China is frequently linked with high academic performance. Guo Xin confirmed that no matter the socio-economic status of a family, great stress it put on succeeding through education. So it was that Friday afternoon, I met more of our adolescent beneficiaries who had completed their education at Dandelion and were part of the first group of unregistered students to be accepted into a public high school. It is a three year school, where the first two years are spent on academics and then in the third year the student can decide whether to work towards going to a university or start vocational training. They live at the school during the week, traveling for hours by bus every weekend back to their homes on the other side of Beijing.
We visited the students that afternoon to practice their English and show them a movie which is a huge treat. The feature DVD that day was the animated film Ratatouille (above photo: they are engrossed in the film). The students are amazing kids. They are migrant youth from all over China who glow and buzz with interest and excitement. They were so friendly and so attentive, eager to speak their very good English, express how thankful they are to be in the school and how they hope to work hard to succeed. As their class leader told me "All of our dreams are to go to University". It warms your heart and you really hope they do - though it will be a challenge given their educational background. One girl (see photo), all smiles, ran up to me when I was leaving, telling me how glad she was to meet me, that she would like to come to my home and then gave me a huge hug. If I could, I would bundle her up, take her home and see that she becomes everything she wants to be.
China is frequently linked with high academic performance. Guo Xin confirmed that no matter the socio-economic status of a family, great stress it put on succeeding through education. So it was that Friday afternoon, I met more of our adolescent beneficiaries who had completed their education at Dandelion and were part of the first group of unregistered students to be accepted into a public high school. It is a three year school, where the first two years are spent on academics and then in the third year the student can decide whether to work towards going to a university or start vocational training. They live at the school during the week, traveling for hours by bus every weekend back to their homes on the other side of Beijing.
We visited the students that afternoon to practice their English and show them a movie which is a huge treat. The feature DVD that day was the animated film Ratatouille (above photo: they are engrossed in the film). The students are amazing kids. They are migrant youth from all over China who glow and buzz with interest and excitement. They were so friendly and so attentive, eager to speak their very good English, express how thankful they are to be in the school and how they hope to work hard to succeed. As their class leader told me "All of our dreams are to go to University". It warms your heart and you really hope they do - though it will be a challenge given their educational background. One girl (see photo), all smiles, ran up to me when I was leaving, telling me how glad she was to meet me, that she would like to come to my home and then gave me a huge hug. If I could, I would bundle her up, take her home and see that she becomes everything she wants to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment