As a student on a short-term MCF internship, I was very happy to contribute to the collaborative activity between BCIS and a disadvantaged school near Daxing district.
We arrived at the school after a 2 hour subway-taxi trip. I can clearly recall my first impression of the school —— it was different than what I had expected. The entire school was made out of a two-storey building, which had flaked red paint all over its sides. Unlike almost every other school, it had no space for a courtyard or playgrounds, only a tiny opening that allowed a flag pole to be installed. It shocked me to see how so many children would have to study in this limited environment.
The BCIS kids and teachers were already there when we arrived. The children were divided into four separate classes to engage with students of the school to have one class together. In the classes, the mixed children were divided into groups of four to six, and were each given a Chinese idiom, such as “画蛇添足 Hua she tian zu” or “掩耳盗铃 Yan er dao ling”. The task for them would be to understand the origin story which the idiom comes from, then present the information they learnt on a poster, or to act the story out by themselves.
I’d expect the children from two different schools to have a hard time working with one another, since they come from completely different social backgrounds. However, my expectations are subverted by the reality. It is very insightful to see that although coming from different educational systems, the kids were still able to recognize others of their same age, and were able to bond with each other almost instantly. The barrier between the rich and the poor seemed to only exist in relationships between adults——while the pure-hearted children couldn’t care less about it.
This event at the disadvantaged school really got me thinking: From the moment they were born, people are inevitably separated into different social classes. Their social status and education are going to set them on completely different paths. During this event, I see 9-year-old boys from BCIS happily collaborating with a boy of his age from a disadvantaged school. While the boy in BCIS may grow up to become a lawyer, businessman, or physician working abroad, the brightest future for the other might be a job opportunity at a local company at Beijing. As for today, they don’t notice their differences. But as they grow up, they will eventually understand, and their paths will grow apart. We live in a cruel world, and that saddens me.
There would be no wise without the foolish, and no poor without the rich——difference is necessary for the world to work like it does today. Just like how there are always children with higher and lower levels of welfare, although they did not ask for nothing when they were born. For mankind, complete fairness is beyond what we can ask for.
We are all born different, and difference creates unfairness. Yet to some degree, we are all the same——despite their differences, the children today share the same purpose of studying, and they share the same type of smile when they realize they’ve achieved something. And that right there is what I think we are working for —— that genuine feeling when you are able to help the ones in need.