Dr. Barbara Hong held a reading and book signing for her book, “Failing Up: A Professor’s Odyssey of Flunking, Determination, and Hope,” sharing surprising examples from her own life, on Thursday, June 21. Hong is a professor and program coordinator of special education at BYU-Hawaii.
Hong explained that she has been trying to write her story since 2011. “Students often stereotype me as the typical Asian: Rich family, went to an ivy league school, excel in math.” she said. But all of these characterizations, Hong said are not correct. “I’m far from a typical Asian.”
While writing her book, Hong highlighted her struggles, “No. 1, I don’t write memoirs. I write research papers. It is very hard to put yourself in the narrative when you’re not used to that kind of writing. In scholarly papers, you are never in the script. If anything, you’re to take yourself of the writing so you can be impartial.
“Second, it’s about my life, so it’s even harder to write. Every time you write, you’re recalling everything about your past. And you have to describe it vividly using all your senses so readers can understand where you’re coming from. This is so different from writing a research paper. You’ve got to go way deep in your core and bring out your past feelings; things you try to forget, but now you have to bring them back to life.”
Despite her struggles, Hong said writing her book was therapeutic. She expressed, “I wanted to focus more on the positive than the negative in my life. So, I kept finding ways to reframe my struggles into positive things so it can be valuable to readers. In doing so, I was able to see past my struggles and appreciate what I have become today.
“Of course as I was going through these trials, I complained a lot, as many of us would. I had all these complaints. But looking back, I also learned a lot. I hope my book will resonate with readers and edify them, whether they are a student, a professor, a foreigner, poor, have been abused, a [LDS Church] member, or a non-member. There is something we have all experienced no matter what our backgrounds are–failures.”
At the reading, Hong shared snippets about her life growing up in Singapore. One story was about her father being an alcoholic, making it unsurprising to see a prostitute in the house or to see him handcuffed by the police.
It was difficult for Hong’s mom to be in that situation. In addition, her mom was illiterate and had been given away as a child because her parents couldn’t afford to raise her.
As Hong was growing up, she said she worked in a sweatshop. For every dozen clothing threads trimmed, they earned 5 cents. Each day, they would try to trim 60 dozens or 720 pieces of clothing to earn $3 to afford one meal. If they couldn’t afford food, they would drink water.
Additionally, Hong said being the fourth child in her family under the government law of “Stop at Two,” resulted in her not being able to get into a normal government school. After some time, Hong was able to reach a sixth-grade education. However, she said she wanted to continue her education and begged her dad to let her keep going to school with the stipulation she pay the supplementary fee each year on her own. Because she had been told all her life that she was a failure, Hong said she didn’t attempt to take her Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education test and simply didn’t show up.
Repeating tenth grade (the equivalent to twelfth grade in the United States), she said was the hallmark of shame in an unforgiving culture of high academic competitiveness. It wasn’t until the year she had to repeat a grade and learn from a math teacher, Mr. Yap, that Hong finally grasped math and developed her first intuitive determination to succeed.
Following her LDS mission when she attended BYUH in 1993, she was discouraged in a political science class when a professor didn’t take the time to understand her background nor clarify the basic concepts of the course. When Hong retook the class from another professor, Debi Hartmann, she learned the subject matter so well that she was even encouraged to consider majoring in that field. This is what Hong called empathetic teaching–understanding where a student is coming from, then providing the background knowledge students need to master the material. Hong said this and many such experiences taught her to become a better teacher because she first learned to walk in the students’ shoes.
Marissa Jones, a senior from Arizona studying art education, took classes from Dr. Hong to obtain her special ed certificate. She praised Hong and said, “I thought it was really sweet to get to know more about her background because she’s such a happy, hilarious, upbeat person. I heard stories in class now and then, but I had no clue she came from such a rough background.
“I already thought she was amazing. This woman is accomplished. But seeing her now, wow, she really did come from humble beginnings, and that was really amazing. I love her so much.”
Jones said she is going to China to teach next year and expressed her excitement to read the book due to Hong’s influence as her teacher. Jones said, “She had lots of influential teachers, so I hope [her book will] inspire me to be one for my kids. I don’t know what their backgrounds will be. I don’t know what they’ve been through, but hopefully I can help them want to learn and be the best they can be.”
Lexi Jimenez, a junior from California studying psychology, got to know Hong through planning this book event. “I had been able to talk about what she expects, and everything she does, she works hard for. Nothing is mediocre about today because she’s the driving force,” Jimenez said.
Hong’s book can be purchased from the BYUH Bookstore or through Amazon. To have your book signed, contact Dr. Hong at barbara.hong@byuh.edu or 814-441-7200.
For more information, check out failingupbook.com. •
Writer: Anuhea Chen