Fan Meizhong, Runner Fan’s Earthquake Confessional
“IN matters of life and death, it’s every man for himself,” says Chinese teacher, Fan Meizhong.
Earthquake!
“I ran towards the stairs so fast that I stumbled and fell as I went. When I reached the center of the football pitch, I found I was the first to escape. None of my pupils was with me,” said the Meizhong, known as ‘Runner Fan.’
Later, when some of his students who managed to escape asked him how he could have left them behind, he replied: “I have a very strong sense of self-preservation … I have never been a brave man and I’m only really concerned about myself.”
Notes the Telegraph: “While newspapers have largely followed instructions to concentrate on uplifting tales of rescue work since the earthquake, the internet has seen a wild variety of tales emerge.”
And the internet is where the Telegraph gets its news from.
“I didn’t cause the earthquake, so I have no reason to feel guilty,” he said in an interview. “When I got back to the classroom, the students were all fine.”
He’s in interview after the jump:
Changjiang Times: Why did you post that article on the Internet?
Fan Meizhong: I graduated from the history department of Peking University. After this major historic event, I wanted to record something in words, so I wrote that article online.CT: Netizens say that it’s OK that you ran, but you shouldn’t be so boastful about it. What do you think about that?
Fan: If I wasn’t wrong to run, then what’s the problem with writing about it? True, a teacher has a responsibility and duty to educate students, but the Education Law does not have any regulations saying that during an earthquake a teacher must save the students. My running off alone didn’t violate national law. It only challenged the traditional ideas of education and morality that many people hold. They believe that a teacher ought to be a model of virtue for others, and in the face of disaster, students are the weaker group so a teacher should help them up.But the fact is that at the instant of the earthquake, a teacher is weak, too. I had no experience; neither the state nor the school taught me live-saving or rescue techniques. I had no ability to save the entire class. If every teacher was like Mr. Tan [Tan Qianqiu, who used his body to shield four students from a collapsing roof], who gave his life for his students, then we’d have no more heroes. I admire heroes like Mr. Tan, but I can’t do that myself. I love my life more.
Running away before the shit storm hits, and writing about your adventures? Anyone heard that before..?
The Compulsory Education Law does stipulate that “a teacher should be a model of virtue for others and should be devoted to the education of the people.” To be a “model of virtue,” to “undertake the duty stipulated in the law,” to be “devoted to the education of the people”: looking at the Compulsory Education Law, being concerned solely for one’s own life and leaving students behind while fleeing violates the spirit of the law.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
… a remarkable lack of conscience or responsibility - or even humanity….
June 9th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
As I repeatedly said recently, he has no sense of responsibility, conscience, filialty, and he failed to serve a model to his students when humanity was badly needed when disaster hit.
He should not hold that teaching position any longer.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
A stupid question : If Fan died for his student , who can pay “responsibility, conscience, filialty” to his family ?
You have no rigtht to got “responsibility, conscience, filialty ” from others , you have no duty to give others “responsibility, conscience, filialty” also .
This is ONLY CHINA !
June 16th, 2008 at 3:59 am
life belong to Mr fan, who intented to get his life and give him a hero title is mean,selfish also.
June 16th, 2008 at 6:36 am
To all who againsts Runner Fan:
There are few very simple questions:
1). What will you do in that situation? Do you have any accident experiences. like car accident or… ..? what is ur reaction?
2). Someone said that he run away is ok that is a normally reaction in that situation, but he should not post it online afterward.Ok it sound quite reasonable. but how can you answer this question. How come in reality the thing can be done, but cant be speak out? why? And he is a human and just want to records all of things around himself. so he write the blog, but it doesnt means all of you guy should fallow him and look him like a model. right? do you have the right to write whatever u like? if you have why he dont?
3). ok lets talk about teacher. anyone who is a teacher be told in any situation have to protect his/her students until he/she die? anyone be told? if not, how come teach has to provide their life to their students? are students are more important than teacher or something else?
Im really appriciate you guys or gals who againt runner fan can give me few answers.
Thanks
June 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am
to Anly :
it’s not sure he will lose life, but he has the duty to organize students to run away together. “lose his own life” vs “save his students’ life”, in that situation, nobody can predict it’s a problem of “choose one from two”.
to Steven Liang
1.nobody knows.
2.you can’t describe how you makelovewith you girl friend on internet, you can enjoy it in privacy.
he has the right to post, also everyone has the right to criticize him back.
3.there are laws for school to protect underage students
July 6th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
While I do understand Mr. Fan Meizhong’s reaction as a selfish and senseless man, it is undeniably wrong as a ‘teacher’ and ‘civil servant’ to not at the very least warn his students to run for their lives too. As an analogy of the fundamentals of teaching, where the teacher does not provide answers to their students but rather the skills and resources to find the answers, a simple “run for your life!” may have sufficed to provide his students the ability to save themselves. It is not rocket science to anybody or at least a descent human-being that there is a certain level of social responsibility to being a ‘teacher’ / ‘civil servant’. I would imagine that this, at the very least is what Mr. Fan Meizhong would expect from his daughter’s prospective teachers.