about opening in a very different way.

Three students, Violette Smith, Hannah Grace, and Sydney Wolbach all attend different schools in the area and give us some insight into what it is like to be a student during a global pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has been raging for over 7 months and has shown no sign of stopping. It has infected close to 40 million people and killed over 1 million. Schools officially shut down across the nation in March. Everyone was unsure of how long they would be closed.

Violette Smith, an early college student at Northern Essex Community College, remembers the day the college closed down in March.

“It was like a few days before we were scheduled to go on spring break. I was in history class and everybody got an alert on their phones saying that someone at NECC tested positive and in person classes were canceled. I remember we all were freaking out. Our professor just sort of said alright, bye guys and we all just booked it out of class. There were just students all waiting to get picked up or to get on the bus and everyone was really confused. But, it was kind of all in a lighthearted joking manner. I don’t think any of us knew how long we would be out of school for.”

But, fairly quickly Smith and other students at NECC realized they weren’t going to be back anytime soon. Pretty soon the school was closed down for the rest of the semester and classes were to be continued completely online.

“The teachers took about a week to transition to online learning,” Smith recalled on starting remote learning, “Overall, it was a pretty smooth transition. I still got a lot from all of my classes and I think my teachers handled the quick switch great. I do remember though at the start of the summer classes it was still up in the air whether we’d be doing live classes or not, which looking back is pretty funny because obviously we’re still all remote. But, I think that’s a good choice. I think that’s definitely what’s safest and that’s the most important. And personally, I’ve been doing fine with remote learning. As long as I keep managing my time and keep up with the workload, I’ll be pretty successful. ”

Not all schools in the area chose to start off this school year as fully remote. Pentucket High School, a nearby public school in West Newbury offered either full remote or a hybrid option. However, they have just announced that they are going to move to only full remote after a few students came down with the virus. Hannah Grace, a junior at Pentucket, has been doing full remote since the start of the school and shared how the school year has been going so far.

“I think for me remote learning works pretty good, which is why I chose the full remote option, that and it’s obviously safer then the hybrid, which they aren’t doing anymore anyway,” she said. “I honestly thrive in an independent learning situation, where I have more freedom, so I think that online learning works pretty well for me. It can be a little challenging to communicate with teachers.”

However, Grace says that, while all remote works well for her, she can see why it might not work for other students at Pentucket and in general.

“I do work well when I am essentially left in charge of everything with minimal outside support. But, I do know that most kids don’t work that way, so I can imagine that lack of teacher support and live interaction could be really hard from a lot of schools.”

Most private schools in the area have chosen to go with a hybrid model. Penguin Hall, a private high school in Wenham, has a hybrid model that consists of one week live, one week remote. A junior at said school, Sydney Wolbach, gave her opinions on this school year.

“Personally I think that my school did a very good job of handling it. I think it was great that we were able to open and still all be safe,” she said. ” I definitely prefer the weeks when we are doing live learning. Remote learning is just very challenging for me. It’s hard for me to retain information and harder to keep concentrated and to keep a motivational schedule.”

Wolbach does struggle with remote learning, but she understands it’s necessity. She said, “I do wish we could go back to full live learning soon, but we’re in a global pandemic right now and the number one priority is keeping safe. But, I do think that my school is doing a pretty phenomenal job overall.”

Smith, Grace and Wolbach all agree on the importance of safety during schooling. Remote learning is very new for both students and teachers and brings many new challenges.

Smith put it nicely, “We all are very unsure right now, especially us students. But, it’s very important for us to keep up with our education, even if it is not in person, because our safety is also very important.”