It's about China's education system.
Yes. I watch other kids study while I am NOT studying.
Hypocrite, much ?
I remember the idea of watching how China students study
suddenly came in mind when I was siting for my SPM exam.
It was night already.
The next day was Biology, which was also my last paper.
I felt rather unmotivated.
Biology has always been one of those
I-thought-I-did-OK-but-the-red-ink-on-my-paper-says-otherwise-kind of subject.
I try to like it, but the grades are just telling me NO.
Ok, back to the topic.
I decided to do some Youtube-ing and I found an hour-long doc.
Decided to watch it and NOT study Biology.
It was really nice to watch other kids suffer worse fates than you.
What with China's extremely high population and their one-child policy.
In the end, I WAS inspired to study harder....
but there was no more time left, oh well, I'll just flunk my Bio.
Here's the first part of the documentary :
To be fair, they WERE from one of the best schools in the country.
So much stress.
But those stacks of books were another thing !
It really got me thinking.
In a SPM/STPM-equivalent exam, wouldn't that many books mean
they're pretty much A-scorers in every subject ?
The answer is 'yes', unconvincingly.
So last week, I decided to watch another documentary.
This one just went online lately.
It's produced by WhyPoverty and it's called Education Education.
It tells the story of how people strive to survive in China.
Over there, a degree is the least you need to secure an average-paying job.
One that does not require much manual labour and minimum wages.
The story follows 3 people in different stages of their lives.
The student, The Graduate and The 'Tutor'.
The Tutor is actually working for a scamming company who travels around China.
Giving talks of sort to people about their 'university'.
The uni doesn't exist. It's just a scam. The photos in the Powerpoint were all from Google.
People were paid to do testimonials.
The tutor feels guilty but he said it's the only way he can make a living and survive.
Students in the rural areas are more likely to fall for this scam.
So they are the company's target.
The graduate have just graduated from uni.
He finds jobs at Job Fairs.
Job fairs in China are always swamped with hundreds (or even thousands) or people.
People photocopy their resumes and give them to a company.
If the company think they are of some worth, they will keep the resume.
Review it later and if successful, call the job-seekers in for an interview.
The graduate found a job. He passed his interview.
However, his employers were unhappy with him.
His skills with Excel are very basic so he takes more time to get work done.
He does a lot of overtime but still got fired in the end.
At the next job fair, he gets another job.
He's on trial with other candidates.
However, only 2 were selected.
He wasn't one of them.
So off he goes to find another job.
The Student comes from those poor families that live away from the city.
Her mom has cacat hands. They work delivering bricks.
The student received her results from her final test.
She did not do very well (or at least, not well enough.).
Her parents still want her to go to uni.
She finds the uni that the Tutor works for.
She considers signing up.
We last see her as she is boarding a train filled with other kids.
Her mother stands outside to wave good-bye at her.
The Tutor's boss decided to run off with the scammed money.
He is now an IT Security Officer.
The Graduate moves out of his room, unable to pay the rent.
He lives with 2 other roommates now and is still seeking employment.
The Student decided to study Engineering.
The first documentary I watched during SPM
depicted how a good exam score is the only way into uni.
And uni is the only way to get a good job.
But in this documentary,
it seems even though some people manage to graduate from uni.
They might not find a job.
The video ends with statistics of how many graduates actually fail to secure a job.
They are called the "Ant Tribe" (if I remember correctly)
A few things I found weird about the documentary.
Why didn't the Graduate's father support his son.
I mean, you graduate and your dad just throws you out to survive ?
He only appeared on the Graduate's first day at work.
He deposited $300 into his bank account and that's IT !
The Graduate has to raise enough dough to pay for his rent and food.
We never hear from the parents again.
Another thing I didn't really understand is the ending.
The Student was shown in an empty lecture white lecture hall.
She is just staring at the blackboard.
As the professor writes on it.
How symbolic is the scene ?
Does this mean she actually fell for the scam,
and now she's studying in one of those low-class uni ?
Or was it just for visual effects ?
Someone commented she didn't fall for the scam.
But I dunno.
Ok ! Now back to REAL LIFE !
Homework Homework Homework Homework Homework Homework
Ok that was my real life.
But seriously, am I suppose to have a social life ?
Taking advantage of friendless-ness is actually quite effective
for keeping your mind in a study-because-you-have-nothing-better-to-do state.
However, I am pleased to announce that my social life in school is getting better.
It does get better =D
Well I still don't talk to the ones in big groups.They're just too 'mainstream' and 'in their own world' for me.
Prefer to stick to the smaller groups.
And in case, you're wondering.
I have a locker !
My very first locker.
It really does feel like high school now.
I keep all my books inside and I bring home nothing.
But 'nothing' is still VERY heavy.Stuff like pencil case, novel, bottle, laptop, handbook and a file
make it look like I've overstuffed my bag.
And it's pretty heavy too !
I think it's the laptop.
Which brings me to my next bragging topic !
FREE MACBOOK !
It's part of a loaning scheme so I'll have to return it.
But I still get to keep this baby for 1 WHOLE year.
Learning how to use a Mac is hard.
Totally different from Windows.
As a matter of fact, I'm blogging with my Mac now.
How sad =(
Our school is also try to save paper.
So all our assignments and worksheets are online.
Heck, even our thick textbooks are online !
They cost around $80 (RM250) each.
But now we get them for free.
I still feel it's awkward to study with a laptop all the time,
so I bought secondhand textbooks for $20 only.
Totally worth it !
In the picture on your right,
you can see this is how I spend my typical day at school.
Hidden in the library, isolated in a study carrel.
Wait, did I spell 'carrel' right ?
Here's an interesting picture.
This isn't a pile of sand.
It's a pile of rice grain.
The number of grains in that stack
=
The entire human population in the 70's
It was part of a rice exhibition in the city last weekend.
I passed by it during my visit to the library
so I thought it'd be interesting to snap a shot of it.
There are other stacks too. Like number of Indigenous people in Australia etc.
Well, I think that is all for now.
My eyes are getting very heavy.
School is tough.
Being deprived of sleep is becoming a norm.
Although it seems that I am incredibly consistent with that.
Good Night, world.
Listening to Thank You - MKTO
Sleepy but Happy,
TK
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