STUDENTS IN CHINA

For many students in China, their mornings start around 6 am, which might be before their parents’. They will be up and getting their own lunch, packing their own bags and making their own way to school, which can start as early as 7am. So, does ‘early starts’ mean early finishes? Sadly, no. For high school students, and some middle school students, they might finish as late as 7 pm! That’s right, a 12 hour day. That includes a long lunch break where some students have a nap, while others take the opportunity to finish some of their homework or review for a test.

On top of this crazy schedule, the class sizes often reach 70 students, with the average school having 40-50 students in a class. The teachers rarely have time to give every student personal time, so weak students get left behind. They even sit at the back of the class while the good students sit at the front. There are many exams every semester and the final exams decide if the student will go to a good school next year or not.

After all of this, you would think the parents might let the students relax after school, but unfortunately no. Evenings and weekends are full of extra classes with private tutors or schools so they can keep up with their classmates and get those very important grades. Free time is rare and people generally sleep or play computer games in those times.