Student Janitors

At Hempfield High School, there is one man who has become somewhat of a fixture in the lives of the students, staff, and faculty alike. Now in his mid 80s, Grube has been working for the school district for as long as anyone can remember. He can been seen all throughout the building, pushing carts full of papers, drinking coffee, and chatting with the secretaries. As a member of the janitorial staff, Grube and his colleagues are responsible for the cleanliness of the school building and grounds. They repair desks, install TVs, and clean the building every single day. American schools, like Hempfield, would be left with quite a shock should the janitors fail to show up one day.

Chinese schools, however, are used to an absent janitorial staff. In fact, they do not even employ people to tidy up the school. How does the school get cleaned, you ask? The students do it. About three times a school year, on a rotating cycle, each class is excused from their studies for two days to clean the school. They pick up leaves from the basketball courts, mop the hallways, sweep the stairs, dust the handrails, and do mild landscaping in the school garden.

The students tell me they like cleaning, but I suspect it’s more likely they enjoy being able to walk around the school with a broom almost unchecked. Though the head teacher of the class assigned to cleaning duty is probably responsible for his or her students, I rarely see them checking up on them. Therefore, it is common to see boys fighting with the mops rather than actually removing dirt from the floor or see girls adjusting their hair with the help of their friends. This is, however, not to say that the school doesn’t actually get clean. The tile floors of the building where my office is located is mopped every single day, as are the stairwells and hallway floors. I just have come to believe that the students are skilled at messing around just enough that there is still enough time to do their assigned task.

I’m not sure if the students are learning anything about hard work or household management through being responsible for cleaning the school grounds, but I’m certain that they enjoy the much needed pause in their breakneck schedules. And I’m sure their parents enjoy the lower tuition cost that is a result of the school needing to only employ one or two repair people, rather than the entire janitorial force needed in US schools.

While this system works in Chinese schools, I highly doubt it would function even reasonably well in the halls of Hempfield High School, or most other American high schools. Looks like Grube’s job is safe.