I used to be a traditional Chinese student. I went to private boarding school for my primary and junior high. It is a school which need to keep getting good grades to stay. Therefore, I began to take a lot after school classes. I used to take math, English, physics and sometime Chinese. I hardly had time to hang out or even own time. All of these were because of the traditional thought of Chinese parents and teachers – only the top students are good children and can have a good future.

After I went to a international school in senior high, I had a believe there. People cannot be defined by their grades. My teachers are from BC province. They never say that we must get really high or those kind of things. They encourage and help every student no matter what kind of grades the student get. I can relax myself after I finish my work and after school. I can have time to focus on interests. I think let student not to just caring about grades can help them to be better in all aspects.

My headteacher in primary and junior high are those kind of teachers. My primary headteacher was our Chinese teacher as well. She worried about our class a lot, like our other class and friendship. She was like the mother of us all. She often went to our dormitory and got to know what’s going on with us. Unfortunately, she got cancer before we graduate from primary school. We did not be told until we finished the final exam which call Zhongkao. All of other teachers just said she has some private things to deal with. She did not want us to worry about her, so she kept it as a secret from us. She even contact us after her chemotherapy right away. All she wanted is just making sure we already had plan for our junior high, and gave us lots of advice about different aspects, like the study, relationship and even the interests. When I went to visit her at her home, I saw her pale face smile for me. I was so touched at that time. She used her every available time on us. She is one of the reason of why I chose to be a teacher.

The next one is my junior high headteacher. She was a gentle and pretty woman. She was more like a friend to us. She was a good listener. When we have emotion problems or questions, we would talk to her. She was not just give advice, she also acted with us. For example, there was a disabled student in our class. He could not response as quickly as we could, and he could not speak really clearly. Therefore, some student in school liked laughing at him. Generally, he became a little self closing. When the headteacher knew about it, she talked with that student and she took some action with us. She prepared a lot papers, and told us to write down the advantages of that student. She organized an activity in our class, and invited all of us and some parents to join in. At that activity, she told that disabled student to come up to the front of the classroom. Then, each of us gave him the paper that we wrote. The teacher asked him to read the papers out. Even he read the paper really slowly, all of us just listened quietly. That was the way of teacher to tell us he is the same like us and he has many advantages that some we do not have. She did this class in a harmless and respect way. That is also an important thing that I should learn, respecting student, choosing the best solution of everything, and taking everything into consideration. I always remember the parents of that student are crying, our teacher is hugging that student, and we are smiling. At that time, I began to think about being a teacher.