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. 

【红霞译文】

        书上高中第一篇章自有分说，我将一如既往，努力完善学业生涯中这个主要里程碑。

        一日之计在于晨，此话毋容置疑，但说来容易做来难，并非每早起床都会付诸行动。高中要比从前小学初中上课早，因此可以肯定地讲多数学生睡眠不足。我每晚十点半入睡，好为下一天铆足劲头。然而，七个半小时的休息未必确保整个星期精力充沛，所以我只能借助从一个地方赶往另一个地方来回乘车的空挡打会儿盹。

        在校期间我不敢说没有问题，但我确实认为每年老师对学生升级故作玄虚，从某种角度上，我对之深表理解，当该听取他们的意见，只是时至今日，高一并没有翻天覆地的变化。

        在我们学区，也许其它学区同样如此，从初中到高中之间的过渡常被视为“教育上的飞跃”，宾溪中学内流传这样搞笑的说法，高中“大而差”，不过生活朝你疾速走来，而我需要尽快冲破过渡难关，用整个第一学制去适应极其庞大的高中体系，尽管仍有缺憾，但我已很好地融入到这个社会中来。 

       临近第一学制结束，数学老师给我们上了一堂别开生面的专业课，鉴于本班考试平均成绩太差（别担心，我得了A），她谈及学生应强化专心致志，好在我基本符合要求。因为班上同学多为优等生，所以过去几年上数学课跟闹着玩似的，毕竟人人身手不凡，不仅表现出色，而且天资聪颖，可当三所初中并入同一所高中时，情况必有变化，过去名列前茅的学生被别人赶超，不少同学可能无法意识到这点。没错，听起来似乎难以置信，至此引发出下一个话题，没有哪位高中老师会手下留情，如果想分享坏消息，他们直接当着全班同学的面和盘托出，无需发送电子邮件通知家长，反正后果统统由学生自负，我想大家必须建立起长大成人后需要承担责任的概念，有些孩子还没做好应变准备，但我觉得自己卓见成效。

Crosslinks(相关博文):

2016: First Marking Period of Eighth Grade(初三第一学制)

2015: First Marking Period of Seventh Grade(初二第一学制)