Jia-Tong Lee: the Elementary School Education Lacked the Qualities, Harder to Get Caught Up as the Children Get Older

This, is how not-caught-yet the college level English majors are here, from the Newspapers, translated…

The foreign language majors couldn’t even differentiate the be-verbs, the children from the distant regions couldn’t even write out the twenty-six English alphabets… “You must start quality control in education starting in the first grade”.

The education conference that was held yesterday disclosed how the basic knowledge of elementary school level students lacked quality, and that as the children grow older, they’d fallen behind more and more, and it would be, harder, for them to get caught up again; and there were middle school graduates from the distant areas that had flunked on the national English and mathematics exam, with the grade of C.

The honorary professor from Chinghwa University, Lee suggested, that from the first grades, the children MUST have the basics to build up from, and told the instructors that they not give up on any child, because when children get into middle school, it would be difficult, for them, to get caught up again; at the same time, the instructors should teach the students using the different learning styles that fitted them best, devise different materials, to give the different examinations; and that this remedial teaching method should not be just on the tutoring basis, but to make sure that the students have the basic skills levels.

Lee said, that the education forum in Taiwan is quite well, but, there are two major problems, one, the children from distant regions couldn’t pass the fundamental level exams, and even for the students who managed to pass the entrance exams, they may not have the strong basics to build up on, the primary reason for this was because there’s no quality control in the elementary years, and the examinations only has the more difficult questions, and skips all the basics.

And so, from this, you can see, how much problem IS in the reforms in education, and, it’s because of this low level of understanding, because the teachers can’t possibly keep an eye on all 20+kids, and so, naturally, some of those children who have difficulties are bound to be overlooked, and so, children are still getting left behind…

The Very First Dance We Ever Shared

The very first dance we ever shared, believe it or don’t, it was, actually, our very LAST too, because after the song was over, well, we broken up!

The very first dance we ever shared, it was, on a night, when ALL the stars came out, and, we just, danced, held on tight, underneath that light, of our front porch, we’d held on, to one another, a little longer, we were, both unwilling, to let each other go.

The very first dance we ever shared, it’s now, tucked away, inside of my memories, because, we never made it as a couple, you were, someone I thought I could trust my life with, turns out I was dead wrong, because you ended up, breaking my heart.

The very first dance we ever shared, well, that, was that, I’d put it all, behind me now.  The very first dance we ever shared, it’d still surface into my mind from time to time, but, I no longer have those feelings (ewwwwwwwwww, not the “f” word again!), attached to the memory now………

The very first dance we ever shared?  Do you remember?  Do I recall?  It’s been, such a long time since I went to my very first dance with you, and, I just, can’t recall, what song was it that was playing, that made you come over, and what you were wearing, or, what, even I was wearing!!! 

Eyes, a Poem

Translated…

Your eyes

Are the lights from the crevasse of darkness

Every single hard-to-define question

Floated, in the light

Toward the world, don’t understand it too soon

Touch the wind with your hands

Allow the grasses to get on your fingertips

Allow the dews to get on your lashes

Open up your eyes, the world is

Your toy tray

This, is corn, that, turnip

A green worm had come to visit us

The ants marched across here too

This, is grandma, that, grandpa

There’s a yellow garbage truck

It took with it, the tired sun

As the night falls

The black drapes turned off the lights

The sleepy little eyes looked up at me curiously

Yes child, this, is mommy’s eyes

There’s still a bit of light in them, let’s wait

For the light, to dim together, wait until the world had lost its meaning

When we wake to the sun tomorrow

The sun will bring us, brand new toys

This, is a mother, teaching a child about the world, and, by exposing her daughter/son to this brand new world that s/he had been born in, the mother is making sure, that the child has a very enriching experience in life.

The Parents Took Care of Earning the Incomes During the Summers, Leaving the Kids Without Smiles During Their Summer Vacations

Summers are hitting the children, especially hard here!!!  From the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Child Welfare League conducted a research on the cases that social workers followed up on since last December from January 6 to February 27, toward the families whom the social workers had followed for three months.  The findings showed, that as the summer vacation started, without the nutritious meals provided by the schools, nearly forty-percent of school age kids didn’t get their lunches every day, and, even if they had lunches daily, thirty-seven percent of the kids didn’t have enough nutrition, twelve percent of the children are eating leftovers every single day.

