Eye Exercises

Back in December I started a series about school life in China. You may think that the series was canceled after the pilot episode, as I seem to have dropped the idea. This, however, is not the case. That time of year was busy with other activities to post about, as well as a major trip to plan. Now that that’s all over, I want to get back to the work on the posts that I had planned.

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Each country and culture has its own way for students to relax during the school day. During my time in Germany, I learned that students believe that it is beneficial to open the windows (no matter the weather) between classes to clear their heads. In the US, students take recess and “passing time” as down time between classes to relax and talk to their friends. Likewise, Chinese students have a 10 minute recess type break between each class, during which they enjoying playing basketball and jumping rope. These break periods are vital as the students remain in the same room throughout the day and it is the teachers who do the moving.

The Chinese, however, take de-stressing during the school to another level. Two times per day (or three times for the boarding students) the students do eye exercises. The exercises are lead by the recording of a women which comes over the loud speaker. She starts by instructing the students on what exercise they will begin with and then counts to eight eight times. I imagine she says something like, “Alright students, now we’re going to rub our eyes for the next five minutes. Don‘t roll your eyes at me! Here we go. Yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba. Er, er, san, si, …” She then goes onto the next exercise; there are four in all. The students don’t actually need to be reminded what exercise they should be doing, as they’ve done them in the exact same order multiple times a day for the past 6 years of their lives.

While a majority of the class is stroking their faces, one or two of the students are patrolling the classroom with a notebook, making note of the students who are not showing the exercises the seriousness they deserve. Yet another group of students comes around to each classroom to ensure the monitors are doing their job to report misbehaving students. Should the individual classroom monitor be caught not reprimanding their students properly, he or she would be severe punished. The Chinese are certainly not creating a society that encourages citizens to spy and tattle on their neighbors with this discipline method. How could you even think that?

Well, now that you’ve read my description of what eye exercises look like, why don’t you watch for yourself? If your eyes are feeling the strain of a hard day’s work, feel free to join in. Just follow the students and listen to the soothing music.

According to this article in the New York Times, it appears that the Chinese might be on to something with their multiple breaks and eye exercises. Who knows, maybe American students will spend time massaging their faces as well in a few years.