I am based out of one of the best middle/high schools in Beijing. And competition is fierce when it comes to education (even though everyone says the Chinese are far more cooperative in their thinking than Westerners and have little concept of the individual, they certainly know what it means to be the best). My school wants to become the premier school in Beijng, which is why they are expanding their international teaching section.
The school has 4,000+ students ranging from 6th grade to 12th grade (although it's divided into 6-9 and 10-12 and they call them different things, it's the same age of student). We were asked to come to the opening day ceremony. Through some changes and miscommunication, I arrived a few minutes late with some of the other teachers, so we snuck onto the back of the field behind all 4,000+ students lined up and standing at attention. They were silent and paying attention. I am not joking.
The school has 4,000+ students ranging from 6th grade to 12th grade (although it's divided into 6-9 and 10-12 and they call them different things, it's the same age of student). We were asked to come to the opening day ceremony. Through some changes and miscommunication, I arrived a few minutes late with some of the other teachers, so we snuck onto the back of the field behind all 4,000+ students lined up and standing at attention. They were silent and paying attention. I am not joking.
Things went on in Chinese. Speeches. Praise for students. More speeches. At one point, the loudspeaker started playing The Magnificent Seven. I know this because we played it in marching band when I was in high school and I can't forget it. There was a bit of cultural dissonance hearing the song in the context of the opening ceremony, but it made me smile.
Then, the flag raising. Some students (probably seniors) marched up with the flag. They went to the flag pole and all the other students turned to face the flag pole. And as the flag went up and what I can only assume was the national anthem played over the loud-speaker, all 4,000+ students saluted the flag. (It was not quite a finger-to-forehead salute and not quite an arm-raised salute, but something in between with an air of keep-the-sun-out-of-my-face. I'll try to get a photo.) It was pretty amazing. I mean, U.S. kids will be quiet (mostly) for the Star Spangled Banner, but you couldn't get them to be so uniformly respectful.
The ceremony wrapped up with some sort of raffle. I think raffles are big. We had a raffle at the welcome ceremony for the international staff, a raffle for the whole-school ceremony, and another raffle for the students at the international department-only ceremony.
Then we took a picture. All (as in, by themselves without anyone worrying about them cutting) the students walked outside and LINED THEMSELVES UP BY HEIGHT! Then, they stood on a rather rickety riser-thingy. I had to stand on the lowest step and that was bad enough. I couldn't imagine being one of the boys on the 6th step.
All in all, it was an impressive display. A display that happens every Monday morning. I'm not sure if it can beat the gym class I saw later in the week, however. I was walking to the student store during a prep period (I have lots of them, it's pretty sweet) and saw hundreds of students lined up perfectly. They were standing in lines that would have made the afore-mentioned marching band jealous. The diagonals were even perfect. I will definitely get a picture of that for you.
And the kids themselves? They are totally sweet. They quiet down when I walk into the room. They rush to turn off the lights and the projector for me. They stand up to talk (I think I need to change that). The hang around my desk at the end of class just to be near me. If I tell them to take a 10 minute break in between two periods, they automatically gravitate back towards their desks after 9 and a half minutes. They cheer when I tell them they have no homework. They are on board when I ask them what their favorite class is (English, obviously).
Then, the flag raising. Some students (probably seniors) marched up with the flag. They went to the flag pole and all the other students turned to face the flag pole. And as the flag went up and what I can only assume was the national anthem played over the loud-speaker, all 4,000+ students saluted the flag. (It was not quite a finger-to-forehead salute and not quite an arm-raised salute, but something in between with an air of keep-the-sun-out-of-my-face. I'll try to get a photo.) It was pretty amazing. I mean, U.S. kids will be quiet (mostly) for the Star Spangled Banner, but you couldn't get them to be so uniformly respectful.
The ceremony wrapped up with some sort of raffle. I think raffles are big. We had a raffle at the welcome ceremony for the international staff, a raffle for the whole-school ceremony, and another raffle for the students at the international department-only ceremony.
Then we took a picture. All (as in, by themselves without anyone worrying about them cutting) the students walked outside and LINED THEMSELVES UP BY HEIGHT! Then, they stood on a rather rickety riser-thingy. I had to stand on the lowest step and that was bad enough. I couldn't imagine being one of the boys on the 6th step.
All in all, it was an impressive display. A display that happens every Monday morning. I'm not sure if it can beat the gym class I saw later in the week, however. I was walking to the student store during a prep period (I have lots of them, it's pretty sweet) and saw hundreds of students lined up perfectly. They were standing in lines that would have made the afore-mentioned marching band jealous. The diagonals were even perfect. I will definitely get a picture of that for you.
And the kids themselves? They are totally sweet. They quiet down when I walk into the room. They rush to turn off the lights and the projector for me. They stand up to talk (I think I need to change that). The hang around my desk at the end of class just to be near me. If I tell them to take a 10 minute break in between two periods, they automatically gravitate back towards their desks after 9 and a half minutes. They cheer when I tell them they have no homework. They are on board when I ask them what their favorite class is (English, obviously).
The schedule has already changed 12 times since last Mondeay, but the kids make it all worth it. (Of course, they always have -- even my pains-in-my-butt were MY pains-in-my-butt.)
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