Observations

[peterintaiwan]

Summer vacation is upon us. This means lots of little children unsupervised wandering around Taipei. I encountered some the other day at a Coffee Shop, around 15 of them loitering around, playing cards and just generally being little kids. It did not bother me so much, but was interesting to observe

Comments

[samuraibutterfl]

Tell me about it. Some of my friends have three year olds in their "kindergartens." And I'm not talking "ABC 1 2 3." I'm talking more "Yesterday, I went to the store."

[peterintaiwan]

yeah, pretty crazy... My friend teaches in an all English immersion preschool.

[kishuku]

Well, on the flip side, what you're seeing now isn't as bad as it used to be. My mom used to tell stories where it was quite common to have a rash of suicides break out before and after major exams. This is why Asian parents don't like to tell their kids about 'suicides', there's a mentality that they won't do that they don't know about. Which I suppose there is some truth to it. That if you've never heard of killing yourself and you've never thought about it, you might not do it. Not going to college was never an idea that crossed my mind.

[peterintaiwan]

Interesting theory. I just think that the pressure is too great. But I read today that less students took the college entrance exam this year, so no matter who took it, it looks like all of them will be admitted. It sounds like there is something broken there.