【Emiko】英國遊學心得分享

My dear family, in the rest of this report, I would like to share some opinions on the two weeks l spent in C Girl's School.

Knowing that the education systems in Western countries emphasize on freedom and encouraging students to find who they are, l really looked forward to the two weeks with English students. I have tolerated of the education in Asia too much, which filled with taking notes without thinking or debate, numerous tests, and judging students just from their scores. It's time for me to experience a world that is totally different from the society I am familiar with.

In C Girl's School, I felt like I can do anything because even though I didn't do things very well, teachers would still encourage me not to give up. Just like in PE class, we can do home run whether we hit the ball or not. If the teacher told you to run, you could just run and don't need to worry about your poor batting skill. It makes me think of the PE class l take in Taiwan. Some of the teachers think that they have the power to ruin students' pride because they are ' professional ' in this subject. That's why some of the students in our school don't like PE class, but in C Girl's School, everyone seems to be happy while doing sport with one another. Teachers here are not only authority but also students' friends, they are here to evidence that their students can do everything.

Also, some subjects really help me to find my confidence back, yes, I am talking about math. You all know that I am scared of math even though my math is not as poor as I think, but taking math class here is really a chance for me to get accomplishment. I can solve math problems without a second thought and get the right answers and the compliments from teachers and my classmates here. I can finish the math exam in about ten minutes and seemed as a genius by other students, but in Taiwan, the description of ' genius' can just describe the students in science and math gifted classes, to me, it's too hard to be like them. The experience in the UK makes me think that maybe I'm not as poor as I think, I just need more confidence.

I think the education system in Asia emphasizes too much on competitions, school life is like a war you won't win in the end because the winner is always the system. Even though our classmates seem to be our friends in normal time, when the bell rings and the test papers pass down, we are no longer in a classroom but in a battlefield, the person next to you and played with you during break time is now your enemy who desires to the same place as you, and the highest place always contains just one person. The students who are not good at studying can't get the system's encouraging because the system just encourages the second place to get the first place, and encourages the first place to keep their glory. The students who need encouragement the most can just get the disappointment or punishment. But in C Girl's School, the students who got poor score won't be punished, take my buddy for example, she didn't get good grades on many tests, when I saw her score, l was worry about her. But what the teachers did were to let her take the tests again in order to pass. No shouting, no punishment, just try their best to help her pass the test. I was surprised because no matter how poor your grades are, you have no chance to take the tests again in Taiwan. This is a different kind of encouragement because the way teachers took told the students not to be scared of failure, you can always have a second chance. But I have to say, my buddy doesn't focus on school work and doesn't respect teachers, and this is the topic I want to share with you on the next paragraph.

Although the education system in the UK makes me feel comfortable, there are still some disadvantages, and these disadvantages are just like the dark side of the things I desire for. Because the teachers give students much of freedom to be themselves, many students start to use their freedom to ruin the rules. So in the same classroom, I can see some students, most of them are Asians like me, be quiet and taking notes, try to do their best to learn everything, but they are the minority. More students just chatting with each other loudly, using cellphones, or fight against the teachers on something that are not important just because they want to! My buddy once asked me : " Do you enjoy this lesson? " after a lesson that we did nothing but filled with unnecessary disagreements and fighting. I didn't agree with her and told her that the behavior she and her friends just done was not allowed in Taiwan, but she said that they were defending their rights. I don't know what is going on, the thing I saw was a teacher who wanted to keep the discipline and many students totally ruined it on purpose. I was really shocked about it because I haven't seen such a situation that really drove me crazy. In Taiwan, there are students who can't focus on school work, too. But when the teachers ask them to be quiet, they will still obey, and the lesson can going on without any obstacles. In other words, teachers in Taiwan are respected by their students in general, at least we students know that teachers are the authority of this classroom. In the UK, teachers seem to lose their honor because they believe in the worth of freedom too much. Sometimes I saw teachers said " Be quiet! " at least five times but the classroom was still as noisy as the students were having a revolution, and teachers could just repeat the sentence with no power. Of course those students who didn't respect the rules were wrong, but there is also something to do with the teachers. If the teachers built their reputation firmly at the first lesson, this kind of situation could never happen. The weakness of teachers in the UK is that they give students too much freedom in order to get the acceptance from them, and some students will take advantage of the concession from the teachers. It is weird to we Asians because we all know that teachers are teachers, not students' friends. In fact, the most popular teachers in Taiwan are not those who give up the pride of being a teacher to curry favor with students, but the teachers who care about us and keep their own discipline at the same time.

