Hi Forumosans-I am new and have been on this island for the past 18 years, save for the occasional trip abroad.
I’m a senior in one of the Taipei public high schools-I wouldn’t tell you which one, but I can tell you that we wear green uniform shirts and hang around the Presidential Building. As seniors, basically all we do is study. In fact, I have been spending every single holiday/weekend in the library for the past 6 months, even after 學測 (one of the two major college entrance exams we sit). I used to have a lot of fun with Scouts and whatnot back in Grade 11, but these days are gone. All I do now is study and muck around on sites like this and PTT, among many others.
I figured there aren’t a lot of us around Forumosa, so I decided to pop out and say hi. Feel free to ask me anything in this thread!
This is interesting. (I hope everyone can keep it civil!)
1: Do you feel like you really learn and understand material, or is it mostly just learning what will be on a test and nothing else?
2: I have a few friends who graduated from your school, and they’re some of the most free-thinking, interesting friends I have – unlike graduates of most schools in Taiwan. What at your school specifically encourages that?
3: It seems you grew up abroad or are not Taiwanese. Is it hard to fit in? Or is everyone too busy studying to worry about popular kids and clubs and stuff?
[quote=“Hokwongwei”]This is interesting. (I hope everyone can keep it civil!)
1: Do you feel like you really learn and understand material, or is it mostly just learning what will be on a test and nothing else?
2: I have a few friends who graduated from your school, and they’re some of the most free-thinking, interesting friends I have – unlike graduates of most schools in Taiwan. What at your school specifically encourages that?
3: It seems you grew up abroad or are not Taiwanese. Is it hard to fit in? Or is everyone too busy studying to worry about popular kids and clubs and stuff?[/quote]
Well. I’d say I learn and understand most of the material, but there are definitely subjects I despise and STILL have to take…with these I just try my best to learn what I absolutely have to and nothing more…
Clubs. Freedom. Anarchy. Okay…Maybe not anarchy, but the school imposes very little control over how we live our lives as students, unlike many other (esp. private) places. Kids are not told to do (or not do) anything, as long as we follow certain rules and wear the full uniform while entering/exiting the gates. Also we have these student gatherings where people talk about social justice etc so everyone’s just…well-informed. Sometimes it gets a bit chaotic, especially when there’s a birthday party going on. Birthday kids are often smacked with shaving cream pies and water balloons right in the hallways.
No. I’m born and raised here. I went to KCIS, but overall it really isn’t hard to fit in in high school. I had a bit of trouble in junior high where people aren’t nearly as forgiving, but in high school it’s all fine. Interestingly we don’t really have “popular kids”, cliques and things like that, everyone’s pretty civil and nice here.
[quote=“monkey”]Why don’t you tell us more about your Asperger’s Syndrome?
[/quote]
Oh.
Short version:
Didn’t get along with other kids AT ALL growing up…I would either be silent or throw fits over tiny things in kindergarten.
Learned stuff the hard way in 7th grade (bullying).
Transferred to another school where I gradually learned how to get along with people, read a book in 8th grade which mentioned Asperger’s, and not knowing what it was I Googled it up with a friend-and she went like “Jamie that’s YOU.” (I’ve been obsessed with medicine since kindergarten and a doctor is all I want to be in life. I will literally google the hell out of any unfamiliar medical term I come across)
I agreed, a few months later, that I did relate to Asperger’s traits, then I went to see a doc. She agreed, but I’m too “high-functioning” for a medical diagnosis (the handicapped kind? IDK)
Today I rarely even think about it. It’s Ko Wen-Je that brought the topic up again
John Locke was an English philosopher about 350 years before he ever crash-landed on an island, if that’s what we’re talking about. By the way, your English is phenomenal. I guess Kang Chiao offers a pretty good environment (and you deserve credit for making the most of it).
John Locke was an English philosopher about 350 years before he ever crash-landed on an island, if that’s what we’re talking about. By the way, your English is phenomenal. I guess Kang Chiao offers a pretty good environment (and you deserve credit for making the most of it).[/quote]
It’s John and Sherlock, actually.
When we came across John Locke in history class a few of my friends (and yours truly) went into a laughing fit. The teacher had no clue at all why we did that.
I actually was taught English and Chinese almost simultaneously, since my dad speaks English quite fluently. He would read me books and stuff. Kang Chiao is a great place, it’s just waaaaaay to expensive for a middle-class family like mine. Also my parents wouldn’t let me leave the island for uni so I’m better off in some other school with higher academics rankings/test scores.
[quote=“johnlockian”][quote=“monkey”]Why don’t you tell us more about your Asperger’s Syndrome?
[/quote]
Oh.
Short version:
Didn’t get along with other kids AT ALL growing up…I would either be silent or throw fits over tiny things in kindergarten.
Learned stuff the hard way in 7th grade (bullying).
Transferred to another school where I gradually learned how to get along with people, read a book in 8th grade which mentioned Asperger’s, and not knowing what it was I Googled it up with a friend-and she went like “Jamie that’s YOU.” (I’ve been obsessed with medicine since kindergarten and a doctor is all I want to be in life. I will literally google the hell out of any unfamiliar medical term I come across)
I agreed, a few months later, that I did relate to Asperger’s traits, then I went to see a doc. She agreed, but I’m too “high-functioning” for a medical diagnosis (the handicapped kind? IDK)
Today I rarely even think about it. It’s Ko Wen-Je that brought the topic up again [/quote]
I don’t get it…did Monkey just hazard a lucky guess? otherwise what’s the give-away here…crazy good English?
I’m a nervous wreck right now. The College Examination Board are sending us our 學測 grades via text message early tomorrow. It will be there when I wake up for school. I really, really, really want to make it to med school.
Please wish me luck.
John Locke was an English philosopher about 350 years before he ever crash-landed on an island, if that’s what we’re talking about. By the way, your English is phenomenal. I guess Kang Chiao offers a pretty good environment (and you deserve credit for making the most of it).[/quote]
It’s John and Sherlock, actually.
When we came across John Locke in history class a few of my friends (and yours truly) went into a laughing fit. The teacher had no clue at all why we did that.
I actually was taught English and Chinese almost simultaneously, since my dad speaks English quite fluently. He would read me books and stuff. Kang Chiao is a great place, it’s just waaaaaay to expensive for a middle-class family like mine. Also my parents wouldn’t let me leave the island for uni so I’m better off in some other school with higher academics rankings/test scores.[/quote]
Gotta say, your English is phenomenal. If half the foreigners here had Chinese half as good…well, no point in speculating because it would never happen. Or if half the Taiwanese who claim to be fluent in English were half as fluent as you… Anyway, kudos to your dad for bringing you up completely bilingual. Hope he gets nice Father’s Day presents! Oh, and good luck getting into pre-med.
Get some sleep