Lord of the Flies
Believe it or not, behavior like this is quite common in Chinese middle schools (at least here in Hunan). It usually happens between classes, when students have ten minute unsupervised breaks. Students are “responsible” for the cleaning and maintanance of their classrooms … so if something breaks, it usually just stays broken. And it seems that there is seldom any disciplinary action for behavior like this … instead, classmates either ignore or cheer on these groups of fighting boys, who are often best friends.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:36 am EST
I’ve been very interested in your posts about the Chinese educational system all year - This is so crazy to me! In the high school I teach in, students would never be left unsupervised for 10 minutes (at least by a responsible teacher). I wouldn’t do this, and on the whole, I generally have trustworthy kids — Plus, it would be an automatic 10 day suspension for fighting of any kind, even if they were just “playing” or were friends. Kids can even get suspended for trying to instigate a fight. Why do you think the Chinese system is this way? (It seems to me that schools wouldn’t want anything to get damaged).
June 1st, 2007 at 10:34 am EST
Annie, I’m glad you appreciate these posts … sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who is amazed by this stuff. The root of the problem goes really deep … I don’t understand it completely, but here are some of my thoughts:
1. Middle to upper class educated families usually have one child, both because of China’s population control and because they know their chances are better for success if they “put all their eggs in one basket”. And parents have a very different form of love here … they shower their kids with gifts and opportunities, sacrificing everything to help them succeed, leading to what is called “Little Emperor Syndrome”. Simply put, there are a lot of spoiled kids here.
2. Schools are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of students. My school, which is a “key” school (more elite), has about 1,000 kids in each grade, stuffed into classes of 55-85 students each. It’s even worse out in more rural areas … one of my friends in a key school in Wulingyuan has classes with more than 100 students. There aren’t enough teachers to go around, and the country’s focus on standardized tests and strategy of teaching to the top 10% simply forces them to ignore smaller problems and problematic children.
3. Because students are literally in school ALL DAY and most of the week, educators rightly believe that they need time off to rest and release energy. So they give them 10 minutes between each class, 2-3 hours for lunch, and require them to do acrobatic exercises in the morning and face exercises in the afternoon. Unfortunately, however, the “release” that happens, even among the best kids, is not always healthy.
4. In America, we live in fear. We are constantly afraid of potential consequences, what people think, how “moral” our choices are, and sometimes nothing at all. It drives our consumerism, our behavior, our social structures, and in many ways, our success as an economic and cultural superpower. In China, however, most people don’t have that fear. Their behavior, words, and actions are motivated by much different things … and in many senses, people are more free because of it.