He caused quite a stir on his first day.
In a Chinese public school where students with non-Chinese features are in a very small
minority, my oldest son attracted quite a lot of pointing, stares and excited questions from
both students and teachers.
You see, I’m in a small minority of foreigners (At least that I know of) sending their kids to
public rather than international schools. At first I was very nervous. In the past I had heard
stories of Chinese public schools with facilities and punishments more suited to Dickensian London than the 21st century.
Now I have two boys in grades 1 and 4 and although the facilities aren’t the greatest (wooden desks and chairs, unreliable technology) they at least have kind teachers, and classmates more than willing to play with them. So what’s the experience been like so far? Well, let’s start with the most contentious issue:
Homework
The good news is that the boys haven’t been overwhelmed with it yet. On a typical day, the
assigned homework (usually Chinese, English and maths) will take between 45 to 60 minutes
to complete.
Many assignments and reminders are sent via WeChat. I’m part of four school groups and
looking at my phone now, I see that there are almost 100 unread messages - mostly videos of
the grade 1 kids reading from their Chinese books, and various photos of today’s class. From
the grade 4 group there are announcements of school holiday arrangements and the new
uniforms being ready to pick up.
Some of the homework assignments are a little…different to what I used to do. For example,
my youngest son’s grade 1 class was recently assigned the task of doing housework - any
housework, and the parents needed to take and upload photos as proof. Before that, parents
were required to record and upload videos of them singing a song about Springtime. For me,
that would have meant learning the moves and the song, teaching both to him and then
convincing him to do it on video which I knew was just never going to happen (spoiler alert; it didn’t.)
In addition to providing news and updates more prolific than a rolling news feed, the schools
kindly include the parents by giving them their own homework assignments. Within the last
two months, parents have been charged with taking their kids to get their eyes, teeth and
spines checked and, of course, send proof through WeChat. Parents also need to regularly
update lunch orders, pay for uniforms and fill in surveys, questionnaires and post holiday
forms stating that no, their kids did not catch COVID during the break. At home, this burden
falls onto my Chinese wife who can be tied to the phone for long periods getting this stuff
done.
Relationships with Classmates
At the beginning I worried how the other students would react to them and so far I don’t think
there have been many issues. As soon as the other students saw the boys speaking and writing
perfect Chinese, they accepted them immediately. The boys have settled into school life very
well (although they find English class far too easy). There are always other kids to play and joke
around with but based on my conversations with them, they sometimes get a little tired of
explaining that their Mum’s Chinese and their dad’s Australian, (not American, please stop
asking that) and his understanding of Chinese is quite limited.
Bullying has, as far as I know, been very rare and dealt with quickly and effectively. There was
one incident with my oldest son a few years ago. A classmate was very aggressive to him,
called him a foreign dog and threw a book at him, hitting him in the eye. The teacher caught
him and apparently there wasn’t much left of this boy once she finished with him. Let’s just say
he hasn’t bothered my son since.
Overall, it’s been a positive experience (though the boys wouldn’t agree during exam week!)
They have kind and professional teachers and are making good progress with their studies.
Australian schools have many problems with bullying and low academic scores but it’s
reassuring to know that here in Guangzhou, my kids are going to excellent schools. Seeing
them walking out and chatting excitedly with a large group of friends at the end of the day,
arms around each other’s shoulders, only strengthens that conviction.
Tags:Lifestyle Expat Tales Expat Rants & Advice
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