by Vovo Chen
Imagine squeezing yourself to fit into a kindergarten-sized desk and chair, shared with 200 students in a tiny classroom. If you are thinking this is some famous professor’s class, you’re wrong! This is where people come each year to make their college dreams come true. It’s a special kind of cram school, part of the unique culture of Taiwan. Students here are not primarily high school graduates who have failed the entrance examination; some of them are from vocational school or junior college, some come from abroad and have no school to attend, and still more have been expelled from college and have to go through the torture all over again. But all of them are here to prepare for the J.C.E.E. I have a friend who recently began such a life in a cram school, and every day he would tell me jokes about what was happening in his class. “Life is so dull there. The pace is too slow. Endless exams create a lot of pressure,” he began. “Cheer up,” I said, “you’ll get through it.” So let me tell you the latest news about the guy who sits next to me,” he went on. “Remember that guy I told you about who spits into a plastic bag every few minutes? I finally ventured to ask him why, and he told me that it was just a habit he started in his senior year in high school. He doesn’t know why either. And he came to tell me today that he quit doing it after I said something. I was happy to hear this, but even as he spoke I saw him take out a tissue to spit on.” I was speechless. Then my friend went on: “Cram school is crowded with so many different kinds of people. You have to see the same faces the whole day for an entire year. It’s better to get along with everyone as soon as possible, but sometimes the person next to you happens to be a little weird. I guess there’s nothing to do about it. One of my friends in a cram school happened to have a classmate who had really stinky feet. The girl’s feet stank so much that nobody could put up with it. Sometimes she would even take off her shoes, and the rest of the class would just have to suffer or to buy deodorizer to keep themselves alive.” I shrugged a little, but I was not surprised. This could happen to anybody, anywhere, I thought. “I am not exaggerating, and that’s not the worst thing! It’s impossible to ask people just to change something they have been doing for so long. The only thing you can do is to accommodate yourself to the class and the sooner the better.” After he finished his story, he went right back to his studying. He had too much homework for tomorrow’s class so he couldn’t tell me another tale. Inevitably he’d complain a little, but the thought of entering college would always sustain him to go on. a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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