“Not a Bad Student But an Outstanding One in Another Direction”

My name is Min Lin (anonymous name). I graduated from Hongling Middle School in 2024 and then joined Bolun Vocational and Technical School to study “Food Safety and Inspection Technology.”

The daily schedule in vocational high school is quite similar to that in middle school: morning reading starts at 8 a.m., classes end at 5:20 p.m., and evening study finishes at 9:15 p.m. The atmosphere is less competitive, and there is more time for self-management. I am participating in the school's “3+2” integrated secondary and higher vocational education program in the field of food safety, which allows me to study “Food Safety and Testing Technology.” After completing the secondary vocational stage, I can directly advance to Shenzhen Polytechnic for further studies. However, if I fail an exam, I won't be able to continue in this program, so there is still some pressure in vocational high school. The academic subjects in vocational high school only include Chinese, math, and English, while the rest are professional exams, which are divided into theoretical and practical components. For example, my major in food safety testing consists of 2 to 3 courses, covering food nutrition, inorganic chemistry, and food sensory evaluation. Because of this, the pressure in vocational high school is much less compared to that in regular high school. In regular high school, it is common to hear about psychological issues or emotional outbursts due to excessive pressure, but such cases are rare in vocational high school. We have more freedom in choosing courses and can study subjects that interest us. Moreover, we can usually complete all our homework during evening study. In our remaining time, students often engage in sports, play chess, or read novels.

In terms of the duration of study, vocational high schools generally have a shorter educational period than regular high schools, which helps us save family expenses and allows us to enter the workforce sooner. In an environment where many intellectual jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence, I believe the competitiveness of vocational high school students is increasing. If all goes well, I will advance to Shenzhen Polytechnic in my second year. Other students mainly have three choices: the majority will take exams to enter junior colleges, some will choose to start working directly and earn an average monthly salary of around 6,000 yuan, and a small number of students will pursue further studies overseas through the school's cooperation programs with the University of Waikato in New Zealand, Coventry University in the UK, and South Seattle College in the US. Finally, a very small portion of students will use the school's resources to start their own businesses.

Vocational high school is not a choice for failure. I believe choosing vocational high school actually demonstrates that we have a clear plan and arrangement for our future. Some vocational high school students actually have the ability to be admitted to regular high schools, even top-ranked ones. We are also part of high school students. We may just have a slightly weaker ability to absorb academic subjects, but we are not bad kids. Our strong practical skills are something that regular high school students cannot match. I do not want society's perception of us to be influenced by a few ill-mannered and extremely irresponsible vocational high school students. In fact, the situation in vocational high schools is much better than people imagine. Criminal behavior is almost impossible, and classmates are very friendly. Senior students rarely engage in bad behaviors like smoking, and the school is doing its best to prevent such situations. Please respect us and our choices. I believe the future will definitely be better!

- Min Lin

Kling｜Content curator

Rosabel｜Editor

戴盈盈｜Translator