This article is really awesome! But I think maybe you mean "Schools" of fish. 

The lion *was* big, he *had* a big mouth :)

0105 Consumerism and Pollution

Today China’s most popular social media has been spammed with posts of bills showing off people’s purchasing power in 2016. One of my students, who had been doing some stock investments in his spare time as well as class time, put up a stunning figure that was many a time the amount of what I had spent (and prompted me for a while to have a second thought of my career choice).

There is no doubt that with the economic boom, some of us have already been lifted into the rank of middle class, or even the upper middle class in financial term. Likewise, the country has also navigated itself more towards consumerism than others.

Consumerism was in vogue in the West during the 1970’s, but since the 1990’s, people have been showing more interests in environmentalism as they began to realize the damage caused by excessive material wealth. Starting from the Industrial Revolution, goods have been more rapidly and readily churned out by machines as opposed to the time-consuming human labor in the old days. Slowly we formed a habit of using more than we need, and dumping more than we should. Sometimes I wonder how those tons of garbage end up. Are they buried under the ground or burned up on the site, or simply become a part constituting the ominous garbage patches in the oceans?

Either way it is not good news. The higher rate of the industrial production; the larger amount of the things thrown away. Meanwhile, resources are wasted and pollution is in a spike. The problem is more severe here, since China is the unrivaled industrial hub globally.

Living in the Factory of the World, we have an adverse access to more industrial goods than many others, and usually at a much cheaper price. Except for housing, a lot of goods here are quite affordable to people with a decent job. So over time, they lose the old tradition of frugality but are more inclined to over buy and repair less, contributing to more waste than ever.

Honestly, I have my share of contribution to it too and I am not yet an environmentalist. Perhaps I will change and perhaps I will not. It is not easy to persuade people to suppress their desire for material enjoyment for the sake of environmental protection. The best solution, I suppose*, is to pin our hope on scientists to turn garbage into something useful, like fuel. It is interesting to note that it is scientists who started the trend of industrialization, and it also needs to be them to solve the problem brought by their achievement.

*"I guess" is not wrong, but I believe using the word "suppose" fits better with the formal tone of your piece. 

Really wonderful job!  :) 

Maybe, "I am aware that nothing is perfect, but I believe that if I face any problem we can discuss it and reach a suitable solution."

Hare or turtle?

Who hasn't ever wished all the exams would be cancelled like in a Harry Potter book? This is not a fantasy novel nor do we have He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stalking around, but a new law has granted our wish to get rid of those annoying tests each ending of course. Whether that's a change for the better is a controversial point even among students.

We all wanted those stress-generators to be wiped out, but none of us thought of a backup plan. How would we were supposed to be evaluated, then? For the better or worse, the alternative has been stated as continuous assessment and project work. What does it mean? You will no longer study intensely for your exams -which is the good part-, but you will have to study nearly-as-intensely-as-before during the whole course to pass it -which is the not-as-good-part. The difference is the same as between a sprint race and a step-by-step journey. In fewer words, you walk the same length and get to the same point, but the method, effort and time invested are totally different.

You will agree when I say that exams were a source of anxiety where good students failed, therefore this new evaluation seems appealing for those nerve-wrecked ones. However, There's another type of person who does not feel the same way.  "Those projects are too much work', they may say, and that continuous assessment is a laziness-proof method not everyone agrees with.

Personally, day by day work ensures my knowledge of what I study and makes me more confident about what I've learned. I undoubtedly prefer step-by-step journey, where besides just enjoying the road, I will be able to continue walking after the finish line without ending up exhausted. So what do you prefer, to be a hare or a turtle student?