Wenzoa Ursuline College of Languages English Department of 2-year College
Autumn Semester of 2004 Academic Year
Language and Culture
Instructor: Aiden Yeh
Understanding Culture through Poetry
--A Poem about Education
YE4B
Emily Lin 1092100066
Date: 2005/1/5
Walking in an alley at dawn and 一條清晨的巷子走著
following the steps of last night. 昨夜的步伐
Left foot steps on vocabularies 左腳踩著單字
Right foot steps on trigonometric function 右腳踏著三角函數
include screen include screen
cos90 tan45 cos90 tan45
The weight of vocabularies is too heavy to bear 承受不住單字的重量
Shadow drags the sneakers weakly 影子無力地拖住球鞋
Walking towards the so-called "aspiration" 往所謂的志願行進
Bus stops across the street standing still 對街的公車站牌立正
become an ism 成一種主義
(Believe me and get full marks, otherwise
get eliminated)(信我者得滿分不信者淘汰)
The girl is still studying 依舊是k書的女孩
The bus driver is still chewing betel nuts, 依舊是嚼檳榔的司機
spitting the sunshine on the ground 吐一口朝陽灑滿地
(Use the formula to figure out how many steps to get on the bus)(套入公式的腳步才能算出踩多少階梯上車)
The atmospheres suffocate the expression in everyone's eyes. 車內窒息了所有眼神
The face looking out of the window looks dull 呆滯在窗外的臉龐
Indifference blocks the aisle 冷漠擋在中間的走道
(It's very difficult even to make a single step) (寸步難行如登蜀道)
Those various uniforms are only the 形形色色的制服也只是
shirts, pleated skirts, 襯衫與百折裙
and sportswear. 上衣與運動褲
The anxieties remaining on the seats make the next person 座椅上殘留未帶走的焦慮
feel as if sitting on a bed of nails. 讓下一個屁股如坐針氈
(The revolution iis not yet succeeded, students need to work even harder)(革命尚未成功同志仍需努力)
Because of scores, I am great, existent and haggled. 我因分數而偉大而存在而計較而
And the scores arre ascended, fallen and innocent because of me 分數因我而漲停而跌停而無辜
Cities stand on the blank space of exam papers 城市站在考卷的空白處
waiting for me to complete its history. 等著我填補它的歷史
Last night, the last emperor 昨晚最後一位帝王
forgot about me after its nation was conquered. 亡國之後順便忘記我
Carve up the provinces, and piece them together 瓜分省份再重新拼湊
just like the cutting lines in the palm. 如紋路在掌心切割
The collapsing steps 終於崩潰的步伐
are bound by the shadow. 被影子銬住
Crawling back the alley in the dusk. 爬回一條黃昏的巷子
Introduction (Page)
“Recall of Entrance Exam” is a Chinese poem. A net poet from Taiwan wrote it and it was chosen as one of the top poems in 2000 from a website: www.poem.com.tw (詩路), and the poems were also published by an alliance of modern poetry in Taiwan (台灣現代詩網路聯盟).
We chose the poem because we members all have suffered this kind of pressure and had strong feelings for the education in Taiwan. The poem will be presented by giving a video stars we members. Then it will be discussed with the current reality, language and also techniques used by the poet.
The poem is for entrance exam takers in Taiwan. It describes a taker’s mood, how he/she feels under exam pressure, and his/her feeling also reflects feelings of students in Taiwan. The whole poem is full of tarnish because of the scene and the language the poet creates.
The poet is a male and he has indulged in poetry for years. His other poems can also be seen on the website called “Poem (詩路),” like “Father’s Expectation. (父親的期待)”
In Taiwan, many people stand for education
reform because they do not want students to suffer from the traditional exam
system. Take the entrance exam as an example, when students entered junior high
school, they had to study very hard to get into high school. After studying in
high school, they still needed to be as diligent as before in order to get high
scores to study in university. Even though academic attainment testing has
substituted for the entrance exam, testing is the major tool for students to
enter school. Therefore, in order to excel in tests,
children in Taiwan not only have to go to school when they are very young but
also need to go to cram school. They keep studying every day; however; what is
the learning purpose for them? Compared with the education system in western
countries, students there can study what they are interested in, and testing is just one way to evaluate students.
One
of my friends hated studying before he immigrated to the U.S although he was
excellent on every subject. He was hard-working, but he didn’t really
understand what he studied. Hence, after every exam he forgot what he had read.
