I wonder
what the long term effect is of living and studying behind bars. This is the
reality of every Chinese student in the major cities. Even in my apartment,
there are bars on the doors and windows to deter thieves, but if I have to
spend a full day inside I feel like a prisoner. The prison feel of the schools
is a whole other level.
I have
taught at four different schools now and they all have several similarities.
Not only is the entire school surrounded by spiked fences with multiple guards,
but each classroom and office has barred windows. Starting in high school, the students can
choose to live in the school dorms. This
is the full in-mate experience if you ask me. I lived in the school dorms for 2
years so I can say I served my time.
The students
have a 2 hour lunch break and can leave school to go out to lunch or go home
for the noon nap (my favorite part of China). However, students that live on
campus are not allowed to leave. They are only allowed to eat the school food
for all 3 meals a day, and I am told it’s pretty gross. The guards block the
school gate at lunch time and check IDs before students can leave the school. There
are usually 2 or more guards armed with clubs and a metal hook thing (like
little Bo Peep crossed with the devil’s pitch fork). So many of your friends can
leave but you are left behind.
Many of the
friends will try to bring back food for their classmates but must sneak it past
the guards. If they walk through the gate holding food the guards may take it,
because no outside food is allowed inside. One thing I’ve seen that cracks me
up and breaks my heart is that students will wait by a section of the fence
away from the guards and pass food through the bars from their classmates
outside. That’s so much sneaking for a few McDonalds fries! Some students by
pass their classmates all together and call for delivery men to meet them at
fence bend. Then during the meal breaks they will sneak down and buy their take
out through the fence! My students have approached me and offered to pay me to
smuggle in some food for them they can’t buy at the school canteen. It is
amazing what these kids would do for a milk-tea.
The
discipline is also prison-like. In line with Maoism the culture instills a
strong separation between the teachers and students through many rituals. Every
class will start by the students standing to greet the teacher and bowing in
unison. If they enter the classroom late, they must stand at the door saluting
before they are giving permission to enter. Similarly when they come to the
office they must salute at the door and say, “baogao” which is a military term
meaning, “to report for duty.” These all took a lot of getting used to when I
first began working in the Chinese schools, and flinched every time a student
moved sharply into the saluting position.
The whole
school will file on to the soccer field once a day for morning exercises. The
teachers stand to the side to keep guard and grade the students’ participation.
Each class stands single file and repeats 8 reps of jumping jacks, stretches,
and marching. Schools will even have competitions about who can do the
exercises the most energetically and in unison.
Every so often each class will have to stay after school to jog
together. These are more military like but aids in the sober spirit of many of
the students.
Now let’s
talk about the work load. If I ever ask my students what they did over the
weekend of the holiday it is always the same answer, Homework. I used to think
the students only new that word, or were just whining, but I realize the
students really do spend all their time studying. And when they are not doing
homework, the wealthy students are taking private lessons. Students in the top
high schools will wake up at 6am and be in class from 7am to 9pm Monday-Friday,
until their last year in High school when they will go to school on Saturdays
from 7-5 as well. Most of these students will also have 4-8 hours of private
lessons over the weekend. I have asked my students why they have so many books
but I have never gotten a clear answer. Looking out from the teacher’s podium
many students seem buried under what must be over 50 books. There is just so
much information that must be covered.
In my experience as a foreign teacher the
parents are giving the students so much pressure and starting them even younger
and younger. I have often been approached to give private lessons to primary
students and even pre-k. I taught one 4 year old girl for a full year and I
tried and failed with a group of 3 year olds. At 4 years old my student had 2
hours a week studying with me as well as a Chinese English teacher, Math
teacher, Science tutor, and Piano lessons. All this on top of her Monday to
Friday Preschool program in Hong Kong. I
can understand why the students are under so much pressure, but I can’t help
but feel for them. In China, many parents see their children as their
retirement plan. If your child gets into a good school and gets a good job, you
will be well taken care of when you are older. If the children fail the parents
don’t see a future for themselves. Also with so many people in China, even the
well educated have a lot of competition for the few good jobs. So the standards
for that golden ticket into the university and job you want are growing more
and more impossible.
Because
there are so many people, there are not enough schools for all the students. I
have heard different stats as to the percentage but clearly many of the
students do not get into high school and even fewer can get into college. Each
student will take 2 major tests that can drastically change their lives: The
zhongkao to get into high school and the GaoKao to get into college. In China
admission is based solely upon these scores and as such, students are taught
very early that the tests are all that matter. This is a problem all over the
world that so much emphasis is put on the tests and the teachers are giving so
much pressure to have their students pass the test. Teachers can no longer be
creative and add supplemental lessons, because they must spend all the class
time on the facts for the tests. Another pit fall I see in china is that the
teachers only teach to the top students. Since this first major hurdle in the
students’ education starts in grade 9, by middle school most students already
know their ranking compared to their classmates and therefore their likely hood
of entering high school. Those students that have fallen behind will give up,
but legally must continue going to school. In turn the teachers will ignore
these students and focus on the top percent that are likely to move on.
These
students that have fallen behind are the real in-mates. If you are taught
having high scores is the only thing that matters, how can a bad test-taker
find any value in studying? Knowing that they are soon going to be out in the
world with no skills and limited options must be terrifying for a 15-18 year
old. And to be separated into a lost cause even earlier than that would be
devastating. Yet these students must come and bow, salute, and sit through lessons
that they are told don’t apply to them since they will never be a top student.
School fence and barred windows
Barred windows inside the school 
From the hallway looking
into the classroom
Students
view behind the stacks of books
School lunch
Shop that sells snacks to students
through the bars
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