My Days in Junior High School 1964 -1966

This might be the only picture I had during the three year junior high school days. I am the one standing at four from the right of the second row from the back.

It was shot a few days before the graduation ceremony was held in June 1966. The scene was in front of the newly built hall of Ching Shui High School located by the state highway in Ching Shui township of Taichung County, Taiwan.

From the picture, you can summarize the features of the high school in those days. 1) big student number per class, there were 54 in our classroom. 2) all the students had to wear uniform. 3) all the boys had to be bald-headed. 4) opposite sex in separate class.

You are right, all the four points hit the spot! I'd like to share one of the dramas about me occurred during the three school years.

Each year, the school held a model student election activity. Each class must nominate a candidate through their in-class democratic process to the student activity administration office to involve in the final model student election.

Of course that was just a way of democracy education through practice. But we all took it seriously hoping the candidate of our own class would be elected so that we could share his honor.

I , being a quiet and shy boy in the class, never expected that I was nominated in the in-class selection and, even could not believe, won the top number in favor of me. I was scared my head off as a year one junior high school student with the unexpected result. But our class teacher, Chen Yao-tang (陳瑤塘)﹐assured me that the whole class would back me up in the in-school election campaign.

The next day, the whole school began to be bustling with vote inviting activity, poster hanging, and etc, My friend's neighbor was a printer who printed 500 pieces of bookmark with my profile on one side and a blank class timetable on the other for distributing to the voters in the vote inviting activity. I remembered it cost me $10. My friend told me that I could pay it with the $50 award when I was elected as model student of the year. It seemed as if he could foresee the election result that I would win the 50 bucks.

After one whole week of campaigning activities, there came the voting day. Most of my classmates were in the school hall watching the votes being called out and added to the corresponding candidate on the blackboard, but I was too nervous about the result that I hid myself in our classroom. Once a while, one of the very enthusiastic mates would rush back to report the update. As the vote calling was going on, these messengers ran back and forth the classroom and the hall excitedly with the latest accumulated votes casted to me.

By the time the sun was to set, all the votes were cleared from the boxes. The result showed that I was among the school model students of the year.

I told mum and dad after returned home about the news that day. They were very proud of me being a model student,

The big brother of my neighbor who was a profound calligrapher wrote a few posters of 銘謝當選, "thanks for voting me" for me to hang on some corners of the school yard the next day.

At the nearest morning school assembly after the voting day, a certificate of model student, award of $50 and a medal were handed down by the principal.

That had occurred in the first year of my junior high school days. Never had I thought that I could be so popular in the school as a introvert boy, that in the next year, the same process repeated once again, I was elected as model student for the second time.

Believe or not, but it was true, I was selected as candidate for the third time in a row during my three year junior high school period. But this time I did not win in the final election.