An English film was coming on tv tonite which is very rare in Germany. Hence no matter what I had to stay up to watch it. Since the movie didn't start till late, I resorted to surfing the channels and stuffing myself with mooncakes. I came upon this documentary about primary school students in China. What stopped me from switching the channel was these 2 young boys debating in front of their class if the current class monitor should or should not remain in power. Now, let's call the current class monitor George and the challenger Barack. Barack was arguing that George used authoritative methods on his classmates during his term. Such methods were pulling classmates' sleeves, ordering them to behave etc which resulted their classmates being fearful of him. George retorted that fear induced respect and with respect, his classmates would obey him and his class would be the best and the most orderly one in the school. However, Barack continued to rebuke him the shortcomings of his dictatorship and ultimately George was left speechless.
The documentary then went on to show how the 2 boys, with the help of their parents, prepared their campaign speeches for the big election the next day. The big day came and Barack was the first to go. He impressed his voters with promises of democracy, efficiency and transparency. Next came George. He spoke with promises and visions like Barack. At the last instant before he left his centrestage, George had something up his sleeves: he presented small little cards to his little voters to mark the celebration of the Mid-autumn Festival. Everyone, especially the girls, screamed with delight how exquisite the cards were.
At last, it was time to count the votes. No prize for guessing who won the election. It was George of course. He won them over with his harmless bride.
These 10 year-old kids amaze me. I almost thought I was watching Bush and other presidential candidates campaigning for the election. These kids are way more intelligent than I was when I was 10. Instead of playing, they spend time agonising over class monitor elections and trying to stay ahead of their peers. Times have certainly changed. Children these days face the pressure of doing well in school. Failure in doing so might mean a lesser life than your peers who have excelled in school. Our society in this time and age demand such competitiveness in every aspect of our lives that even little children are not spared of it too. Nobody wants to be lagged behind. As a result, modern parents would send their offsprings to various courses to better their kids so that they have a competitive edge in the game. But for goodness sake, these kids are after all just kids. What happens to 'playing'? Do they not play anymore? Is it right that their childhood comprise mainly of studying and the pressure of conforming and excelling? What about a pure innocent playful childhood which helps form their individual characters and which they can recall fondly later in their adult lives?
In my childhood days, I didn't give a damn who would be my next class monitor. Who cares, as long as I get to play five stones, zero point or football with my classmates. The most important thing in my head then was play, watch tv and play again. Campaigning for class monitor? Huh? What?
Eh, perhaps too much playing as a child because I am now a bummer without a job.
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