Field trip to Lin Min

So this is one of the posts which is at least a month overdue. In November Noah's first grade class went to visit and bring goodies bags filled with school supplies and little toys to a first grade class at a local migrant school. The official population count of Shanghai is around 17 million people but if you factor in all the migrant workers it is much much higher 25 million by some counts. The migrant workers do not enjoy any benefits that "registered inhabitants" are afforded (housing, education etc). There are migrants schools that are little more than cement shells of buildings where the children of the workers get educated. The school receive no funding so want for a lot! There is a migrant school just down the street from the American school. SAS (Shanghai American School) has somewhat adopted them providing funds for a playground, windows and doors, desks and school supplies. Anyhow Noah's class had a unit on needs vs. wants as part of their social studies curriculum. They ended the unit with a visit to the school. They brought goodies bags filled with some things the kids might need and some things they might want. It was a very interested experience for me as a parent and a teacher. I think it is safe to say it made a bigger impression on me than it did Noah! SAS has 85 first graders divided into 5 classes. Lin Min School has 123 first graders divided into 2!!!! classes. A couple of things really stand out in my memory. First of all how many more boys than girls there were. About 3 to 1 -rough estimate. I know where we are and all but it is the first time I have really noticed it. Secondly as our kids passed out the bags the Lin Ming students sat quietly at their desks (two kids to a desk) and smiled but nobody opened the bags. A few took hold of it but not one child ripped into the bag. I am sure they were told not open them until we left. I am told corrporal punishment is still widely used. Wow! Very interested day. Noah was his usual bubbly self, smiling and trying to pass out as many bags as he could. He tried to sit down next to one little boy. Just another day at another school in his book!