I Just Got Schooled

I love days like today. They are the days that I get to remember just how different China life is from the life I led back in the States. The day started off pretty normal, and therefore pretty well. I was picked up by Aaron, and driven to school with two other girls who help him practice his English; we talked about "images" and first impressions which ended up being a pretty interesting conversation. Then, once at school, things were pretty standard as well: we had corn, some noodles, and a little bread for breakfast. Classes were after that, and my Bernstein Bears drama lesson went even better than planned, which is always nice. Then after doing store with the big kids of ILP C, it was time for lunch. Michael that wonderful man made us his fantastic spaghetti which I admit was a happy surprise. I ate way more than my fair share, and by the time I was done my stomach was in the happy state of fullness - a rare feat in this country ;) I skipped cooking class to work on my lesson plans, and then I got the invite to go play pool and eat cake with our friend Sean. I admit, I was border line on whether or not I wanted to go, but I am so much more than glad that I did. Not only was pool really fun, and the cake really delicious, but afterwards Sean invited us to go see his old high school and middle school which was right across the street.

          It was kind of funny because once we accepted his invitation to go, Sean began to worry that we would not actually be allowed to enter. He explained to us that he had often tried to go back to visit but had been denied access by the guards. Perhaps it was overly pompous of us, but we were confident that we would have no trouble getting in. My head teacher, Dianna, simply turned to him and reassured him that we were white and American. Guard or no guard, there is practically no place other than a government building that we will be kept from entering. The injustice of the thought makes me sick, but sadly it is true. Sean offered to try to talk to the guards by the entrance and explain our purpose to see if maybe they'd be lenient, but we told him that we'd just try our luck at our way first and if they tried to stop us then he could try the explanatory way. Just walk with confidence - walk with purpose and no one will question you. As predicted, the guard didn't even give us a second glance. Sean was practically hiding behind us trying to look inconspicuous, but the rest of us just kindly offered a "Ni Hao" to the guard and walked on in. It was pretty funny I guess.

        Once we were inside I became keenly aware that I don't really know what it means to be a teacher in China. See, I work in a private kindergarten where the tuition is nearly 10,000 dollars a semester and the atmosphere is like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Granted we are a school for children 2-6 and not teenagers, the scholarly level of this high school blew my mind! As Sean described his last six years of his secondary education I could not help but compare it to my drastically different experience with West Chester, Ohio's Lakota Local School District. I mean, I never felt too challenged in High School, but I assumed that that was really just the universal experience. On the contrary. As I walked the huge Zhongshan Public School campus I marveled at the stories related to me. Not only do the kids study at the school from 8am to 10pm, but they also live there regardless of how close they are to home. Sean, for instance, lives less than three blocks from the school, and yet for nearly six years other than the two month summer breaks he only spent Saturday nights at home with his own parents. The Chinese go so far to keep their students from distraction. That is the main reason they are confined to the school. Additionally,  no distractions means only uniforms, no long hair for girls, only short hair for boys, one two hour break for dinner and free time, and no dating type relationships of any sort. Boys and girls aren't even allowed to walk together on campus, and you never see it.  According to Sean there is a lot of rebellion, but it is very secret rebellion because the teachers have no tolerance for it. The kids are extremely good at keeping up pretences. 

The long hair rule for girls was semi recently abandoned because of the mess that was made with it. A girl who had long hair was taken to a barber and given a boy's hair cut as punishment - she went to the media, and supposedly the news and reporters made a large enough deal of it that the policy was changed, but it is just insane to think about. As I walked by their dormitories with all their laundry hanging from the windows all I kept thinking was about the many kids I knew in high school who had never even done their own laundry. All of the cleaning on the campus is also done by the students, and you frequently see them mopping floors and wiping down handrails. The classrooms themselves were, however, by far the most crazy thing for me to see. The students don't move from class to class, but rather, the teachers move to them subject by subject. Thus, these kids desks are littered with book after book and stack upon stack of papers. Many students even keep one of those large Tupperware type containers next to their desks to hold the rest of their readings. As we walked by the classrooms, most of them were empty because it was dinner time, but in each room there were still about five or six students dutifully scribbling away at their work. When I questioned Sean as to how they could study so late into the hours he said it is because the teachers literally monitor them as they complete their homework making sure they do it and in a timely fashion -every night until 10pm. I cannot imagine. The school blew my mind. Rather than filling me with a sort of sorrow however it filled me with such excitement. I think it is the most giddy I have felt since the first day I landed in Hong Kong. I was just a big bucket of smiles and I'm not sure why perhaps I can only describe it as sort of exhilarating to see and be a minor part of that surreal dedication to education. It made me wish for a small moment I had been part of such a system. In so many more ways I am glad that I am not, but I love their dedication to learn. They all have such a motivation to excel and accomplish so much. It is unfortunate that so many do it for the wrong reasons perhaps, but all the same I am amazed by this place. I amazed by the reality of the severity and discipline on which it runs. Not to mention I just loved seeing these students faces during free time; I loved watching them look up from their books and have a broad smile spread across their countenance as they saw my own white little face staring back at them. China really is a wonderful place. I cannot put into words what it feels like to be here, and that sad truth makes it impossibly hard to leave here because I know that as my memory of it fades it will only be these inadequate words on which I will have to turn.