Teaching

Sometimes they come every day, but only late afternoons. Some of them arrive in the middle of the day - but only on Wednesdays. Others, just Saturdays and some...both. Well, since teachers spend so much time hob nobbing with the school-age folk, here's a little background information on what their schedules look like:

Until just a few years ago the public schools were in session six days a week, with Saturday as a half-day. Not so anymore. Now, school is Monday to Friday only.

Elementary School Grades 1 to 6
 

ordinal

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
1st & 2nd
Grade
8:00am -
Noon
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
Noon
8:00am -
Noon
8:00am -
Noon
3rd & 4th
Grade
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
Noon
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
Noon
5th & 6th
Grade
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
Noon
8:00am -
4:00pm
8:00am -
4:00pm

Junior High School 7th - 9th Grades
7:40 - 8:20 the "Teacher Hour", comprised of daily quizzes in Mandarin, English & math, and then an outdoor assembly of the full student body called the Flag Rally ( shun chee dien lee). Children sing patriotic and other songs, the principal or the lead teacher speaks and some students may make announcements as well.

  • 8:30 - 9:15 First Class

  • 12:00 - 12:45 Lunch

  • 12:45 - 1:15 Lunch "Break" -- and you thought only the kindy kids took naps ;)

  • 1:25 - 2:10 First Afternoon Class

  • 4:00pm Go HOME! Ha, ha... 7 more hours of grueling bushiban grind...

  • 5:00pm Go HOME! Ha, ha... some schools let out this late


Now, surely your little charges are passing these Junior High School years idling away in idyllic discovery. Or...maybe not. Barreling toward them at full speed when they get into 9th grade is the Junior High School Students' Scholastic Aptitude Test ( Gwo Min Jong Shway Shway Sun Gee Ben Shway Lee Tsu Yen ). And you were worried about getting into a good university...how about getting into the right high school! That's what our youthful wards are fretting over as they close in on 13. But, the JrHSAT actually marks an advance in terms of the pressures student have felt to achieve.

Before, there was a single test, the cumulative score of which would decide if students would enter their community's elite high school. This led to enormous pressure on students. Some adults we talked to who had been through the old system said they were aware of the importance of the test as early as the first grade. Critics claimed it's looming presence encouraged learning by rote and diminished creativity. The criticism culminated in a general education reform movement known as Jow Guy that has evolved over the last two decades.

The big 9th grade test still exists, but, the new JrHSAT has opened the process up. Now, instead of the best overall students being at the best overall schools and the other students taking positions in lesser schools, the scores of the JrHSAT tests are analyzed as revealing subject level strengths. It's hoped that by looking at the test scores to reveal strengths, students who show natural inclination toward specific subject fields will be rewarded for their natural abilities and interests.

Schools similarly have reorganized out of a strict hierarchy. They have been given the right to specialize in subject areas, such as math or social science, and, in the mix of subject matter undertaken, more schools have been given the chance to become leading schools in their field, while students have been enabled to choose among more good schools that focus on the subject areas they did best at.

Nonetheless, even the strongest reforms won't change some basic dynamics where parents and a benchmark test are concerned. It's not "Study what you like, just be happy!" yet. The test is still prepared for assiduously, and for a little kid it's no picnic . It's conducted over a day and a half in the springtime of 9th grade. Immediately afterward, parents and students start applying to their desired schools. A second shot at the test is offered about one month later for those seeking a chance to get higher scores.

It's also important to know that one's 9th grade year and the scores they get on the JrHSAT will mark another turning point in the lives of our classroom kids. It is at this time that it is determined if a student's senior high school years will be on one or the other of the two tracks that students go on to in their educational career: the academic track or the vocational track. When you start 10th grade, you will be in a school geared specifically for one or the other.

Senior High School 10th - 12th Grades
7:30 - 7:40 students have to arrive no later than 7:40 am. This is monitored by each school's Jao Gwan. The friendly Jao Gwan is in charge of discipline and punctuality and is an actual military officer. His campus role was instituted during the tenure of Chaing Kai Shek, and in recent years parents and students have agitated to civilianize this duty, as the schoolyard presence of a soldier strikes some to be a reminder of martial law. Showing up late earns students a Saturday morning of coming to school and being assigned various cleaning and maintenance duties, bathrooms not excluded.

  • 7:40 - 8:20 daily quizzes, usually in Mandarin, English & math, followed by the Flag Rally

  • 8:20 - 9:10 First Class

  • 12:00- 1:20 Lunch Time

  • 1:20 - 2:10 First Afternoon Class

  • 4:00 Go HOME! -- Ha, ha...no English bushibans for these guys anymore, it's all focused on grades and competition, trying to get into university or technical school

  • 5:00 Go HOME! -- Ha, ha...some schoools