High School Musicial: a Beautiful Facade for a Stark Reality
Group photo in front of Suangliu Middle School.
Another group photo of us in front of the school bell tower.
The beautiful panda brooch I made with an asthetically pleasing striped background.
Today I had another normal breakfast of corn, oatmeal, and peaches, and then my host dad drove me to school where I ran and went to class. In the afternoon, at 3:00 pm, we went to Suangliu Middle School, which would be considered a high school in America. The school was absolutely gorgeous, and the school bells sounded so elegant; they were nothing like the abrupt and disturbing sound signature of the bells at my school. When we arrived at Suangliu Middle School, we were immediately greeted with bright red signs and a group of students in uniform and bright red and gold sashes warmly welcoming us. It was deja vu to the first day we arrived. We departed the bus, took a big group photo, and then were escorted around the campus by the students. They showed us pictures of students with high Gao Kao scores and the school map, showing all the facilities and the vast campus, and guided us to the bell tower built in the late 1940s. I even saw classes of students still hard at work studying for the Gao Kao. One of first Chinese students from Suangliu Middle School I met was Jerry. Soon after beginning our tour around campus, Jerry shook my hand, told me about their school, and asked me about America. He was very talkative but a little nervous at the same time. It just so happened that he, with another girl named Sherry, was one of the announcers for the welcoming ceremony show. After walking around their campus, we were guided to a large room with two long tables covered in a deep green velvet and a shorter table in between. Jerry and Sherry gave a little commentary, and then we watched a video about Suangliu Middle School, describing the campus, teachers, and students with florid language. After a speech from the principal, we saw a fan dance performed by four students from the school. Then we, the Americans, performed some “traditional” American dances. The first American performance was “Cotton Eye Joe” with a modern twist, the next performance was “Footloose” with a nice flair, and the last performance was "Pineapple Apple Pen" to wrap it all up. After the show, we headed to a class room for our cultural activity, which happened to be a craft. A small lady named Murmur who works for the Suangliu Middle School guided us in making a panda brooch. We used long strands of white and black ribbon to make the panda. First we wrapped the ribbon tightly into little rolls, then put the small rolls together with a larger strand of ribbon wrapped around, and lastly we glued the ears and clip on. While making our brooches, Jerry told me about Suangliu Middle School and his life. Apparently, he is in the best first year class for the Social Sciences/Humanities. Students at this school, as I believe is consistent for most high schools in China, choose to either concentrate in the Social or Natural Sciences. On the Gao Kao, students must take certain parts of the test, including English and math, but they may choose to test in the Social or Natural Sciences for other parts of the test. Jerry told me that it would be a nightmare if he didn't do well on the Gao Kao, so he studies hard and takes classes in the summer and after school during the year. The school system in China scares me a little bit. It’s a bit like survival of the fittest.