Your kids (and possibly you) will be fine until 4th grade. That’s when the true conveyor belt of exams and homework starts. Before then, for us, it was manageable. Even after 3rd grade, if you’re able to arrange for your kid to part home-school 1 or 2 days a week, it’s still manageable.
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It’s all manageable till high school, and even in high school it’s manageable if you put in some effort.
HRTs will be teaching certain subjects such as Chinese and others. Kids are directed to different classrooms depending on classes, such as English and Science. They will spend most of their classroom time with their HRTs.
What do you mean by manageable?
Aren’t you a lawyer? Presumably you were a good student and a good test-taker, especially if you managed to pass the bar exam here. So for you, it probably was pretty manageable. But I think junior high onwards is basically hell for all but the best students.
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Let me emphasise that this refers to almost all educational interactions here, not just public school. Maybe except for college students who by all accounts doze through college. 
They used to read for pleasure , an even bigger problem is the mobile in our hands.
I can see high school being hellish for most people, the workload was no joke, but middle school was mostly ok. The curriculum was tolerable. Now I really hated my middle school years but I hated it for the extracurricular BS and that crazy bitch of a homeroom teacher (she didn’t hit anyone but she was just annoying), not because of the workload.
I definitely agree that the hours are too long though.
I think it’s definitely possible. I actually read a lot as a kid, whenever I could outside of school on things I enjoyed. I had so many books on ancient Egypt and read anything I could on it. Unfortunately that was not a subject that was taught at school.
And I definitely had ADHD, every year my teacher in Taiwan would try to put me into a special class but my mom fought them off. It’s utter rubbish as I’ve tested at the top 5% in my SATs and I’ve maintained a 4.0 at university. No one in Taiwan gave me a chance and just wanted to beat my spirit down literally and figuratively.
My academic confidence was so low after Taiwan. I felt like I was stupid because that’s what Taiwanese system told me I was. A failure who should be shamed. It wasn’t till end of HS where my advisor had a meeting with me about how many opportunities I have for college because I had one of the best scores at school and tested so high in SATs and ACTs. Even then I didn’t believe I was smart and didn’t go for elite schools which I deeply regretted.
Taiwanese system is garbage unless you’re just a great test taker and good at memorizing. I probably would have never graduated HS in Taiwan. There’s just no wiggle room in learning styles at all.
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Reading this thread makes me think if I did the right choice when deciding to settle in Taiwan with my kids…
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I think this says all most all. It really depends on HRT.
My experience was 20 years ago and I’m someone who definitely has ADHD and disagreeable personality. I’m also a tactile learner. It’s a disastrous combination.
There were many kids that seem to do just fine if they can fit into the system.
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The reason I said that it’s because I don’t want my kids to end up with the same mentality I see in my office everyday.
I thought this was due to mindset and culture Taiwanese people have here (and I can have much more influence in that aspect in my family), but now it seems it’s also due to the education system.
Hard to fight against that.
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I think it starts at school.
It’s a big “if.” I believe in teaching kids the value of working hard and I believe most of them have the ability to adapt and overcome, but I think Taiwan’s education system is pretty unforgiving compared to the US. If you are a mediocre or even a shitty student in the states, you can still have a reasonably okay experience at school. But if you’re a mediocre or shitty student here, you fall behind, then you get imprisoned in cram school where you suffer more, all day every day. And if you’re a poor test taker, you are completely screwed, period, no matter what you do.
I think if I had stayed here, I would’ve been okay. I’m a pretty traditional student, a good test taker, and generally compatible enough with the system to get by. But a lot of kids are not so lucky. I feel so sorry for them.
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We may not reside here for all their education . I’m also thinking of third level education which has residency rules in my home country .
Yeah the education system used to literally beat it into them. Now it’s more of an ingrained way of doing things.
My kids already have very good Chinese so no regrets whatsoever on that front.
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In contrast with the American system where they tell you it’s ok to be stupid and suck. Which is why people in the US often have subpar intelligence after going through schooling… and now they’ve cut out every program worth taking like shop class.
Should I be glad I’m not American, then?
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And old lady hair soup!
You have to make a very conscious effort to affect your kids morals, character, personality and culture here to balance out the influence of the school. That’s what I try to do all the time. It is not easy but worth it.
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