Yesterday morning Kaye went to the Junior High to take a Non-Placement Exam.  Yes, that’s what I called it.

In the past, schools would give the students placement exams so they would ability group the kids into classes  … high, medium, low achievers and all that.  The Ministry of Education has made the practice illegal as they found all the best resources going to the gifted students while the low achievers received substandard education.  So, the law says you have to have mixed ability classes.

So . . . in typical fashion, Kaye’s new school has responded by still having an ability test to ensure that the students are placed into mixed-ability classes.

Personally, I think they should just randomly shuffle the kids into classes . . . sheesh.  Nope, they are going to have an exam so that they can make certain there are good, middle, and low ability kids in each and every classroom.  Of course, this also means there is always a chance someone will see the extremely private scores and prejudice the whole system anyway.

Lorraine went to an orientation meeting in the morning too.

The school is huge . . . well, compared to Kaye’s elementary school (both are affiliated with the university where I teach, National Chengchi University, a top school).

They don’t have an orchestra . . . she loved being part of that in the elementary school.  They don’t have a Taekwondo program which is Kaye’s big sport . . . they do have Judo but Kaye’s two martial arts are Taekwondo and Aikido so she either has to give up on being in the school team or start learning a new martial art.

BTW, tonight Kaye expressed an interest in learning guitar.  Right now she has aspirations to become a professional pianist but as she loves music in all forms the idea of also learning guitar appeals to her . . . so, I guess if they don’t have an orchestra at the junior high school she can always start a rock band . . . it would have to be Classic Rock as she loves Beethoven.

– Brian