Written by Cybel Castonguay Drouin
Daycares and childhood
in China
In every country,
lots of things changes. Politics,
economics even society aren’t the same in different places of the world.
Also, traditions change in part because of the history of the country in
question. The way people treat each
other and children are also different. All
of those factors are why daycares and kindergarten aren’t the same here and in
China. For this paper, I will only
write about China because we all know how it is in our country.
The typical daily schedule, the studies, and the relationship between
teachers and students will be touched upon.
First
of all, a typical day in kindergartens in China is long but there aren’t many
hours of actual classes. For
example, a day in the Pai Hai Kindergarten in Pekin looks like this:
7:00
a.m.
Get up. Children dress
themselves fold quilt. Morning
exercises, clean bedroom and classroom. Wash
up.
8:00
Breakfast
8:30
– 9:00
Free time
9:00
Classes: junior group, only one class
Middle and older group, two classes
10:00
Exercises, walk along the river.
11:45
– 12:30
Lunch
1:00
– 3:00
Nap in the summer
1:00
– 2:30
Nap in
the winter
After
nap
Snack: fruit and a sweet
3:00
Class for middle and senior groups.
Stories,
exercises, and practicing performances.
4:00
– 5:30
Outdoors – Free play
6:00
Supper – Wash up, a bath (summer)
7:00
Television or lantern slides or outdoor for a walk.
8:00
Bedtime
in winter
9:00
Bedtime
in summer
(Source
: Women and Childcare in China, Ruth Sidel)
There are about two hours of classes, four hours and
forty five minutes of free time, exercises, free play, and television watching,
and about two hours of nap.
The pace of life, in general, is really slow and
relaxing. Chinese enjoy life much
more then in other countries. I
find it great! Plus, they are
giving this tradition to their children. For
the kindergartens, I find it great that they can actually enjoy their childhood.
For the small amount of time in class, my opinion is
that the students in China are more interested in learning and they are better
behaved and maybe that makes it easier to do discipline a class.
As for the naps, my opinion is that because of the really warm weather
and the slower pace of life, a nap is the best way to be prepared, be in good
shape, for the second half of the day.
Second of all, the subjects studied
differ for they have a different cultural background.
The source I looked at was dated 1972, and it introduced some periods to
study Mao Tse Tung, at least in some schools, and why they should love the
People’s Liberation Army. In my opinion kindergartens kids maybe are too young to be
exposed to political views. At
their age, they are what we could call little sponges, for they are assembling
their opinions and if they hear something from someone else, they may make it as
their own.
Third of all, the relationship between the teacher and the students is
quite unique. The teachers work
really hard and communicate a lot with their students.
Almost every morning they do some kind of mini show and they must all
work together. Plus, when they are
doing a nap, the teachers join them and there is only one teacher on duty to
supervise everything. Also, the way
I see it, a lot of schools keep their students for the whole week, even for
nights. So there is another sort of
relationship that may take place there. I
guess they must establish a special connection, relationship together.
Work
Cited