School and Community Characteristics

School and Community Characteristics


· What are the social characteristics that make up your school? These can include family relationships, as well as interaction between students and teachers.
· What are the political characteristics that make up your school? How is it governed? Who is in control? Are students able to participate in the school’s government or decision-making process?
· What are the economic characteristics that make up your community?
· What cultural groups make up your community? How have these groups influenced your community?

The social relationships in a school are like a web of relations and ties, all spun under a single roof of the school. There are interactions and a certain social contract that must exist between students, teachers, and parents, and there are the relationships that form within cliques and between friends. The relationships between students are obvious. They exist between friends that chat over lunch, and the people we choose to spend time with. Thinner relationships occur between the people who we know and are friendly with but do not know as well; and even thinner ones exist between the people whom we may act friendly towards but secretly dislike. A natural system of respect also forms within the student body based on personalities and visible strengths. Relationships between cliques are often most prominent in a school environment; the skateboarders usually hang together, the basketball jocks spend their time together, and the gamers usually spend their lunches with one another. In addition, apart from the relationships that exist between students, a triangular relationship also exists between teachers, parents, and students. The system is based on a set of naturally occurring laws within the school community.

The school is characterized as a hierarchy. Students are classified on the lowest possible level of the hierarchal pyramid. They don't have much of a say in how the school is run; they can, however, provide suggestions through the Student Council for approval, and help arrange and carry out school events. Teachers compose the second level of the hierarchy, and our head of the school, Mrs. Pamela, is at the top of the pyramid; whatever she thinks becomes law. Though each level has significantly more power and authority over the other, each level of the hierarchy is dependent upon the other.

The community that I live in is mostly composed of lower to upper middle-class Taiwanese people. Though I spend most of my time with these people, the town I live in is a Hakka town with relatively poor local inhabitants. Jhunan is a town based on fishing, independent farmers, and small businesses. However I never really felt at home in Jhunan or in Hsinchu, and really prefer to spend my time in Taipei City. Either that or the east coast of the island. This however defines the surroundings of which I live in.