A Discussion on High School

Here is a picture of my students right now.  All of them are wonderful and fun to teach.  Peter is "the thinker" in the middle on the front row.  He does not speak English very well, but he has a dry sense of humor that keeps us all laughing.  

We spent some time in class today talking about the difference between Chinese and US high schools.  After listening to the description of their time in high school, I can see why our students may eventually fall behind.  They had varying schedules in school but here is what they told me.

1.  About half of them started school at 7:30 a.m. and went until 6:00 or 6:30 p.m.  They had 10 or 11 classes each day.  After dinner they worked on homework until about midnight.

2.  Many of them started high school at 6:05 or 6:30 a.m. and went until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.  They would attend 11 to 13 classes each day.   When they arrived home, they ate dinner and then did homework until 12:00 or 1:00 a.m.

3.  A few of the students lived at the school and only went home two days every month.  They went to school from 6:05 a.m. until 10:20 p.m.  They had 5 classes before lunch, 6 after lunch and 4 in the evening.

All of them had a 2 hour lunch in which they studied or slept. Many had some classes on Saturday, and then would spend the day rest of the day doing homework.  I asked them if they relaxed on Sunday, but most of them studied that day too.  They had small tests throughout the courses, and big tests each month.  Every year they took an end-of-year exam.  They said it is a very stressful time.  They did have some music, p.e., art classes in grade school and middle school up to 11th grade, but not in 12th grade.  They do not have any sports programs as part of the school - or driver's education.  They usually had 60 students in their classes.  That is why it is hard for them to speak English because they weren't given much opportunity to talk in the class - which is understandable with 60 students.

I am not sure if their description would be the same for all high school students in China. I had the impression that most students go to school at least from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  I also know that my students are very diligent and want to do well.  I tried to find out what happens to the students who aren't successful.  They said some of them go home to help on the family farm or business; some of them go to a trade school.  Apparently there is an adult education system so that people can go back to school at a later time to get training or education.

I must admit I was very shocked to hear how much time they spent in classes and doing homework.  I do know that China has as many students in their gifted and talented programs as we have students in the US school system.  Shear numbers make competition very lopsided.  I don't think I would want to change our education program for theirs, but I do wish we could help US students take their education more seriously.  I am not sure how we do that.  In the meantime, just tell your children and grandchildren they can be grateful they only have to go to high school from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and tell them to study and learn all they can.  (If they give you a hard time, tell them you will move to China and enroll them in school.)