有些學校競爭特別激烈，有時我會覺得這樣「培訓」孩子，是否過於殘酷？但當我想到成年人世界，不也是競爭很激烈 ？不如趁早培養孩子力爭上游的心智？
我已有中學同學每天害怕被裁，因她從剛出來社會工作開始就沒自我提升意識，所以今天的工作能力可能比不上比自己年輕十歲的。現在這樣每天活在恐懼中但又無能為力，曾經度過的輕鬆懶散歲月值得嗎？
Below is my rewrite of a Diocesan Boys’ School student’s account of how it’s like to study there.
A Day at DBS
Student
Every morning, Diocesan Boys’ School students, tired from the previous night of studying, have to climb many stairs to arrive at the school’s premises, where they are faced with a long tough day of studying and competing.
My rewrite
Perhaps it was by design that the top of a hill was chosen as the location for Diocesan Boys’ School, for the sheer effort to takes to show up for class is a reminder to its students that life is an uphill battle. If they take the MTR, they can’t reach the campus until they have dragged themselves up a steep slope. If they take the bus (like myself), they have to mount 200 stairs.
Student
Because a student’s grade ranking determines he whether he can enter an elite class or be banished to a bottom-of-the-heap class next year, the pressure to study is immense. There are nine class in each grade and everyone hopes to get into the top three. But even if you get into an elite class, your relief lasts only a year, for the next year, you have to worry about getting into a non-elite class.
My rewrite
As for the actual learning, DBS’s system is designed in a way so that even the best students can’t escape the possibility that at any moment, they may be weighed and found wanting. Each grade consists of nine classes, and which class a student is funnelled into depends on his academic performance in the previous year. The top 30 students are allocated a place in the top class, the ones ranking 31 – 60 gets into the second-best one, those placed 61 – 90 lands in the third-best, and so on. We live a real-life version of Squid Games.
Being a member of the elite classes is a blessing as much as a curse. Once you get in, the pressure is intense to remain there every year. Little wonder why so many elite class students become their own slavemaster: when recess comes, they do homework instead of play. They’ve heard their mothers talking about other mothers who go berserk when their sons are sent to the academic equivalent of Siberia.
Student
Outsiders see us wearing our uniform and imagine our living glamorous lives, but we know our struggles all too well. I console myself by thinking in the future, when I work in society, the fight for good jobs will be competitive as well. Life is hard and the strong should tough it out.
My rewrite
My English tutor helps me take the long view on the competitive life at DBS. Her uncle is a DBS alumni. Now in his 60s, he has noticed this curious pattern among his classmates. Some students from non-elite classes have become successful self-made business owners whose needs and whims are catered to by their former elite-class classmates, who are now lawyers, bankers, accountants – perfectly respectable professions of course, but this doesn’t change the fact they are at the beck and call of the rich. So, being in the elite class may not be such a big deal after all. It is actually more important to have a boldness of vision, find a line of work I am prepared to devote myself 110%, and not give up until my dream becomes reality.
Michelle Ng
英國牛津大學畢業，前《蘋果日報》和《眾新聞》專欄作家，現在身在楓葉國，心繫中國大陸和香港。
聯絡方式： michelleng.coach@proton.me
個人網站： https://michellengwritings.com
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