On top of that, nearly sixty percent of the children needed to help out around the house, thirty-one percent had to work as nannies, to help babysit the younger siblings, twenty-two percent needed to work outside the home, to help make money for the household, to to get one’s own tuition for next semester.  Fifty-seven percent of the children don’t have adult supervision at home this summer, twelve percent of the kids didn’t see their parents as they headed off to bed, nearly thirty percent of these children only saw their parents once per week.

“Happy” who is in the fourth grade lost his mother when he was real young, his father was diagnosed with stomach cancer six years ago, the family economics are hounding down on him, every single summer, he’d gone to the fields to work in the scorching sun, and, his tiny arms are filled with wounds from the cuts from the grass, but, to help lessen the load on his cancer-prone father, he’d never made a single complaint; recently, his grandmother had a stroke, toward the summer that’s coming, Happy told, that he just wanted to work harder in the fields, so he could help make more money for his family.

“Sunny”, who’s also in the fourth grade, lived in the distant regions, there are four members of his family, and because there were no pipes in his house, he and his family had to use the underground water for cleaning and drinking, and, if the weather got cold, the family would burn wood, to heat up the water for use.  Sunny’s father is ill, the family lived off of the migrated mother’s less than $20,000N.T. pay from the factory, in order to take care of his mildly retarded younger brother, he’d bathed him, fed him, took care of his own younger brother’s daily living, without a word of complaint.  When the reporters asked him about his wish for the summer, Sunny said, “It would be wonderful, if my family and I can travel some place for a day!”

These wishes, seemed so simple to us all, but, they are all, distant and hard-to-reach dreams for these kids, because they were born, into difficult situations, and yet, they still all faced the challenges in their separate lives, with a positive attitude, and that, is something we can all take from.

A Memory-Filled Garden

Translated…

On the lanai, the mother-of-pearl plant grew to the size of large emeralds, started, glowing.  The devil’s ivy, climbed all over the racks, as they pleased, and, no matter how I’d trimmed them down, they’d still, grew tall.  All of these plants were from my friends, seeing that they’re blossoming, and I’d recalled how my friend had passed; the grasses and the flowers would eventually, wither away, life is too brief.

A decade ago, I’d almost died too.  Back then, a car that came out of nowhere from my alley, it’d hit a student without a motorist’s license, his motorcycle flipped upwards from the ground, and, hit me hard, that I’d become unconscious, as I was about to head off to work.  I’d waken up in the emergency room, the young man told me, “had it not been that the motorcycle had released most of its power, skidding around on the ground, you couldn’t be as you are right now.”  But, I’m still covered with injuries, with the signs of a concussion too.

I’d limped, to my place which I’d rented for just one month, back then I’d thought, if I’d died, my belongings would naturally get spread to others.  Reexamining my own life, I’d have a clean conscience, no bad memories, just that I’d been living for just myself, left NO moving moments for others to savor, and so, my life wasn’t fulfilled, it could even be called impoverished.

And so, I’d started showing cares and concerns toward elderly whose limbs became stiff because of stroke, I’d flipped through the books for them, filled out the forms, and showed cares and concerns for their mental wellbeing.  Since then, I’d kept countless small pieces of potted plants, including the mother-of-pearl plant.  A friend had even invited me to her place, took me to her backyard, said to me proudly, “Take a stem of whatever you want, and plant it at your place!” her husband came out, and helped me picked, he’d pointed to the plant that was right before me, said, “This one, see how fat it is.”  We’d become like children, running to and fro, and, zoomed in on the easier to care plants, at age eighty, they were very energetic, their eyes glowed, and they filled up the garden with laughter.

And now, their house had already been remodeled, and the male head of the house had passed away for many years.  The crape myrtle, camellia, osmanthus, and Jamaican sunset, are all gone now, only the devil’s ivy, still showed a strong life force.

