This was actually the topic of conversation during one of our son's Kenshin's classmates' birthday parties. Funny, I found myself seated in a round table full of GCHS alumni from different batches -- I myself am from batch 1991. I was very surprised to find that majority of the parents of the kids in Ken's class are from GCHS. I've attended enough kiddie parties and sat with enough parents to come to this conclusion... (to those who are not familiar, GCHS is Grace Christian High School).
Personally, I don't want to enroll my kids at GCHS because that school is a frickin' concentration camp. We couldn't have parties, proms, and balls because these things supposedly promote boy-girl relationships. We never had a good extracurricular activity roster -- other schools have dance troupes, drama clubs, sports clinics, etc. We had nothing. Listening to rock and pop music is also discouraged because they are "the work of the devil". I felt that this prohibitive environment impeded the development of our social skills, such that most of us would be content to remain anonymous wallflowers when we could have been so much more.
In high school, I remember being in school from 7:15am to 5:30pm. It's totally ridiculous. Only when I had children did I find out no other school had such an extended schedule. The bad part is, despite that torturous schedule, GCHS doesn't really do well in college entrance exams. I still remember going to the guidance office to find out if I passed the Ateneo de Manila University entrance exam and being told that yes I did, and that only 40+ to 50 of us passed (and most of them were from the honor section)... and we had like 400 people in our batch. You'd think that with such a stringent class schedule that GCHS would be really good at academics...
Before enrolling our kids, we checked out different Chinese schools. We saw with our own eyes how left behind GCHS was in terms of facilities. It was similar to how we had left it and so many years had passed.
Of course, this is just one GCHS alumni's opinion...
I am however, thankful for the friends I made in that school. I met and came to know a lot of good people with whom I am still friends with nearly two decades later.
