School 學校

(Not just for kids!)

So you know last month how I said summer arrived? I was actually wrong, it hadn't arrived yet. It's here now though! I checked out the forecast for the next week; every day is exactly the same: High of 97, low of 86, 50%-80% humidity. No wind. It's pretty easy to drink a gallon of water a day, since you sweat just about that much if you go outside at all. On the plus side, the plants are beautiful, and sweating this much is probably great for everyone's skin!

Speaking of plants, recently the trees have gotten very noisy. Well, not the trees themselves, but actually the cicadas which live on every tree. Cicadas are really interesting bugs; they're like little beetles, they spend the first seven years of their life underground, eating the sap found in tree roots, then after seven years they emerge. They molt their skin, growing wings and eyes, climb a nearby tree (probably the same one they've been living under) and make a truly impressively loud buzzing noise, trying to attract a mate, for the remainder of their life- about a week. Here's a video of the noise if you want to hear it. They're completely harmless and actually edible, and they don't buzz at night, so although it sounds like they'd be annoying they're really kind of cool. But they are very loud.

These are not cicadas, but rather the service group taking a break.

If it sounds like I'm complaining about the weather here in Taiwan, I'm not. Well, okay, I am, but only a little bit. If it was always 80, sunny and breezy, I imagine it would get boring very quickly! In any case, having such hot wet weather really does make the environment very beautiful. When my mother was here visiting me, she commented that Taipei is basically a city built in the jungle. It's easy to not realize that, since it's a really big city- you just kind of assume they spend a lot of time taking care of all the plants and trees in the city. As you start to leave the city, though, you can see that the city just gradually yields to the surrounding rainforest, and in fact the rainforest never went anywhere- it still grows out of the cracks in the sidewalk.

That said, they do take pride in their landscaping. I like that this tiny pond has an ecosystem.

As well, since it rains pretty much every day, we sometimes get awesome rainbows like this one:

There's only one- it probably doesn't mean anything.

So earlier last week, we were visited by a sister and her two children- their last name was Li, they were ethnically Taiwanese but had been living in America since before the younger son was born. They came to visit Taiwan just for a week- see the grandparents and such- and I believe they've already left.

Anyway, I mention them because I had a chance to work out in service with the older son. He was born in Taiwan and can speak Chinese, but he left when he was five, so he's quite American by now. It made me think about the cultural differences that start happening even in childhood- actually, you could say that all cultural differences only happen in childhood, and adults merely express whatever pattern they learned. He mostly talked about all the apps he has on his iPad, all the games he misses back home, how he doesn't know why they have to come to Taiwan so often, and how he thought it would be funny to try spending the $10 bill he brought with him at just some random food stall around the area.

We stopped here for some 豆花- it's like soymilk yogurt with peanuts and syrup. Weird, but good.

Compared to an average Taiwanese child of the same age (12, by the way)- I haven't seen any child with even a cell phone here, I only know one family that has a games console, and mostly they'd be pumped to go on vacation, hardly missing home at all. But then, Taiwanese kids spend a lot more time at school than American kids- of course, they have their seven hours a day at school, but after school most parents put them in various 補習班 (buxiban) programs- essentially review courses designed to go over what they learned earlier that day. Depending on the school, the class and how many classes they take, this after school program can last 3-5 hours. And then they still have their homework to do! So it's no wonder they don't have as much time to play on the iPad they don't have.

Three of our 小朋友 (xiao pengyou, translates to "small friend") out in service

We weren't too serious with them, though

And then we decided to help them play

But is that much school really good for the kids? Every day, for twelve or more hours, they sit still and have information crammed into their heads. And the Chinese education system isn't all that interactive, either- lots of tests, lots of memorization. 

Another aspect that can put a great deal of pressure on even very small kids is the Taiwanese 'tiered' school system. The system is basically divided like this- 幼稚園 (youzhi yuan), kindergarten, then 小學 (xiao xue), which is grades 1-5, 國中(guo zhong), which is grades 6-9, and 高中 (gao zhong), which is grades 10-12. Then you have the adult system, with 大學 (da xue) being the best kind of university, 學院 (xue yuan) being like a community college, and 技術學校 (jishu xuexiao) being more like a technical school, that teaches trades.

If you do well in kindergarten, you can get into a better 小學. Depending on how well you did in 小學, you can get into a different 國中. If you did well in 國中, you can continue to a good 高中 (note that I said can: in Taiwan, education is only mandatory until grade 9, so really bad students essentially don't get accepted to high school). And the best colleges only pick students from the best few 高中.

