All the students at Luolang Elementary School, a yellow-and-orange concrete structure off a winding mountain road in southern China, know the key rules: Do not run in the halls. Take your seat before the bell rings. Raise your hand to ask a question.
And oh, yes: Salute every passing car on your way to and from school.
Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.
Rather than "forced", it's more like "taught by their family and society".
ReplyDeleteThe social point is to become more like America. The family point is to succeed...and a car (a small one for a poor family, a Buick with a chauffeur for an upper- middle-class one) is a powerful symbol of success in China.
Yes, but as the rest of the article shows, "society" can be pretty heavy handed in China. Note the provincial leader who ordered all dogs killed in a certain town.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times "report", isn't worth the ink that it took to print it. The kids from the county where this rule applies look happy. but who knows a year from now. Some of the laws and rules out in the hinterland of that huge country are probably even more bazaar. We have the same goofy laws in this country in certain places too. Spit on the sidewalk and you can be fined. There's a list a mile long of infractions that will get you in trouble that are still on the books- if they wish to enforce them. Geewhy, A Communist society is heavy handed...period. Have a nice day, unclebuck
ReplyDeleteUnclebuck,
ReplyDeletePlease go to google.com and get an account. It's free. Look at "Choose an identity" at the right side of this page. You might have to create a password, or an e-mail or something.
I do enjoy your posts to this blog and I think you're entitled to a Title.
Narlin'sNow, The reason I haven,t done that, is because I'm not computer literate so to speak. I didn't know what a blog was until August. I can look things up on google and I know where the letters are and numbers and the thing on the left that lets you make a capital. I will have my son sign me up properly. I can email thanks to spellcheck. I keep my little dictionary handy when I do this blog. My wife is a Municipal Clerk and faces a computer all day. When she comes home at night she just laughs at my ignorance...unclebuck
ReplyDelete