Chinese Students’ “Recess Exercises”
Posted on Nov 7, 2008 by Steven Lin | Filed under: Wild Wild China
Tags: school, students
Recess is important for kids during the school day. The most obvious characteristic of recess is that it constitutes a break from the day’s routine.
So how would you feel if I told you what Chinese students do during the breaks is also a planned routine? “Recess exercise” (课间操) is an essential part of their daily lives: “Take your places, please. Arms bending and stretching! Follow my count! One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! …”
Sound familiar? Yeah. It’s exactly what the citizens of Oceania do in a certain book by George Orwell. Don’t be too surprised - Chinese students do this every day, every single day from primary school to the high school.
Our follower @JohnInGZ replied on Twitter, “For some reason that scares me. And knowing that my kids will be going to school here in China scares me even more.” Well I’ve been doing this for 12 years during my school days. Take it easy, dude.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:56 am
‘…The precision of their movements making them more impressive by their massive numbers…’ -South Park , the China Problem
November 10th, 2008 at 3:03 am
North Korea Celebrates 60th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvMqp6LXd6M
November 10th, 2008 at 3:12 am
i think the most important part is, though, that I WAS ONE OF THEM, and there are going to be MORE OF THEM out there, so the problem is:
what’s the point? do we have to?
when i was at their age, i was really not in the position or imaginaition of raising such questions. actually i believe i thought it was worth anticipating, a good way of releasing energy maybe. this is notable.
while i like watching south park , i really dont’ like North Korea.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
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