Cram Schools 補習班

Are cram schools necessary? I really don't know. All I know is that we don't really have cram schools in Seattle, and that this doesn't seem to be a problem for anyone there. Maybe this is because the United States is much less "test-centric" than Taiwan, or maybe it's because of other cultural factors. Again, I'm not sure. 真的需要補習班嗎? 西雅圖那邊沒有什麼補習班. 在西雅圖,人們對補習班這種地方沒什麼概念. 可能是因為那邊不是那麼地重視考試成績. 這也許跟民俗習慣有關, 只是我在這方面沒有仔細研究過.

I just feel sorry for kids that attend cram schools until 8, 9, or 10 p.m. every night. Seeing them walk around with those heavy backpacks, and watching them trudge onwards to their next class, in their next school, just makes me sad. 我只是覺得晚上8點過後還在上課的學生很可憐. 看他們背那麼重的書包, 上那麼多的課, 和去那麼多不同的學校.

Life, after all, should be about more than going to school. Life is also about friends, and family, and having fun, and going places. But it seems like some people want to turn life into one huge cram school, where we are always preparing for the next test. 除了上課, 人生還有很多重要的事, 例如:朋友, 跟家人相處,休閒和旅行. 很多爸爸媽媽只重視孩子的課業表現,好像人生只有補習才是唯一的重心..

I realize that parents just want the best for their children. I realize that success in school is important. I realize, moreover, that tests are important in Taiwan. Still, I don't know why so many kids need to attend so many classes. Sometimes it seems like the only thing that people in Taiwan know how to do is take classes, or tests, or how to worry about both classes and tests. Their parents forced them to do it, and so they force their own kids to do it. 我了解每位家長都想讓自己的孩子得到最好的. 我知道學習的成就很重要. 我也知道在臺灣考試的成績更是重要.但是我不知道的是為什麼有的豥子要上那麼多課? 有時候我覺得臺灣朋友只知道上課跟考試這兩件事情. 因為他們自己的父母有這種想法, 所以他們也是這樣子教他們自己的孩子.

Sometimes people ask me about what English cram school they should go to. I am never able to tell them. I have never taught in a cram school, and if I can help it I will never put my daughters into one. 有時我的臺灣朋友問我哪一個英文補習班最好. 我沒辦法回答這個問題. 我沒有在補習班任教的經驗. 我也不是很想把我的孩子送到任何補習班.

I'm sure there are cram schools that help some students. I just hope they are thinking about their curriculum half as much as their business plans. There is a lot of money to be made in cram schools, and not always honestly. Besides that, I can think of a thousand other things kids would rather be doing than attending cram schools - things like playing video games, or going to the park, or playing with their friends, or spending time with their parents, or sleeping more, or reading comic books, or... 有的補習班當然幫孩子很多忙 ,也有的補習班只想賺錢, 他們很願意講你要聽的好話. 我只希望他們對學生的關心是跟賺錢的熱忱成正比. 孩子們除了上課之外, 還有很多應該做的事,例如:玩電動玩具, 去公園玩, 跟朋友玩, 跟爸爸媽媽聊天, 多一點的睡覺時間, 看漫畫書...