【小记者稿件】在硅谷排名第一的公立高中读书是一种怎样的体验？

图片由东南网美国站小记者安东尼·雷提供。

编者按：

安东尼·雷（Anthony John Ray）：目前就读于加州圣何塞使命高中高二年级。他于今年夏天在福建参加了“中国寻根之旅”夏令营活动，加入了东南网美国站小记者项目，并被授予东南网美国站小记者证书。

东南网9月9日讯（东南网美国站小记者 安东尼·雷）硅谷是世界的科技中心，包括英特尔、脸书和思科在内的IT龙头企业都坐落于此。这些企业的高管和顶尖工程师送他们的孩子去哪里上学呢？许多人都选择了位于加州佛利蒙市的圣何塞使命高中。这所学校学生的SAT平均成绩达到了常春藤盟校的要求，许多学生毕业后顺利进入了像哈佛、普林斯顿、麻省理工及加州伯恩利这样的名校。在大学读完第一学期课程后，学生们普遍反映：大学课程比高中的课程简单多了。

沿着停车场漫步进入学校，你会感觉这并不是你印象中典型的教学场所。这里停放着许多辆宝马、奥迪和科尔维特，还放着震耳欲聋的流行音乐。这里的人大部分是中国人和印度人，很少能在学校里看到其他的种族。学校附近的平均房价一般在一百万到两百万美金左右。

当我走进教室的时候上课时，铃声正巧响起，老师的表情像是能吓走鲨鱼。她给我们布置了75页的阅读、一篇诗歌写作、一篇论文写作以及一封自我介绍信，这些都需要在两天内完成。而且，这还仅仅是我一门课的作业。除了六门常规课程，我还选修了每周六的中文课，时长四小时。在学习这些课程的同时，大家都已经开始积极准备SAT考试了。SAT考试类似于中国的联考，在高三一开始就需要完成这项考试，要想顺利升入大学可不能考砸。

午饭时间，我在咖啡厅溜达时看到了形形色色的人，有运动员、书呆子、新移民等等。我是运动员这一组的，这大概是最复杂的一组，因为我们的团队由华裔、白人、少部分印度人和极少数中东孩子组成。我挑了一张桌子坐下，打开了一个经过加工的过期的辣味鸡肉三明治。第一口咬下去我就咬到了一块脆的东西，竟然是一根骨头——天呐！我只能吐出来然后把剩下的午饭都扔了。此时铃声响起，我的下一节课又要开始了。

上完几何学、世界近代史和陶艺课之后，三点的下课铃声响起，今天的学习结束了。我如释重负地松了口气，但我知道这地狱般的250天才刚刚开始。回家后我需要完成一大堆作业，晚上六点到九点再去进行水球训练。绝大多数的美国学校都不会像中国学校那样要求高压力大，但是圣何塞使命高中却是如此。是时候在训练开始之前削尖铅笔用功读书了。我想我得到我的家人都熟睡的时候才可以休息了。

First Day of Class at Silicon Valley's

Public High School Silicon Valley is the world’s technology center, home to the leading IT companies like Intel, Facebook, and Cisco. Where do all of these corporate executives and top engineers send their kids for school? Many of them send their kids to Mission San Jose High in Fremont, CA. Average SAT scores for the school are on par with Ivy League Universities, and graduates go on to attend schools like Harvard, Princeton and MIT, and the UC Berkeley. After spending a semester in university, many kids report back that their college classes are much easier than their MSJ classes.

Walking through the parking lot into the school, you can see that this is not your typical educational institution. BMWs, Audis and Corvettes fill the parking lot with overly-loud pop music. Everyone is either Chinese or Indian. There are few other races in this school, where homes average typically range from $1million to $2 million.

As the bell rings, I walk into a classroom where the teacher looks like she could scare a shark. She assigns us a 75 page reading assignment, a poem, an essay, and an introduction letter, due in 2 days. This is for just one of my classes. In addition my my regular 6 classes, I also take a four hour Chinese class every Saturday. And in addition to all of my classwork, people are already studying for the SAT, the American equivalent of China’s “lian kao,” taken at the start of junior year. You CANNOT fail the SAT.

Now it’s lunchtime. As I walk across the cafeteria and see the athletes, the nerds, and the FOBs (Chinese kids who are “Fresh off the Boat”). My group is the athletes, is probably the most diverse. It consists of a mix of Chinese, white and a few Indian and Middle Eastern kids. I settle down at the table, and open my processed, expired spicy chicken sandwich. As I bit into it, I taste something crunchy. A bone – yuck! I spit it out and throw away the rest of my lunch. The bell rings, and it’s time for my next class.

I finish Geometry, Modern World History, and Ceramics. The last bell rings at 3:00pm and the school day is finally over. I sigh in relief, still knowing that this is only the beginning of 250 days of hell. I have a large pile of homework, and have water polo practice from 6:00PM to 9:00 PM. Most schools in the United States are not as stressful and demanding as Chinese schools. But Mission San Jose is. It’s time for me to sharpen my pencil and hit the books before practice. My rest period won’t come until the rest of my family has long been asleep.

- Anthony Ray

Anthony Ray is in his second year of high school at Mission San Jose High in Fremont, California. He spent the summer at the Camp of China in Fujian Province.