Every once in a while I see mention of a “Chinese school”, either as an ad or, like today, a news item about one re-opening after the swine flu thingy.
Peace,
mangeorge
Either a school in China or a school that teaches Chinese.
I believe it is a school for American children of Chinese descent to learn about Chinese culture.
This would be in addition to, not instead of, regular school.
To expound a little, and I’m not sure if this is what your ad is referring to, often immigrants or those wishing to stay in touch with their heritage will often send their children to “Chinese/Korean/whatever” school after their public schooling or on weekends. Here they’ll usually learn the language, history, and culture of their homeland.
I took a class in Asian-American literature way back and noticed that these sorts of school figured prominently in the lit - for instance, Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. I have no idea of their prominence in the modern age, however.
Edit: Oops, what RedSwinglineOne said.
You learn something new every day. I’d rather hear it from SDMB than wikipedia anytime.
Thanks.
There is a brother/sister team on the current season of The Amazing Race who are second-generation Chinese-American, and they have mentioned several times in this season going to Chinese school as kids.
I just assumed it was the Chinese equivalent of Hebrew School (a place for American children of ethnic immigrants to learn the language and customs of their forebears).
Ah this brings me back to my childhood… and Chinese school. You go there every weekend for a couple of hours. They drill you through the basic Chinese language, you learn to read/write/and talk. It was a part church, so you had a bit of Christian learning too. You also got a lot of free time, so you could hang out with the other kids from the area. It was fun, but I never really got around to liking it since it was a lot of work (memorizing all those Chinese characters is NOT fun).
On the other hand, customs is not something that’s usually taught in Chinese school, as its considered the parent’s responsibility to do that.
A Chinese friend was a teacher in our local Chinese school and I only found out at his funeral.
You should see the fire drills at those places.
Seriously, though, it’s just a school for Chinese kids to learn Chinese writing/reading and culture.
Born to a Conservative Jewish family, I attended Hebrew School as a matter of course for quite a few years. I never knew that other groups had them as well until I saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the protagonist attended a similar Greek School.
Ah! Like catechism for catholics.
No wait. That’s religion.
[semi-tangental] If you travel abroad and meet any expats, you’ll often hear mention of the American School. This will usually be the local English language school for expat children.
The above info is correct. Growing up in the US during early 80s I tagged along with my second-generation Asian friends to their Chinese schools on Sundays sometimes. They seemed to be at Baptist churches a lot.
One other possibility is a public alternative school; San Francisco, at least, has one of these. They offer the same complete education as any public school (better than most), and also teach the Chinese language and such without the need for a second school.
Of course, this just means the poor kids have more time for music lessons, or dance, or…
After some looking around, I learn that there are several Chinese schools in this area. Plus a Chinese summer camp or two, with the same agenda as the schools.
There are also other ethnic equivalents.
Thanks for asking - one of the secondary schools near me changed signs on a Saturday to become ‘Tower Hamlets Chinese School,’ an official government-funded school but only on Saturdays. I thought it was probably just learning about the language (particularly the writing) and the culture, but it’s good to have it confirmed because my daughter always wonders too.
But these are actual full-time schools, not like an after-school activity sort of thing like Chinese schools usually (but not always) are. British Schools are common, too.
