For the nearest High School, classes start at 8AM and they let out at 5PM, that's a 9 hour school day! But it doesn't stop there. Many of the High Schoolers will go to one of the many "BuXi", pronounced "bushees", which are the after school cram schools. These let out at about 8PM so that's another 2.5 hours of schooling. Then they can go home and start their homework! It's a tough life being a student in Taiwan, but I think it must also be tough for the parents to keep their child motivated throughout their precollege schooling.
And that is the whole point. The competition to get into college is so hard that it takes these long school days and BuXis to make it.
Here are some of the store fronts for the BuXis in my neighborhood. One of the subjects they cram for is English so they like to use a little English in their storefront.
At first I thought this was a Math research center
The owner of the BuXi's name is Bai, he's missing the apostrophe s.
This is a very optimistic outlook. Even the impossible is nothing. I think it's a purposely chosen phrase as a kind of play on words.
A hopeful message
The fine print says "Teaching All Comers Without Discrimination".
Might Brains, not Mighty Mouse
Even the younger students have their own BuXis
2 comments:
Your description of the BuXis
left me exhausted! Do they work? Do the students seem as happy as the students in Bellevue that you worked with? Are there many juvenille delinquents who rebel against so much school? I'm for balance in life.
I am the product of such system. If we have not learned much academically, we certainly have learned work ethic. Taiwan is not the only country. Almost of all the Asia schools are the same. It is very much of the influence of Confucius. Scholar holds the highest honor. That is also why teachers are such respected in Asian country. Happiness is combination of many things. Hardworking does not make less happy. The family, education and steady income have great impact in emotional well-being. Study hard leads to better education. Better education leads to better income.
After the trip, Mike can draw a conclusion to decide happiness between our two families.
Post a Comment