It is important to know the school hours set in Chinese high schools if you want to truly understand how academically challenging it can be for a student who operates within this regime. These schools are known for their long hours and intense schedules to get students ready for entrance examinations used in higher education. In this piece, we explore the typical schedule of a Chinese high school student and how these hours are affecting their education.
Daily Schedule
Morning Sessions
Chinese high school students get an early start to their day. The school day generally kicks off around 7:30 AM with Basa reading or Assembly, where students could hear announcements, perform light exercises and go over what they would have learnt. Most of the classes that you will find here usually start from 8 in the morning.
Core Academic Periods
Each school day has a length of 8:00 AM to noon, with class periods that follow one another in quick succession and lat for roughly 40-45 minutes each. Students get a small gap between classes, say 10 mins or so to relax and gear up for the next subject. The subjects offered are usually those of Mathematics, Chinese pronunciation and spelling (if you look at this as two separate ones), English, Chemistry and Physics.
Lunch and Afternoon Nap
After the morning session, there is a lunch break of about an hour from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM. As a tradition, many schools having nap/rest time for their students to lay down or close the eyes briefly after lunchtoward the official beginning of afternoon lessons; this is seen by some research as an improvementoflevels of concentration in later hours.
Afternoon Classes
The class starts at about 2:00 PM and ends around 5:00 PM. May include extracurricular activities or electives (part of a complete education, but still not the primary focus)
Evening Study Hours
Evening self-study hours - and other hallmarks of Chinese high schools, especially in the lead-up to university exams. These sessions are from 7:00 PM to 9:00 Pm, and teachers oversee these. By giving students a set time to do homework, work on assignments from class or study for exams.
Weekend Classes
ChinaHigh schools in China also carry out formal classes on Saturdays, especially for students preparing the Gaokao exam of their last high school year. Primarily these classes aim for exam preparation and review.
Impact on Students
This also reflects the immense worth of education in Chinese culture and intense rivalry among educational institutes. Though this rigorous routine trains students well for the challenges of higher studies and tough exams, it also tends to bring out issues regarding the mental strain called pressure which affected lots of lives back then.
This link offers a relevant birds-eye view on such topics, for those who are curious about the structural context in which educational practices like this take place at institutions of Harbin Medical University through China - focusing here again with Harbin Medical College.
One of the basic pillars that supports China's educational system is structured and disciplined time dedicated to school hours in high schools - while learning about math-centric subjects, like physics or algebra many are expected give up hours each evening and on weekends.