2017-11-10

【Aiden in English】

        The first chapter of high school is in the books. As usual, I will try my best to reflect my own opinions on this major milestone in my academic career.

        It starts with the mornings, evidently. Although I will admit, not all mornings were created equal. The high school has an earlier day than previous experience from both elementary and middle schools. Thus, it is safe to say that most students don’t receive abundant sleep. I sleep at around ten-thirty, giving a good amount of rest for the next day. However, seven and a half hours is not enough to power through an entire week, so I take naps on car rides from place to place.

        As within school hours, I can’t say it wasn’t difficult, but I do feel that every year, teachers over-hype the next transition of grade. I do understand that at some point, I should take the teachers’ advice, but as of right now, the 9^th grade has not yet lived up to its excitement.

        At our school district, as probably with many others, the transition from the middle to the high school is often considered the “largest step in education”.  At the Pennbrook MS, a popular phrase to describe the high school is “Big and Bad”, sarcastically. However, life does come at you fast, and the transition was a hump I needed to overcome quickly. Over the course of the first marking period, I adapted to a very large high school society. Although I still feel a bit out of sorts, I have been integrated into the system nicely.

        Near the end of the first marking period, our math teacher gave quite an interesting lecture. Upon grading an extremely low test average for the class (don’t worry, I got an A), she spoke about how student academics should become more focused. However, the overall meaning stood out to me. Because most of my fellow students in math are prolific students, the past few years of math have been a walk in the park. Everyone was special, the best, and smart. When combining three large middle schools into an even larger high school, things do get a bit reshuffled. Therefore, some people at the top had to make way for others, and a lot of students may have a hard time realizing it. Okay, that sounded really tough, which leads me to my next point. None of the high school teachers pull punches. If they wanted to share a piece of bad news, they deliver it straight at the classes’ face. No need to email parents and have them deal with it. I do think this a term that everyone has come to accept along with the responsibility of growing up. Some kids aren’t ready for this change yet, but I feel as if I have been able to make the leap. 

【紅霞譯文】

        書上高中第一篇章自有分說，我將一如既往，努力完善學業生涯中這個主要里程碑。

        一日之計在於晨，此話毋容置疑，但說來容易做來難，並非每早起床都會付諸行動。高中要比從前小學初中上課早，因此可以肯定地講多數學生睡眠不足。我每晚十點半入睡，好為下一天鉚足勁頭。然而，七個半小時的休息未必確保整個星期精力充沛，所以我只能藉助從一個地方趕往另一個地方來回乘車的空擋打會兒盹。

        在校期間我不敢說沒有問題，但我確實認為每年老師對學生升級故作玄虛，從某種角度上，我對之深表理解，當該聽取他們的意見，只是時至今日，高一併沒有翻天覆地的變化。

        在我們學區，也許其它學區同樣如此，從初中到高中之間的過渡常被視為“教育上的飛躍”，賓溪中學內流傳這樣搞笑的說法，高中“大而差”，不過生活朝你疾速走來，而我需要儘快衝破過渡難關，用整個第一學制去適應極其龐大的高中體系，儘管仍有缺憾，但我已很好地融入到這個社會中來。 

       臨近第一學制結束，數學老師給我們上了一堂別開生面的專業課，鑑於本班考試平均成績太差（別擔心，我得了A），她談及學生應強化專心致志，好在我基本符合要求。因為班上同學多為優等生，所以過去幾年上數學課跟鬧着玩似的，畢竟人人身手不凡，不僅表現出色，而且天資聰穎，可當三所初中併入同一所高中時，情況必有變化，過去名列前茅的學生被別人趕超，不少同學可能無法意識到這點。沒錯，聽起來似乎難以置信，至此引發出下一個話題，沒有哪位高中老師會手下留情，如果想分享壞消息，他們直接當着全班同學的面和盤托出，無需發送電子郵件通知家長，反正後果統統由學生自負，我想大家必須建立起長大成人後需要承擔責任的概念，有些孩子還沒做好應變準備，但我覺得自己卓見成效。

Crosslinks(相關博文):

2016: First Marking Period of Eighth Grade(初三第一學制)

2015: First Marking Period of Seventh Grade(初二第一學制)