Top 11 Differences between School in Taiwan and the US

1. Lunch. The lunch in Taipei is much more yummy than the lunch in the US. In Taiwan, they serve the lunch in the classroom. And in the US, they serve the lunch in the MP (Multi-Purpose) room. Here in Taipei, we have several courses: a main meal, soup, side vegetables, fruit, and sometimes milk. We eat inside on our desks, and in the US we eat outside on the picnic tables. Nobody talks at all while eating. We don’t have recess after lunch. We have to brush our teeth and then nap on the table.

School field trip to the Taipei World Trade Center

2. Teacher. They yell really, really loud when they are mad at a kid. I haven’t been yelled at yet. And they do a lot of public shaming. For example, the teacher doesn’t say your name, but she says all the bad stuff that you do, and then she says, “if you did that then please stand up.” And then the child will stand up, and then she will yell at him more. The teacher also likes to compare one kid’s work to another kid’s work. But the yelling and comparing doesn’t bother me too much.

The first day of school. All the kids clapped to welcome me since I am a new student.

3. Swimming. In my Taipei school we have a swimming pool but in my US we don’t. I think that the swimming classes are very fun! (It is one of my favorite periods) There are two levels, the first level is pretty easy for me, so I am in the second level. After we are done swimming we go in to the locker room, after we are done rinsing and changing we blow dry our hair and it is madness! There are about 24 hair blow dryers, every girl wants their hair really dry AND they also have to fix it perfect, which takes FOREVER! There are also a couple of moms to help blow dry hair, but it still does take a long time. Once it took so long that the teacher had to come in and help because the gates were almost going to close.

4. Earthquake drill. The earthquake drill in Taipei is much more serious than earthquake drills in the US. We have about 6 earthquake drills. Once you hear the announcer say “the earthquake is hitting!” you have to go under the table and all of my classmates take it really serious. Then the speaker makes earthquake noises, and then when the speaker says you can go out, every body hurries up and then gets a random book, puts it on their head and runs down all of the stairs. Every teacher is wearing a helmet and snapping for the kids to go faster. Once I reached the field I saw that the teachers were doing a skit and that they were saying “two people got hurt” but they were just doing a skit so there was no real injured kids. But to my surprise they actually had 2 kids act like they were hurt, one was sitting on a wheel chair and another was wearing a fake cast.

5. Changing periods. In our Taiwan school we change periods a lot. Here are our different periods: English, science, social studies, computer, art, swimming, PE and music. My favorite subjects are computer, art, swimming, PE and music. My least favorite subjects are science and social studies (although I got a high score on my midterm and final). When we change periods, the class president has us all line up in a really straight line. There shouldn’t be any gaps, if there is one little gap then he will yell at you. When we get to the classroom the class president says “look forward” and the class says “ready.” Then we have to all walk orderly inside. If you do not, then the class president hits you and says, “hurry up!” If you disobey, then the class president will write your class number on the blackboard when you get back to the classroom. And then the teacher yells at you in front of the whole class. If you do not behave, then the subject teacher will tell the homeroom teacher (my main teacher), and she will then say that you brought shame upon the whole class.

6. Kids. When we are hanging out during class, and like, if someone is sitting next to you and is misbehaving, you can just yell at them to be quiet. And they don’t get mad at you or take it personally. They don’t hold a grudge and yell back, because they know that they should behave in class and show respect to the teacher. In the US, the kids would be upset if you tried to mind their business in class, they would say “none of your beeswax!” But here in Taiwan, even if you tell someone to be quiet, you will still be friends. It is really easy to make friends here. Another example is that there’s a boy in our class that is a little fat. Everyone just calls him “fatty,” and he doesn’t care. He knows it’s just his nickname. I think that it is more offensive here to call someone skinny than fat. Because if you are fat, that means you are wealthy – you have more food to eat. The boys are also nicer here than in the US. They are very friendly and don’t make fun of you. They don’t care if you’re hanging out with other girls.

7. Discipline. I feel like over here in Taiwan, the kids have more discipline. For example, we have to clean the bathrooms, mop the floors, wipe the windows, and help make the school a pleasant place. There is only one janitor, but her job is to clean the principal’s office (not the bathroom). The kids don’t complain about cleaning, they just do it.