What this essentially means is, if you're eight years old, in third grade, and have an attitude, or family trouble, or for whatever reason don't do well in school? You can mess up your entire school career. If your troubles were temporary, maybe you hated every minute of elementary school but you turn it around in junior high? Well, because you did poorly in elementary school, you couldn't get into a good junior high, so no matter how well you do- you could be the best student in the school four years running- you will never be able to get into the best high schools, which means you will never be able to go to an actual university, but must instead study a trade or something. And unlike in America, trades pay nothing in Taiwan- think three or four dollars an hour, maybe.

You know that "Asian Dad" stereotype, always pushing his kids to study harder and do better no matter how well they're actually doing? It's actually a thing here, and although I don't agree with the system I can't fault the parents. The crazy thing is, the system even kind of makes sense- America tried to make all schools exactly the same, and we ended up with the "No Child Left Behind" mess that basically makes schools move at the speed of the slowest student. Shouldn't faster kids be able to move faster? And it is true that you will never be able to learn as well as when you were a child- your brain structure physically changes around ages 20-25. At the same time, is it really fair to penalize someone for life for something they did (or didn't do) at age 10? Is it fair to put that much pressure on children?

Everyone, meet 寬正 (Kuanzheng)!

Kuanzheng is a young man, 17 years old, currently studying the Bible with Terry Miller. He's been studying for about a year now and wants to get baptized in a few months. He's a really cool guy and I like hanging out with him! Kuanzheng is facing a dilemma right now. He still has one more year in his high school until he graduates. His grades, academically, are not very good- however, he is one of the best students in his school at Taekwondo. He's on the Taekwondo team, actually, which is the only reason he's attending the high school that he is. (Americans have school football teams, the Chinese have martial arts.)

Kuanzheng has recently decided that he cannot continue on the Taekwondo team. It's violent, it's studying methods of harming people, and although it isn't actually killing people it is still a form of "learning war", which we, as Jehovah's Witnesses, do not do. He came to this decision on his own, it was not forced. However, that means that unless his grades improve pretty significantly, he'll most likely be kicked out of his high school, and it's not certain he'll be able to join a different one. In America, it's rare to find a Witness who will advocate going for a four-year degree; but in Taiwan, because the trades pay so little, if you want to both have a family and be able to support the ministry in any way, you need a degree. (Or have enough money to open your own shop.)

So basically, Kuanzheng is risking quite a lot in the name of Jehovah. He's demonstrating his faith that Jehovah will take care of him, and especially for being so young, is a pretty powerful example. I wanted to share his story because I am pretty impressed by it. (And yes, I asked him first.)


Anyway, I personally have two kinds of English class I teach here in Taiwan: I tutor in-home, and I work at a kindergarten. I have three private tutoring sessions a week (although two of them are with a pair of children, so five private students total), and two classes at the kindergarten with six and eight kids each, respectively.

This is Hans, Jessie, and their bird named, as far as I can tell, "Bird".

I really enjoy my private tutoring jobs. I have control over how fast the class moves, I can make sure the kids get the information, and I can have fun with it, incorporating games and videos into the lessons. I'm probably not the world's best teacher, but they are learning, and they're always happy to see me- a good sign! Besides Hans and Jessie, I have two twin girls, Gigi and Fifi, and then Alex, my oldest and most advanced student.

This is Harrison. He likes that hat.

My kindergarten is a little less fun, just by its nature. I spend more time getting the class under control than in the private classes, because there are more kids, and I have to teach to a schedule whether or not I feel the kids are ready to move on. But I do my best, they do learn something- and hey, it's cheaper for a reason, right?

This week has also been our Circuit Overseer's visit. Br. Luo (纙) has been in the Circuit work for about eight years, and actually before he started he attended this very congregation, Taipei South! So he's always extra happy to stop by and see us- it's like coming home for him.

The man in action

He's really laid back, very comfortable on stage- as you can probably tell from the picture- but direct, and makes strong points. Unfortunately, he also has a very strong Taiwanese accent, so it's sometimes hard for me to understand what he says... but it's good practice!

Flawless segue: 

Gengzuo and Qianhui Jiang

I had lunch with this delightful couple today. See, they're from Okinawa originally, and I'm going to Okinawa next week- Wednesday, actually- so I thought I'd pick their brains for ideas. I wish I could spend more time there, but even the overnight trip I'm planning should be awesome! I'll tell you about it next time...