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Published: September 25th 2006
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Freshmen military training
Each Freshman AND each Freshwoman :-) is required to participate for 2 weeks in basic military training, from marching to the use of rifles. Here, Companies are doing marching drills on the sports-field of Taizhou Teachers College and some 80% are young ladies. Taizhou Teachers College is back in full session, and some 7,000 college students have re-occupied our small campus. They are more like "High School Teenagers," squeeling to each other, holding on to each other for support. Cell phones and MP3s are attached to both ears, while they scream for the attention of persons right next to them.
They giggle out loud as they make their way to some spartan class-rooms, with enough basic-desks and tiny-stools (none have back-rests) for classes, that will seat 45+ students. (When I had opportunities to milk cows or goats as a child in Germany, we used a stool almost like it, only it had 3 legs.) I have sat on the stools in my classes, and each time I have to give my "two cheeks" additional support, with both hands. :-). I'm not sure if it's because the size of the stool, or the size of my "behind".
Each desk is occupied by two focused students, and in my classes it is mostly girls. You would think, that the 3-6 boys in each class would be in heaven, finding themselves outnumbered by a ratio of 10-1, but not so. The boys are even more
English majors
This class of students is one of eight.
I see each class only one time per week, for 90 minutes, very little time for eager students, who will be teaching English within another year.
Each of these student wanted me to extend to all of my family, friends, and former students at Coral Gables High School, in Florida very special greetings. They invite you to visit them here in TTC. timid, and seating them next to a girl, and not a fellow boy, will evoke looks and sounds of agony from his chair; it's as if the little-emperor had "no clothes".
85% of our students at the college are "young" ladies, between the ages of 19 and 22, but few look older than 17. Unless the student lives in the city of Taizhou, and is able to go home after school, each would be sharing a "small" dorm-room with 5-6 others, quite an improvement from the 9-12 this past semster. Privacy for a student is at an absolute minumum, and intimacy impossible.
Since "romantic" interludes would detract from the goal of succeeding in their studies, none exist! Any conversations or topics in the classroom, that deal with dating, marriage, and children are received as incredulous, and the giggles change to pubescent outbursts.
Student shower-facilities have also improved with the completion of a new bath-house, but it is still a walk from their dorms. Hot water for their thermos-container to make tee, can be drawn at a central location next to the bath-house.
Most make that hot-water-journey only once a day, and they will often carry the
New Bath-House
The smaller white building, with red and gold banner is the new bath-house for the students. I think the sign reads: We offer a new and improved morning-shower! The number of bikes might suggest, that it has become a great place to congregate. large Thermos for several room-mates. When they pass me, they remind me of the "Brunhilde-type-waitress" at the Oktoberfest in Munich, who can carry 5 "Steins" of beer in each hand, only these young girls are 1/3 their size, and manage just as well.
Many of the buildings on campus have received a new coat of paint, and the new dining facility has brought additional meal-time customers. Lunch consists of 3 selected dishes and as much rice as can be consumed; there are no drinks, only the soup, at the "end" of lunch, supplements the fluid-intake.
As the only 3 foreign English teachers on campus, we enjoy the time at lunch among our Chinese collegues, whom we normally rarely see. They too look much younger, and we often confuse them as students.
The upper-classmen have been on campus and in my classes for 3 weeks. This past Tuesday all of them welcomed the bashful freshmen and their families to our college. Freshmen academic classes will begin after China's National Holiday in the beginning of October.
For the first 2 weeks, every freshman, in every college and university of China, including Taizhou Teachers College, first deals with mandatory
Welcome Freshmen of
The red and gold banner above the name of the college welcomes the new students to the campus. The College Sports-Auditorium is on the right, to the back. military training and fitness, from the moment when each "must" get up at 6 a.m, until lights out for all, at 10:30 p.m.
During these first weeks, every freshman is in uniform, takes part in serious military drills, including the use of rifles, and learns the fundamentals of army training, to defend their country and to foster cameradery and inter-dependence. They march and practice in units, which are supervised by regular Chinese soldiers, much like a drill-seargant during my basic training at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
At times the campus sounds more like a military boot-camp than an academic institution, as I watch hundreds of freshmen drill on the sports-field from my 4th floor office window. I have observed their drills from the bleachers as well. They take their participation very seriously, and I find it entertaining and at times somewhat "thought-provoking."
Many of these first-time-college-students will sit in my class-room after their initial training. It will be interesting to hear them respond to my inquisitiveness and curiosity about these first experiences on our campus.
Every student resident has a time-routine laid out by the college, and there is little deveation. Time schedules are announced by the
sounding of a bell, and are as follows:
06:00 a.m. All students get up, "Rise and Shine"!!
07:00 a.m. - 07:40 a.m. breakfast
07:40 a.m. Classroom preparations
07:50 a.m. - 09:30 a.m. 1st and 2nd Periods
09:50 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 3rd and 4th Periods
11:30 a.m. Lunch and studies or a cat-nap
01:40 p.m. Classroom preparation
01:50 p.m. - 03:30 p.m. 5th and 6th Periods
03:30 p.m. - 05:30 p.m. 7th and 8th Periods
05:30 p.m. Supper and studies or a cat-nap
06:45 p.m. - 09:20 p.m. 9th, 10th, and 11th Periods
10:30 p.m. All light out, power is shut off for the students.
This is a college schedule for students between the ages of 19yrs.-22yrs.+ !
I'm wondering when there is time to complete the assignments, or to hope and to pray for a weekend-date???
I have found, that each student is keenly aware of the importance, to sucessfully complete their college tenure. The future depends on their college-rank, obtained through grueling and highly-competitive National Examinations.
With a population of 1.4 billion people striving to reach economic independence, each of my students understands,
Grasping for support
Holding on to each other for support, many of the first time college students walk in total confusion. that failure in school is not an option, and the hopes and dreams, along with those of their family depend on their academic achievement. There is no allowance for "slacking", especially so near the final academic year of their life.
This has been their "Leitmotiv" since childhood. Every test-score since has determined the next chance or missed opportunity in life. Here at Taizhou Teachers College, the day of reckoning for each is just around the corner, and the anxiety on their faces leaves no doubt, that many "regret" the foolishness in believing, that "this" day would never come. It is the punishement of every student, no matter the country, who believes, that winning the "Lottery" is the other option.
(As always the suggestion: To please enlarge the photo for greater detail :-)
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Valentino [Val] Macor
non-member comment
Photography/Geography
I am continually amazed at the photos you have on your journals, very descriptive and clear. As I said before, I am learning more about that part of the country's geography and way life of the local people. For instance, in the bottom 27 pictures I only saw 1 car. Certainly not the norm in any US school!