The knowledge for him was dead and dreary. However, while he is studying in
America, he thinks studying is interesting because he can learn what he like
and people do not evaluate him by grade, but by his efforts.
Some teachers in Taiwan say, “Tests lead teaching.” It means that how teachers give lecture is dependent on tests. They want to give students the useful knowledge, and also believe that the purpose of education reform is to alleviate students’ stress and provide a happy learning environment. However, if the idea that testing is the most important for students does not change, no matter how the educational system reforms, they cannot get rid of the heavy strain of high scores and still get the crammed knowledge. Besides, some parents still care about how successful their children take exams. They ask them to study hard because they do not want their children to get behind others or even to be the best. Even if they think it is good for their children, they ignore what the kids really want and the learning purpose. Learning is not to seize high scores and testing is just the tool to examine student’s work. School is not the place to produce a test machine, but is the institution for students to get knowledge and convert it into their own abilities to put in the real life. The purpose of education is not to make someone to be the genius, but to make he/she think, solve problems, and develop his/her own talent to lead a healthy and happy life.
Analysis / Reflection
Part I (Joanne)
This poem is written for the Taiwanese students who will attend the entrance exam and it focuses on the experience and pressure of the students. From the words such as “too heavy to hear”, “weakly”, “to suffocate”, “dull”, “indifference”, “anxiety”, and “collapsing”, we can learn that the students suffer a lot of pressures from the exam and these pressures have already been over the students’ bearings. This situation has been continuing for a long time because all entrance exam takers have this kind of experience and after this exam, they go toward to another step of their life. Some think that the entrance exam is so unendurable, but some are afraid of another competition after they lose in the exam.
In the first paragraph, it not only describes that the exam takers must get up so early but also the life is full of the English keywords and mathematics formulas. That’s why the author uses the word, “at dawn.” These subjects exert pressure upon the students as a result that they are not able to bear the pressure. However, they have no ideas to get out of this kind of life because they will be knocked out if they don’t have a perfect performance on the exam. Therefore, they just can walk toward the so-called “aspiration” blindly and weakly. On the other hand, in this paragraph, the author uses a word, “alley”, and it implicates that the students live in a small space and are limited by the society and the entry test as a result that they cannot develop themselves and give full play to their talent or ability.
In the second paragraph, it describes that the students have an unalterable life. On the bus, the students see the same picture every day and everyone’s facial expression is dull. It means that the life of students is boring and they aren’t able to care about others things except studying. In addition, the pressure of exam makes students think that studying is so tough that they don’t know what they really want in the future. On the other hand, for us, getting on the bus is a common behavior and we can get on bus naturally. However, because of the heavy exam pressure, that’s why when the students get on the bus, they still think of the formulas on their mind, they cannot relax themselves and they cannot get rid of the nervous pressure.
In next paragraph, it portrays that all the passengers are students on the bus and they are going to school. It makes the students feel anxious because they will start the stressful and boring day again. For them, going to school doesn’t mean that acquires the knowledge, but receives more pressures.
Part II (Sharon)
This poem is dedicated to the last generation of entrance exam taker. And PRESSURE is one of the key elements in this poem. In Taiwan's education system, students are always under enormous pressure, which reminds me of my junior- high school life. Personally, those three years were too miserable for me to think about. HAHA. When I read this poem the first time, I instantly felt that I could relate to it. It is definitely depicting my junior-high school time or I should say it is depicting all students in Taiwan. I will use the lines of the poem to illustrate the way how I reflect to it.
1. In the first stanza-- "Walking
in an alley at dawn and following the steps of last night…………. Shadow drags the
sneakers weakly." In the last stanza--" The collapsing
steps are bound by the shadow."
The beginning and the ending stanza both talk about the shadow following the footsteps, and they respond to each other. and that shadow implies "pressure." When I was in the junior high, I had to be at school at seven in the morning and often went home at 21:30. Just like what the lines depict, every day I seemed to follow the same steps, always going to school and home weakly. I really felt like the pressure of entering the best high school was following me 24-7. At that time, everyday was just like the Sisyphus' task. I went to school, then cram school and home. My schedule was pretty much the same for three years. I really couldn't help but wonder when this torture could end at that time.