Thing besides education I want to share with you is the racial situation in the UK. Some people may think that most people in the UK are European with white skin, but in fact, they are wrong. The UK is a country with many different racial groups, so we can't easily judge who are the ' real ' British just by how they look, and racial discrimination can hardly be found. The fusion of different races in C Girl's School is successful, we can seem my buddy as a good example. My buddy herself is Latin American, and there are European, African, Middle Easterner and Asian in her friends. Another buddy is also a typical example : she is a Middle Easterner, and her friends are European and Asian. Maybe in British' s opinion, races and how they look can not define their difference. There is no Asian, European or African, all of them are called British. It is a really nice experience for me because most people in Taiwan are in the same race, racial problem is far away from our daily lives. So, we can hardly imagine how people go through the obstacles between different racial groups and accept one another besides the stereotype. But in C Girl's School, I saw students being friends with different races by myself. At first, I thought that students would prefer to play with the same racial groups as themselves, however, l realized that I was wrong on the first day l studied with English students. In the friendships between them, l saw the true meaning of respecting the differences.

Another thing that I want to talk about is more personal : my opinion of Korean. The place C Girl's School sets is such a Korea Town, there are eight Korean in ten Asian students in C Girl's School. When I knew this situation, the first feeling appeared to my mind was unhappy because I have heard too much messages about how Korean look down upon we Taiwanese, and I am not interested in Korean culture. But after a few days, I seemed them as spiritual friends because besides Taiwanese, they are the most familiar group to me. When other students were out of control and tried to ruin the whole lesson, only Korean students could keep calm and focus on the things they should do. When other students wrote nothing on their notebooks, the same page would be full of notes wrote neatly by Korean students. The things they did were just like the things I do in Taiwan. When they and l took notes no matter how undisciplined other students were in C Girl's School, l almost believed that we were communicating without language, the things connected us was the familiar culture we shared with. In an unfamiliar country, I will always feel safe when I find people who are just like me. So, I decided to forget my dislike for Korean. l wanted to be open-minded. I tried to smile while we had eye contact, at first l still worried about their attitude towards Taiwanese, but the reality was that they will smile back just like other students did. I once had lunch with my buddy two ( the Middle Easterner ) and two Korean girls joined us. They knew a lot about the education system in Taiwan and chatted with another younger Taiwanese girl and me with no obstacles because we had common ground. On that day, I realized that negative stereotype could really limit the way I think. Although some Korean are not friendly, Korean students in C Girl's School l know are all nice to us and very hardworking. If I can open my mind earlier, maybe I can have more friends who shared East Asian culture with me and showed the worth of diligence even they can choose to be lazy. Every racial group has its own advantages and disadvantages, if I just focus on the disadvantages of one particular racial group, I can't know them accurately and I will miss the chance of making new friends. I really learned a lesson after I met those nice Korean girls in C Girl's School.

Well, the report which is too long will make you lose your interest to read it, so it is time for me to give it a conclusion. During the two weeks studying in C Girl's School, l felt like walking into a mirror that reflects the differences between Eastern and Western countries. The education system in Taiwan maybe boring or autocratic, but it makes me hardworking, polite, and dutiful. The value of Asian culture is discipline, compare to Western students, we know what is our duty better. On the other hand, the education system in the UK helps me to find my confidence and independence back by giving students freedom and encouraging us. This kind of education makes students to be themselves instead of a clone of the others, but too much freedom can also makes students forget their duty and be too individualism. I think if l can learn from the advantages of Western education and mix them into my school life in Taiwan, maybe I can be a more brilliant person than now.