Totally rock, except have to fast forward past Whoopie Goldberg and her few minutes’ spiel talking about non-PC the cartoons were and how it was a sign of those times, blah blah blah
My wife and I have a 1 year old daughter. We plan to move back to the west before she has to start kindy. Really don’t know if kids get discriminated here for being mixed (my wife is Taiwanese and I’m white), but not keen to find out the hard way. I know back in New York it’s pretty diverse and this wouldn’t be an issue.
What’s other parents’ experience with mixed children in the school system if anyone wants to share? Any bullying or unfair treatment?
The warning on the blu-ray just has a title card that says they “…may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros. view of today’s society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed.”
It’s worth clarifying, considering some of the content. No Whoopi on the blu-rays.
My kids dig a lot of the cartoons but they have their own things they’re into. Can’t force them to relive my childhood but they seem to make their own happy memories. Instead of ice cream trucks they have smelly tofu stands. Instead of freshly cut grass on Sunday morning they have the lady downstairs crushing cans. Instead of family drives on the coast they have daddy swearing at some prick who tried to run him off the road. They seem okay with it.
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Oh right, the racially tolerant West.
Are you high?
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Pre-school and Kindergarten were fine. It actually never came up. Strangely, until my eldest daughter was in first grade nobody had really said a word to her about being a “foreigner”. Even now, the kids in her own class are fine. She tends to complain about the OTHER class saying stuff to her. I think familiarity makes them more accepting. Plus, kids learn to deal with it since it’s gentle ribbing rather than harsh bullying. Also, she’s started pointing out she’s Aboriginal and it breaks their little minds.
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10% of kids are mixed.
my kids are fully foreign children, but they and their mixed friends have not been bullied or discriminated as far as I know in private schools in Taipei.
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My kids haven’t had any trouble. They’re in grades 4 and 2 at a small public school and so far they’ve had no problems.
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Dude, what’s your problem? Do you know anything about New York? Here, educate yourself. It’s number 7.
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Tando, do you mean that you think kids get more bullied in private schools?
From other fellow Forumosans, do kids have a better time then at local schools rather than the fancy for foreigner ones?
no. I think rough kids in private schools may be generally leas than those in average public schools, and they may tend to get used to foreigners and foreign kids more than public school kids. That is why I specified “private” schools.
My kids have neither experienced any problems with public school kids, though.
Private schools harbor more problematic kids, so I have been told by locals.
I have a compatriot whose kid has been harrassed at an international school. She has switched…to anotehr international school. I am not sure that is a good fit for the kid. He is friendly and energetic, a normal kid.
Remember that, from Junior High and up, loads of kids at Private Schools are there because they got booted out of Public Schools for recidivist bad behaviour and their parents had to pony up to get them accepted.
Private School in Taiwan is generally the opposite of what it is in N. America.
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Yeah, I meant elementary school.
I think usually they may have no problem in pre or kinder, and if they know Chinese, in elementary school too, regardless of schools are public or private. In elementary, if they are older and don’t know Chinese, it may largely depend on classroom teachers.
In junior high and later, it seems there are large differences between schools, so which school may be more important.
Generally when they start a new class (remember they are in the same class all the way through, so by the end of the school, they really know each other) the novelty of a foreign or hapa classmate lasts about 30 minutes on the first day and then nobody cares.
In my experience, on the very rare occasion when a kid’s ethnic condition was brought into play as a pejorative, the perpetrator was brought to heel swiftly and decisively, both by staff and peers. It’s pretty much regarded as backwards and embarrassingly loutish behaviour.
I suppose if we were talking about some backwater community in Bumfuck, Pingtung County, it might be different.
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I thought they mix things up every 2 or 3 years. No?
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Sorry, it’s been a while.
I remember they switched home room teachers every 2 years in Elementary, but I was thinking the class stayed the same.
Maybe not.
Junior High and High School stayed the same all the way through, obviously.
You’re thinking too much.
Bullying and building their own groups/sub groups is their own little kingdom at school and is what they do(what we do), whether it be at school or when they’re fully grown adults in workplace.
Get your kids prepared to meet a bully—I think that’s the right approach.
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Sign children up early to learn at least one martial arts like taekwondo, judo, etc. Or even boxing (has age limit at community centers in US)
Helps build self-esteem, too.
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I was only thinking something along the lines of healthy diet, plenty of sleep, and less virus infection to build up a healthy physique so that the kid is less likely to get picked on at school😅
But yes, exercising also helps build up muscle and immune system. I’m not sure about to what degree though should kids(or even adults) play those really rough contact sports that may result in irreversible brain damage.
Interesting comment about Pingtung? I was chit chat time (teatime-Coffee break) at the office and we talked about the 11 year kid yesterday who jumped off the building and guess it was the parent(s) pushing the kid get better grades it seems and conclusion it was a Taipei problem (we like to say that about many things ha) result is this. I my alley in KHH, the kids next to us play of the street and use boxes a toys (as I did) and seem have free time to play in the middle of the city. Kids live with extended family where grandparents look poor (but in fact not and drive nice cars wish I could buy!) and I guess kids seem smart to me because they can think, such as playing with boxes and making mini homes, ect). So I guess kids can do well not studying the whole day (8am-10pm) here in Taiwan too, so well no need to leave IF parents can teach their kids well.