The friend who’d given me the Indian sedum had passed two years ago, looking at all my potted plants, the fun moments we’d had back then came flooding back.  I’d wanted to give him this beautiful garden view, but, instead, they’d helped me create this wonderful memory instead, only beauty surrounded their death, and no sorrows or sadness.

And so, there’s NO sadness, no sorrows, for the friend’s passing, there’s only the good memories that all of you had shared, what better way, to remember the love you’d felt for someone…

 and no, this was still not taken by me!!!

Unending questions of a girl child

Gender Discrimination, Happening, in the Unnoticed Places…

The First Assertion

As I walk towards my house, I see her tottering behind her mother. She is completely oblivious of her surroundings. Her mother is holding her younger brother in her hand. At times she tries to keep up with the fast pace of her mother and at times of her aunt who is also walking along with them. Although the baby is secure in his mother’s arms, no one is bothered if the girl child is indeed trailing them. Maybe she also knows it. Her speed becomes even more. The poor child deprived of nutrition seems weak. She is making every effort to silently grab the attention of the ladies clattering in front of her.
As we reach a fork road, the family turns towards left and I turn towards right, I am bound to think. Maybe I am making things up. But it is evident in everything everywhere that the…

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Not Free to Love, as We Chose

We have here, uh, an ODD couple!

Not free to love, as we chose, because we’re of the same gender, and, although laws are currently being passed, to okay same-sex marriages all over the places, we’re still, SHUNNED, by the public, like when we’d gone strolling, we held hands, and, people would look at us weird, making us both uneasy.

Not free to love, as we chose, well, you know what, I NEVER chose my sexual preferences, it’s just how I was born, and, there’s NO way, I can change, what’s already, genetically prewired.

Not free to love, as we chose, sure, there are so many countries that are currently passing laws, to okay same-sex marriage, but, would we all be considered, equals?  Of course N-O-T, and, what IF me and my partner are both Catholics, and we wanted to be married, by a Catholic priest, in a Catholic church, oh no, no, I can already see their shocking faces: we’re NOT allowing GAYS or LESBIANS, to marry here, in this HOUSE of G-O-D!

Well, if God really, loved all of HIS children (there’s still SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many ways I can argue that!), then, why are we being given a hard time, in trying to marry who we love?

We Thought She Had Died Already…a Mother Who’s Left Home for Thirty-Eight Years Showed Back Up, the Six Children Felt a Mixture of Emotions

So, now you show up, after disappearing OFF of your kids’ radars for so long, I wonder WHY that is…from the Front Page Sections, translated…

A grandmother aged woman, Yun almost eighty, thirty-eight years ago, had enough with her husband’s bad temper, so she left home, found her home in Tainan, where she worked as a nurse’s aide, the family looked for her for a decade’s time without any success, asked the courts to issue a certificate of confirmed death.  At the start of this year, as she’d filed for the low income elderly sustenance from the government, she’d learned that she’d been “deceased” for twenty-six years.

The Bei-Men District’s Family Welfare Service Center received a call from members of the public said that an elderly woman wanted to apply for elderly low household income help, but because she’d been “declared dead”, she couldn’t file the papers.  As the social worker went to get her story, she’d learned of the twists and turns of “Yun’s” past.

The Social Welfare Department stated, that the elderly woman who’s registry was in Taipei, back in 1977, could no longer put up with her husband’s temperament, so she’d left home, went to Tainan to work as a nurse’s aide, and lost contact with her families completely since.  The family searched for her for over a decade, and couldn’t find her anywhere, so, in 1989, they’d filed for the notice of her death with the courts.

The social worker stated, that Yun’s pays from her nursing job was cash, and so, she’d not paid the taxes, and, when she fell ill, she’d buy the over-the-counter medications, didn’t apply for a national health insurance card either, she had NO idea, that she’d been declared deceased by the court.  And now, she’s elderly and couldn’t work anymore, she’d spent up her savings, and, through the help of her friends, she’d inquired the social services department, that, was how she’d found out, that her family had filed for the death certificate for her.

The Family Welfare Center asked the land registry offices, to help search, found her six children, and the six of them heard that their mother is still living, they were all, very surprised.  In the assistance of the Legal Counsel Services Foundation, after Yun submitted her DNA, she’d finally, “come back to life again”.