8. Student government. In each class, there are a lot of roles. There is the class president, vice class president, the respect director, the hygiene director, and there is a director for every period (subject) to keep track of the misbehaving kids. First the class president has to keep an eye on all the kids. If he wants, he can yell at them. Everyone has to listen to him. He also has to lead the line, which has to be completely straight. It’s a lot of pressure for him, because if he doesn’t do the job well and doesn’t tell the kids to do something, then the teacher will yell at him. Second, the respect director has to put an “X” on the chalkboard and write all the student numbers that aren’t good underneath it. He does this everyday. At the end of the day, based on this list, the teacher will deduct points from the bad students. The respect director also has to keep track of people during naptime. If you’re not sleeping, she will tell you to go to sleep, and will also put your name under the “X.” Third, the hygiene director has to make sure everyone does their job during cleaning time. After lunch, everyone has to brush their teeth, and the hygiene director has to make sure everyone brushes their teeth. If he didn’t see someone brush his/her teeth, he will try to find someone next to them and ask them if they saw that person brush their teeth. If there is no witness, then he will tell the person to brush their teeth again. The director for each period has to make sure the kids are good; if they are bad, then when they get back to the homeroom, they have to add the bad kids under the “X.” Once class starts again, the teacher will call up all the bad kids one by one by number and discipline them. The punishment is that they have to write an essay – 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, or 1800 words depending on the severity of the bad behavior. One example is this one time, a kid farted in class, and the teacher asked, “Who FARTED?” Out of the whole class, only one kid said “not me!” Then the teacher walked down the aisle and sniffed her nose, and pointed at him and said, “you farted! I know you did. You lied.” He had to write a 400 word essay.

9. “Teaching you how to be a good person” education. At this school, we have a whole class about how to be a good person. In that class, it teaches you how to communicate with your mom and dad better, how to find ways not to get mad, not to have gender stereotypes, and street safety. In the US, I think the parents teach the kids about this stuff. But in Taiwan, the school has to teach this. I think this is because a lot of the kids’ parents are too busy. Or maybe it’s because the parents don’t have the patience to. I learned a concept called “double winning,” which basically means that if you are in an argument, you have to make sure that both of you “win.” Meaning, you try to find a win-win situation where both people in the argument win. For example, if you guys are arguing about what place to go, and one person says, “we are going to the playground and that’s that,” but the other person is unhappy about the decision, then it’s not a “win-win” situation. They also give us lessons on how not to judge people based on whether they are a boy or a girl. For example, girls can also be athletic just like boys. Girls can be scientists. And boys can be hair stylists and ballet dancers.

We learned about Jeremy Lin in our Chinese text book

10. Tests and homework! There is so much homework compared to the US. The US didn’t have any. When we first arrived, it took me about four hours to do my homework. And then after a while it was about three hours. We get home at 4:10PM and then we would start homework at 4:30PM. Then my mom put in a rule that said we had to stop by 7:30PM (when we ate dinner) which actually worked, and then we wouldn’t be able to do any after dinner. So we had to finish before dinner. Here there are so many tests. There are tests for singing, PE, and all the subjects. I think there are a lot of tests because people like to compete. The teacher talks about test scores openly. She will say who received the highest score and who got the worst score. And if you did really bad she will shame you. She will say, “I cannot say you are dumb. But I can say that you are not using your brain.” There are also midterms and finals. And it’s a big deal. Everyone in our class is very nervous. A lot of it is because, if they don’t get a good score, then the parents will hit them and get mad at them. On the day of the test, the day is really jammed, because it’s just test after test. Everyone in my class studies very hard. Technically the only break we have that day is a short one to go to the bathroom between each test. A couple of days after the test, when we get our scores back, a lot of people are praying that they did well.

11. Athletics Meet. This is an event where every grade prepares something, for example, obstacle course, relay or dances. What the whole fourth grade did, is a relay race and a dance. In the relay race, we got second place. And our dance was an aboriginal dance. I think it’s really fun because of the comraderie it builds in the class, and also because we get to be energetic. And also, your parents get to come and watch and see what you learned. It happens on a Saturday.