Mukashibanashi chapter 2 昔話第2章

I was going to write about something else, but the end of ep.6 of Bakuman prompted this. That's right, classroom seat arrangements.

In Canada, you pick where you want to sit. But in Taiwan, it's a different story.

In Taiwan, seating plan is assigned for the year. The desks, while just small wooden tables and chairs, are in set spots and only moved for cleaning. The boy-girl alternate seating also means the people on all four sides of you would be of the opposite gender.

Students in a class are given class numbers, often according to birthdays or heights depending on the teacher. Then the class seating plan is usually dictated by the class numbers. Once a seating plan is set, students sitting in one column would move to the next column on a weekly basis, so each column gets the chance of sitting by the window, in the middle of the class, etc.

I can't remember what the seating arrangements were for my early elementary years, except that the desks were probably regular single desks with an open drawer. For my last elementary year(s?), the desks were double desks with two open drawers so two students (one boy and one girl) sit at one table.

Throughout my elementary years (that I can recall), birthdays were used to dictate the class numbers, where no.1~x would be boys ranging from the oldest to the youngest, then no.x~last would be the girls. Since I started a year early, I always had the last class number (usually no.5x), except when there's transfer students whose number would go after me. I think class numbers were drawn to determine which number sat where for my last elementary year(s?) since I sat in the first row with no.14 (I think).

With the single desks, everyone just kept to their own during nap time (yes, we got nap times in my elementary and junior high schools XD). With the double desks in my class, it was more interesting. One person would sleep on the desk and the other on the two chairs, switching spots every other day. Obviously the desk was longer, wider, and a bit more comfortable. There's a gap between the two chairs in their regular positions so the body wasn't fully supported, and even when they were lined up together, it wasn't as long as the table. And since the 'walkway' between columns had to be cleared at all times, we had to curl up, which was easier on the desk than on the chairs.

Another fun(?) fact with the double desk was that we would draw a line down the centre of the desk, signalling our own territories. Some pairs had a rule where one would get spanked on the palm for crossing the line, but the rule was pretty much forgotten after a while once the desk-mates got familiar with each other. XD

For my junior high years, it was back to the regular single desks. I think the double desks were an oddity since I have never seen them outside of that class or in manga.

The class number for my 1st year junior high was determined by height, so people with a height disadvantage would be able to see the black boards... Yeah, I sat near the middle but still in the front half of the classroom. orz

I can't remember how the class number and seating plan were assigned for my 2nd year junior high, except that the oldest guy in the class sat behind me. I only noticed this little fact when he once was looking at some form that was passed around class during a recess time between classes, and he swore lightly while commenting to his friend from another class (who sat to my left in my 1st year and was also a good friend of mine) that a certain class number (mine) was more than one year younger than him. He shut up when he found out it was me, sitting right in front of him. XD

Compare to the rigid seating plans in Taiwanese schools, I found the versatile desk types and seating arrangements in the Canadian high school intriguing. Most of the desks were more like chairs with a small counter top for writing, and there's a number of classes where we could move to anywhere in the room (yes, even right by the door or leaving a huge empty space in front of the teacher) as long as we face the teacher somehow. There's also big tables for two for science classes, or rows of long tables lined up together. I even sat on choir stands in the choir room for an ESL class before. Of course, there's even more variety in university depending on the subject and age of the building.

Changing seats is no big deal in Canada, but it can be significant in Taiwan due to the long duration time. There's often scenes in anime or manga where the characters treat the seat changing event seriously. I can understand the mentality, 'cause I used to go through that. I liked most of my neighbours so I didn't mind.