<p>cooljoe! Finally another freshman. I was starting to feel like I was all alone.</p>
<p>I'm beginning to get confused--what should I do with my spare time?</p>
<p>stop breathing, freshmen use up way to much air. Leave sum for us rising Seniors !!!! yay class of 007</p>
<p>My parting words to the HS forum as a member of the class of 2006 are from that dignified public speaker known as Nelson from "The Simpsons"...</p>
<p>HA-HA!</p>
<p>Seriously though, good luck with the next four years and make the most of them while they last. The good times have seemed to fly by!</p>
<p>if you can, go study abroad- it will be worth your wild!</p>
<p>I wish I had the freedom to do something like that, because I have everything else, including the money to live in China and get a degree there, or just take language classes for three years beforehand as well...</p>
<p>do it!!</p>
<p>all you have to do is figure out how to get the thing thats holding you back out of the picture or work around it.</p>
<p>It's called my parents, and I am not going to get around them until junior year of college, my next opportunity. I was sick, and my mother is paranoid, so we have the perfect restriction formula.</p>
<p>whats up other freshmen.</p>
<p>^^ what sort of degree? I thought you're still in high school.</p>
<p>Who are you talking to, purrli?</p>
<p>you</p>
<p>oops. I thought you meant you already got a degree there :/, because I often heard you say that you've been there</p>
<p>I would not mind attempting something like that, but the learning would have to be a combination of Chinese and English at a place like University of Hong Kong. If I was fluent in Chinese I would enroll at something like Fudan or Beijing, because I have the math skills to take on the Gaokao, just not enough Chinese. At least I can take the HSK at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, however. I may attempt level 1 sometime soon.</p>
<p>Or try Singapore if you want a bilingual environment. I've lived there a couple years and it's an interesting place, like Hong Kong except sterilely clean and beautiful.</p>
<p>Singapore has too many fines and restrictions; I don't need a police state when I am done with my work, I need a place to hang out where people are lax, like this forum. I like cities that have some dirtiness to them, not cities that are cleaner than my bedroom. I also like rapidly growing and developing cities (i.e. Shanghai and Berlin).</p>
<p>That is true. Singapore is a bit like living in a Pollypocket, with a patriarchal government that does everything for you, almost no taxes yet plenty of welfare, low cost of living, etc, in exchange for civil obedience. It's like in 'Brave New World'.</p>
<p>I have heard that Singapore has a $100 fine for chewing gum on the subway and $300 fine for smoking in a cab. And even the welfare system will be disappearing soon. The only plus is there is no national religion like in the countries that surround it.</p>
<p>I don't think there are any stores that sold gum there; and the fine about it on subways is probably true. No wonder it's so clean that one can practically use the floor for picnics. Another thing Singapore is big on is corporal punishment; namely whipping [by professional whippers]. And not all at once either: they let you heal before receiving each new slash. A few years ago (1998?) weren't there a controversy with an American teen who vandalized a car and the government still did him anyways. Such discipline was common at home and in school as well: all principals and most parents have a mini version of the bamboo whip at home (it's got a cute little walking-stick like handle on it so it can be hung on doorknobs for convinience), and once I saw a mom who whipped it out of her purse while we were on the train to deal with her kids right there and then.</p>
<p>There probably wasn't a national religion because it's ethnically diverse, with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and a few Christians. I used to live across the street from a mosque and it was interesting.</p>
<p>I know that some Chinese schools maintain corporal punishment as a motivator; in Japan if one gets a question wrong in a cram school said student gets ten whips on the back. And I also think that unruly kids here should be given the same treatment; in many Caribbean communities a paddle and belt were common, but such punishment is lost when the immigrants come here.</p>
<p>dude..its been forever since i was on the forums..sorry people i was groundd...dont ask..anyway as for the capital punishment thing..i do believe in it in the household...i agree to spanking or whuping a kid's ass.but not abusing them and yes there's a difference...but as far as in schools i dont think anyone in an establishment should have that power..but i think the parents should.</p>