Summer and winter are tough times to teach at Henan University of Technology. Classrooms aren’t air-conditioned and there’s little or no heating, so students either freeze or swelter.
Temperatures have been in the 90s this week and my classrooms have felt like a sauna despite the constant whir of ceiling fans. By the time class is over, everyone is so drenched in sweat that they look like they just took a shower.
It’s even worse in the winter, when students bundle up like Eskimos. Last semester, all my classes were in a building that had no heat. Students were so cold that they kept their gloves on even when they were writing. Other buildings supposedly had heat, but you could barely feel it.
It’s supposed to reach 100 degrees next week. I think I’m going to tell my students to wear bathing suits to class.
