I had to write a paper about my experiences visiting the high school and talking to the students. Just like the expo paper, this one also sounds like a blog post and though it is not as good as the expo one, I think people will find it interesting.
Complete set of pictures of the high school
-muffinman
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The field trip to the local Shanghai high school revealed a student body that was much more homogenous than any American school that I had encountered.
This high school was definitely better looking than my high school
Examining the pictures I had taken of students during the tour, I was struck by how similar all the students looked in their school uniforms. With their light blue jackets and dark blue pants, these students were indistinguishable from each other from afar. The goal of the uniforms as stated during the question and answer session was to eliminate differences in social class, promoting equality through homogeneity. However, after having the chance to talk to some of the students, it was clear that the level of homogeneity extended far beyond dress.
The three students, one male and two female, that I was talking to were extremely similar, in both their behavior and lives that they described to me. All three of their lives revolved around school, and they spoke of spending most of their time on doing homework and trying to go to sleep before ten o’clock. They all complained of having too little free time and when asked what they did with the little free time that they had, they all responded with an activity that involved the computer. Only after some pressing did they answer with activities that were more distinct. One of the female students said she swam, another stated that she drew, while the male student said he played basketball. All of the three students said that these secondary activities were rarely done. There was a stated preference towards science and mathematics among the three students. Biology, chemistry and physics were the majors that the three students wanted to pursue in university. It was no surprise that all three said that they were going to choose science over humanities for their area of focus during their final year in high school.
Homogeneous all the way through
Their reactions to many things that I revealed about myself were quite similar as well. When the three students heard that I boxed, there was an air of disapproval expressed across the board. The male student explained that many Chinese people thought boxing was a “rude” sport and the female students echoed his sentiments. When I told them that my major was Anthropology, there was a sense of confusion among the three students. One of the female students asked me why I was majoring in Anthropology, to which I replied that I found it interesting. This was met with general surprise and when pressed to explain themselves, they all revealed that they had a disdain for the humanities. The male student told me that he found humanities to be boring, and his statement was accompanied by nods of agreement among the female students.
After the interview session, I compared my experience with my classmates. My interview experience was far from unique and many of my classmates reported similar conversation topics, the most prominent of which was the complaining of too much studying and not enough leisure time. Another topic that everybody seemed to touch upon was dating, it seemed that all my classmates were asked if they had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Talking with my classmates revealed that there was very little variation in opinions and questions among the Shanghai high school students, further adding to the impression of homogeneity that I had received.
My interview subjects
I interviewed Qi Li, a Fudan freshman and Shenzhen native, about his high school experience. Qi Li attended and boarded at an elite high school in Shenzhen. He described his life as being centered around school. There were school scheduled study times and skipping dinner was the only way to get enough free time to play basketball. By Qi Li’s account, life at an elite school sounded very similar across China.
The interview session with the Shanghai high school students and Qi Li reinforced my idea of homogeneity among Chinese high school students, at least at the elite level. Perhaps this will change as Chinese universities increasingly look for more in applicants than a good Gao Kao score, driving students to differentiate themselves from their classmates by pursuing extracurricular activities and interests, creating a more heterogeneous student body more similar to those found in the United States.