2. In the first stanza-" Believe me and get full marks, otherwise get eliminated"
When I read this line the first time, I kept thinking what is the "ME" here. What is the thing that the writer is referring to? I think the answer should be the textbooks. As a student in Taiwan, especially in junior high and high school, the teachers always want us to believe the textbook is right. All we have to do is memorize the content of the textbooks. We do not really need to think about whether it is right or wrong. Whatever the textbooks say is always right. We cannot have our own opinion or our own individual thoughts. That's the reason why Taiwanese students usually lack for critical and independent thinking. When our answers contradict the textbook, we are always wrong, so we do not bother to think at all. So when we doubt the textbooks, we are being different among the students who treat the textbooks like the holy bible. The most important thing is that you can never get good grades when you doubt the textbooks and you are in a way being eliminated by the entrance exam system because you can't get high scores. The writer is being sarcastic about our education environment, but I would say it is very true.
3. In the second stanza "Use the formula to figure out how many steps to get on the bus"
When I saw this line, I really felt very intriguing and amusing. I think the author is trying to say that we are complicating our life. We do not need to use formula to calculate how many steps we need to take. In addition, studying and knowledge can make our lives better, and that should be the purpose of going to school. However, do our textbooks really teach us how to solve the problems in our lives? Does the school teach us how to solve the dilemmas and difficulties in our daily lives? Can we refer to the textbooks all the time? I am afraid not. We need more real-life experience to enrich our lives and broaden our horizon, so we can solve the problems which cannot be found in the textbooks by ourselves. Too much study only backfires and cannot let us really understand how this world is working. The world is full of surprises, so sometimes drop the books and explore it. You may be surprised.
4. In the fifth stanza- " Because of scores, I am great, existent and haggled."
In Taiwan, especially junior high and high school, we tend to judge students by their scores. Scores seems to be equivalent to achievements and capabilities. You are good because you can get high scores, and teachers and students tend to look down on those who are not good at studying. That is why the writer wrote students will feel great and existent only because of scores. I have to admit that sometimes high scores can give students a great sense of achievements, but I strongly disagree with the so-called "Scoreism." My father always tells me that scores are not everything. He said," The highly influential people now in the society are not always good at studying, and people won't bother to know whether they were good students or not." That is absolutely true. We are not interested in Gandhi's grades because we are already impressed by his noble doing and respect him for what he did to India. We can still be great and achieve to our goal if we work really hard. So don't look ourselves down because of grades, we may be the next Olympic gold medal winner, the next Thomas Edison or the second Picasso.
I chatted with my kiwi friend when I was doing this report because I wanted to find out the difference between the education in Taiwan and the education in Western countries. Well, the result is not surprised at all. Students in New Zealand have more freedom. They can choose what courses they want in high school, so they can choose it according to their interests. In addition, students in NZ do not think scores are equivalent to achievements. People who are not interested in studying will not continue further education after high school, so the quality and atmosphere of schools is very well. Unlike the situation in Taiwan, sometimes students do not know why they want to go to universities. They often respond that because almost everyone goes to universities and get a bachelor degree so I must go as well. I don’t think it is a right thinking. I want to get a bachelor degree or even a master degree for myself, not for other people.
I think receiving education is definitely necessary. But education should correlate with our nation's policy at the same time. Right now, Taiwan is trying hard to enhance its global competitiveness and wants to become the Financial Center in Asia Pacific Region and the Asia Pacific business hub. I think we should start from education. We should improve our students’ qualities. Only provide students the knowledge that are useful in our environment and needed to our nation’s development. In this way, students can go to school happily and it’s also good for our country in the long run.
The education system in Taiwan has been discussed for a long time. This issue is so close to people’s life, for everyone must have experience of it. For a long time, the most important job of students is getting good grades to entry into a good school, and good school means good future. The kind of value is almost everywhere in our society. Therefore, the entrance exam is a key point of life. There is only one chance. Nearly all of the students prepare for the exam cautiously. They keep studying all the days, trying to memorize everything, every detail in the text book. It seems that there is no time for them to spend on other activities. The entrance exam takes away students’ enjoyment of learning and happiness in life. Instead, it brings them big pressure, strong anxious, tiredness and boredom. The author includes all these elements in the poem, so the readers, either they are students now or they were students before, can feel that what this poem describes is really close to their experience.
There is no so-called “entrance exam” anymore, for some people have put lots of efforts to improve the education system in Taiwan. That is also the reason why the title of the prom is “Recall of Entrance Exam”. However, the poem reflects not only past but also current society. Actually, students’ situation does not change a lot, since the pattern of the entrance exam is still there, and people still remain the same value. It is already part of the culture in our society and very difficult to change.
Poetry is a very
good tool to express people’s feelings, especially toward the society, so it
naturally reveals the culture. We
believe readers can be touched by this poem deeply and receive some comforts
somehow from the expression.