As I enter my third month at CHS as a current sophomore, I have started to notice several differences between this school and my old school. The more I reflect about them, the same question continues to resurface inside of my head: “Am I in a better place from where I left off?”
In the Philippines, we had a much more different approach when it came to separating school years with semesters. One detail I have noticed at CHS is that there are only two semesters in a school year. There were four quarters back at my old school, with each lasting eight to ten weeks. Furthermore, the end of these quarters were marked with an exam, which contained all of the material you learned for each academic subject.
My favorite part of the school system back in the Philippines were the class sections. All students that are in the same grade would be assigned to a section, which is a classroom where they will do most of their school activities for the entire school year. About 30 students would be in each classroom and the sections would increase depending on how many students enroll if there weren’t enough classrooms to accommodate them. However, most of the time it was four to five sections.
If you have friends that are in the same section as you, then you get to spend time with them everyday for the entire school year. And if you end up in a section where you don’t know anybody, then don’t worry – you have an entire school year to do that. Sections made each classroom a dedicated hangout space for students, because you were able to eat inside during lunch if you don’t prefer eating in the cafeteria. This makes for more fun interactions with classmates and more time to make friends. My main complaint being that you wouldn’t really get to know many people if you only stay in the same classroom/section. I knew that from experience back in 7th grade in my old school. My old classmates and I would always hang out with other students from other sections, as a way to meet new people. If I think about it, I made more friends quicker in CHS than my old school, mainly because in every subject you take, you’d have different classmates for each subject. Whereas back in my old school, you’d work with the same classmates for every subject, which in my opinion, limits a student’s ability to work with other people if they meet/work with the same person very often.
Subjects took a very different approach back in my old school, but they had a similar curriculum with the U.S. The subjects I took in 9th grade were English, Science, Math, Social Studies, and a Filipino subject for learning about various Filipino literature. We also had different electives, such as cooking and robotics as well. The four core subjects that I mentioned provided general information, especially science. Science subjects in our old school taught topics like chemistry, physics, and biology, but since topics change every quarter, it never really went deep into one topic due to teachers having to make time for other topics. All of these subjects were in every grade, except for electives, which changed every grade level. The main difference I found being in CHS, was that you could pick and choose the subjects that you would like to take and even advance your subjects if you think that it’s up to your level, whereas back in the Philippines you would have to do the subjects that the school puts on your schedule for an entire school year.
Tests and assignments are what I think defines my old school, because of how much work I’d have to do. I know it’s different here in CHS, because it depends on what subjects you take. In my old school there are performance tasks called PETA’s. These are assignments that take up almost half of your grade and take up the most time to accomplish in my experience. Every subject assigns at least one to two PETAs in each quarter. Most of them range from presentations where you have to talk in front of the class, recreating a play from one chapter of a novel, and to the dreaded dancing assignments.
Last but not the least, uniforms and dress codes. Just like in some private U.S. schools, it was a requirement to follow the dress code and to wear a proper uniform. Male uniforms were a plain white polo shirt with brown slacks, and Female uniforms were a white blouse with skirts that were long enough to cover the knees. We also had a specific P.E. uniform for Physical Ed classes, which was just a white shirt with jogging pants that have the school emblem on it. Dress codes were strict when it came to accessories and hair. They restricted makeup and flashy jewelry and even long and dyed hair, if they deem it too distracting. Most schools in the Philippines and even most Asian schools have the same strict rules as a way to show that their students are disciplined. What I noticed here in CHS is that dress codes are much more relaxed and it pretty much gives me the ability to wear whatever is the most comfortable for me in class.
In summary, Asian schools, particularly in the Philippines have a much more different school system than American schools like CHS. If I were to choose a better school system, I’d go with American schools, mainly because I don’t have to worry about strict dress codes and I get to pick which subjects I want to take, although I will miss hanging out in one classroom for the entire year.
