After breakfast, we went to Jianguo High School again. Since we arrived at the school early, we were brought to the seminar room to watch a short clip of the school's history. After that, we were divided into 3 different groups to attend classes with their Year 1s, who were 16 years old. I went to class 127 with Ruo Qing, Shi Wen. Yan Tong, Juen Lin, Jing Qing, Shi Rong, Wen Hao and Ming Han. Mrs Tan Geok Lian followed us along. The students wore home clothing and the teacher explained that since they sweat a lot while playing during their free time, the school allowed them to wear home clothes in class.
The first class was Chinese Literature, whereby they studied a person named 孔乙己 in a story, written by 鲁迅, a famous Chinese author. However, it was not the lesson that interests me. It was the students who were sleeping, using phones and laptops, doing homework of another subject and chit-chatting, DURING THE LESSON WHEN THE TEACHER IS TALKING!! I was quite appalled to see that, but what made me shocked is that the teacher did not bother to punish these students! Some of them even forgot to bring their textbook and the teacher did not even bother! They were not even paying attention to the teacher, which was disrespectful, and they also ate in class during the lesson! :O Since I sat at the back of the class with my buddy, I could see the whole class and I noticed all these actions -- made by students from a top school in Taiwan! Also, my buddy was sitting on my right, so I could ask him questions in class. He said that the school allowed them to do that... Which was part of the 'freedom' that the school gave them. Also, the student on my left slept for the whole lesson.
The second lesson was similar to that of the CCE lessons in RVHS. The teacher talked about 'kinship' and the importance of it, for example, she said a statement that could be right to everybody: we only learn to cherish our family only when they are gone... The same students continued their 'unexpected' behaviour. The student on my left continued sleeping...
Following that, lunch was served. We could eat in the class and lunch was served in a lunchbox, with a big chicken and some vegetables with tofu. Bubble tea was also given to us and we totally enjoyed the meal! It was awesome! The school did not have a proper canteen and the students were allowed to consume their lunch in their classrooms. However, the 2 dustbins in class were full, but the students did not bother to clear them but instead put their food packets beside them! Maybe it is because it is a boys' school and they do not have any sense of cleanliness... (Haha)
We then went to our buddy's foreign language class, and my buddy was in the Japanese language class. I could not understand most of the lesson because it was in Japanese, with some Chinese translations. My buddy had another lesson during our lunch break, so he ate his lunch in the Japanese class and I did not think that he paid close attention to the lesson.
We then went to the music lesson whereby the teacher cancelled the test that was supposed to be on that day, just to accommodate us. We played the drum such as the djembe and we played it according to the melody and beat, which made the song sound nice. The same student mentioned earlier continued sleeping. What made me surprised was that we knew which lesson to go to even thoughts he was sleeping, and he was on time! However, I did not encourage this behaviour as it was disrespectful to the teacher.
After that, we exchanged souvenirs with our buddies and took pictures with them. After that, we went to the sharing room to share some of our thoughts and also, ask questions about their school. I found out that the school allowed students to change into their home clothes in school, because they would always have exercises such as playing sports and they would get sweaty. After the sharing, we had to leave. Just like yesterday, we were reluctant to leave... But we had to and we bade farewell to them.
My reflections on Jianguo High School:
The actions of the students such as sleeping in class made me feel that they did not respect the teacher, and also, they gave us a bad impression of themselves. Part of 'freedom' that the school gave the students was to do anything in class, except heavy mistakes that break rules such as wearing slippers to class or gambling with cards. However, to me, I think that such freedom given to the students can be beneficial to them whereby they can learn to be responsible and take ownership of their studies and learning, such as deciding on whether to pay attention in class. Also, when they did not score well in examinations, they can learn to be matured to change their learning style, such as paying more attention in class. However, these actions may backfire. The students go to school to study, but if they do not pay attention in class, they would not gain more knowledge and information, so they might not appreciate schooling. Their learning attitude can worsen as when their academic results drop, they would feel sad and might affect their studying attitude. Their character might also worsen as they would not learn how to respect... They would not also learn that studying can have a huge impact in their future working lives.
If 'freedom' was introduced to RVHS, I would not recommend too much freedom but instead, continue to pay attention in class and abide the rules. I feel that the purpose of learning and studying is to improve ourselves, in terms of character and knowledge. I prefer to be rule-abiding, rather than being 'free', because overtime, rules would become good habits that students have in the future and also let them know how to differentiate from right and wrong.
Sadly, we had to leave Jianguo High School. Goodbye, buddy! Thanks for everything that you helped me with!
After that, our class went to the Martyrs' Shrine. We witnessed another change of guards (navy soldiers -- dark blue uniforms) but sadly, we could not go in because the place was closing after their operating hours. So, there was no guided tour and we did not learn anything new there...
We then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where we ate another 'typical' dinner consisting of fish, vegetables and chicken.
We then proceeded to the Eslite Bookstore. The bookstore had 5 levels with 2 basements but most of the books were at level 2 and 3, while the rest of the levels had bags and accessories, including stationery. I bought a book titled 'Catch Me If You Can'. Also, I went to a Science store selling products related to Science. I bought an 'electric' ball with electricity from the 'heart' of the ball going around the ball and when a finger touches the ball, the electricity will immediately go to the point of the surface of the ball where the finger was. It was cool and fascinating. I wanted to praise the shopkeeper for following me and assisting me for buying items and she was very friendly and kept on smiling. She was helpful and kind and was not lazy to help me in any ways, such as getting the items I wanted to have a look at.
Today was a fruitful day where I spent about S$50-S$60. I loved the things I bought, especially the 'electric' ball and also, I learnt many things from Jianguo High School, such as the cultural and educational difference in Taiwan and Singapore.
I look forward to tomorrow, whereby we would be visiting Wulai Elementary School!!
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