In the summer of 1983 I asked to be transferred from a tiny, 72-student mountainside elementary school in the Hsinyi Rural Township of Nantou County to a gigantic school in Taipei County with more than 3000 students. There I used the camera to make a record of my many young friends.

In the big city, parents have big ambitions for their children, sending them to all sorts of classes and lessons after regular school lets out. It seems that all modern urban students bear the brands of overweening academic pressure.

As a teacher, I have come to learn that every class has a student or two with learning disabilities, hampering them in such basic areas as speaking, reading, writing, or arithmetic. With today's standardized curricula, such students are scattered in every class among normal children. Unable to keep up, they gradually become the classroom's disadvantaged minority.

In class they shrink into the corners, ill at ease. During recess they walk the classrooms and hallways, alone and melancholy.

As a result of the committee on educational reform led by Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh, wide-sweeping changes are now being made. I hope that it isn't too long before the schoolyard echoes with the laughter of these children.

Hsu Po-hsin

1959 Born in Peitou Rural Township, Changhua County.

1975 Entered National Taichung Teacher's College, where he first came in to contact with sketching and photography.

1987 Graduated from the Department of Mass Communications at Fu Jen Catholic University.

1988 Participated in the "Image Visit Collective Exhibition" at the Yuan Yi Chung Darkroom Workshop.

1988 Began working as a photographer at the Independence Evening Post, where he is still employed.

1993 Participated in the "Looking at the Tanshui River" photography exhibition.

[Picture Caption]

p.74

When students go up to the front of the class to describe what they want to be when they grow up, they generally reveal ambitions to become the president or a scientist or the like. A-lun says he wants to sell beef noodles.

p.76

(left) In class, students are never happier than when they're squatting in front of the teacher's platform writing down their homework assignments.

p.77

(right) Little Yu was a fifth grader. She found basic addition and subtraction very difficult. When the class gathered for activities, She'd always be looking on from afar.

p.78

(left) Do all those who have gone to school in Taiwan share memories of corporal punishment? If you didn't hold a chair overhead, you probably got hit with the rod on the palms.

p.78

(right) If you don't know what to do with the kids during winter vacation, you might consider bringing them along and supervising their studies while you conduct business.

p.81

(left) During tests, students automatically put their book bags up on their desks to prevent nearby eyes from wandering.

p.81

(right) Ta-hua was a sixth grader. Because he had a short attention span, he fell behind in his school work. Between classes, he would put a plastic bag over his head to attract his classmates' and teachers' attention.

p.82

Children's faces are supposed to be all smiles, but....

（left） In class, students are never happier than when they're squatting in front of the teacher's platform writing down their homework assignments.

（right） Little Yu was a fifth grader. She found basic addition and subtraction very difficult. When the class gathered for activities, She'd always be looking on from afar.

（left） Do all those who have gone to school in Taiwan share memories of corporal punishment? If you didn't hold a chair overhead, you probably got hit with the rod on the palms.

（right） If you don't know what to do with the kids during winter vacation, you might consider bringing them along and supervising their studies while you conduct business.

（left） During tests, students automatically put their book bags up on their desks to prevent nearby eyes from wandering.

（right） Ta-hua was a sixth grader. Because he had a short attention span, he fell behind in his school work. Between classes, he would put a plastic bag over his head to attract his classmates' and teachers' attention.

Children's faces are supposed to be all smiles, but....