At the opening of her court appeal, Yun saw her youngest daughter, whom she hadn’t seen in forty years, tears filled up her eyes, but, she didn’t dare hug her.  The youngest daughter told the press, that when her mother left, she was only one year old, and didn’t have any memories of her, “We’d met under these circumstances, and, there’s this mixture of emotions inside of me right now!”

Her other kids told, that they’re happy to see, that their mother is still living, but, because their mother had been missing from their lives for so long, they didn’t know how to interact with her for the time being.

Yun said, that she wouldn’t feel right, for her kids to care for her, and besides, she’d already established a social circle in Tainan, she wanted to keep staying there.  The Social Services Department had told, that they’d already filed for emergency assistance and meals-on-wheel on her behalf, and scheduled for the social workers to visit her regularly, hoped, to slowly, help Yun patch up the lost relationships she has with her children.

And so, this, is somewhat of a happy ending for the case, after all, the mother had gone missing from the children’s lives, and, so, naturally, they ARE, estranged from her, but, I’m sure, that with the social workers, stepping in, the relationship CAN be patched up, because this woman was trying to escape from her mistreatment by her husband.

A Price Tag on Everything

It’s all, about materialism here still, in this world, where we are defined, by statuses, and how much money we have.

A price tag on everything, even those things that can’t be quantified, like values, moral standards, along with everything else.  A price tag on everything, that makes things easier to categorize, and by this way of classification, we wouldn’t need to assign our own personal values, we just go by what everybody else is going by.

A price tag on everything, that, is what this world has world down to, and, there’s NO way, that we can change the way people are define themselves.

So, how much are you charging, for your love?  And, can I afford to, buy it from you?  And, what if, I’d bought it from you, ‘cuz I’m rich, and leave you without your own love for yourselves?  What then?

A price tag on everything, that, is easier, isn’t it?  That way, we just pay the tabs and forget about it, but, how would you know, that you are, getting EXACTLY what you had, paid for?  Exactly!

The Nightmare of Being Drowned by Plastic Bags

On realizing one’s own habits, and the drives for change, translated…

Because I have the habits of drinking coffee, so, I have a total of six coffee cups, including the one I’m currently using right now, plus the ones, that are still in their original boxes too.

Think about it, I’d never bought myself a mug, most of my mugs came from my coworkers from the past, one of them even had a photo of me and my coworker, and, making my calculations, this mug, I’d used, for over a decade now.

I have six mugs.  On this particular day, I’d stared at my cup of black coffee, thought to myself: without accident, if I can use each of these mugs for a decade, actually, I couldn’t even finishing using them all in this lifetime—and so, why the hell would I need to, own six mugs?

I recalled once, that we were standing, in front of a souvenir shop, my friend had once asked me a question, “Do you think we have more keys, or more keychains?”, I’d immediately, stopped playing with the animal keychain, immediately gotten that wake up call: “Wow, it is so!”, but, it’s, too late, I may have an entire collection of keychains I will never use up too.

And, from this, I’d imagined, how many things, do I have, that I won’t probably use up, at the end of my life?  I’d counted it out with my fingers: backpacks, wallets, jackets, coats……oh, there’s one more, I have a habit, like an elderly who picked up recycling materials, would keep every plastic bag and reuse it, but, I’m sure, that everybody has the same problems, the number of plastic bags we lost is never a match, to the new ones we get.

Imagine, that if I’d kept this habit of my plastic bag usage, I will eventually, also have, a lifetime’s worth of plastic bags that I won’t be using up.  And, this picture is more than enough, to make me dream about how I’m trying hard, to keep my head, above the pool, of plastic bags, plus, this also meant, that we’re making MORE trash………toward our habits of our “freely spending”, don’t you all think, that we should, all slow down a bit?

So, this, is a realization about one’s own relationships with one’s own external environment, isn’t it?  By realizing this, the narrator wakes up, from her/his pursuit of pointless things, and, hopefully, this wake up call would be enough, for her/him, to change her/his habits of doing things.