Where is the most luxurious aristocratic middle school in history?

Among the new-style girls’ schools in modern Shanghai, there were several schools whose brand was to cultivate aristocratic temperament, cultivate ladylike demeanor, and integrate with the upper class society.

Therefore, not only are the ladies from famous families in Shanghai coming here in droves, but even ordinary civilian families are trying their best to send their daughters to school so that they can marry into the upper class in the future.

At that time, there were two such "aristocratic" schools: Chinese and Western Girls' School and St. Mary's Academy.

The Chinese and Western Girls’ School was founded by American missionary Lin Lezhi.

March 17, 1892, was the opening day of the Chinese and Western Girls’ School. There were only seven students at the opening ceremony, all of whom were ladies from wealthy families.

Two weeks after the school started, two new students arrived. One was the daughter of a naval officer and the other was the daughter of a wealthy businessman.

Among the list of freshmen at the school in 1900, one student stood out. She was Soong Ching Ling. She was only seven years old at the time and spent eight years studying here.

The Chinese and Western Girls' School was originally located on *** Road, Hankou Road, and later moved to the new school site of Jingjia Garden in the west of the city, which is now the location of the City's No. 3 Girls' Middle School.

St. Mary's College and St. John's College are sister schools.

In 1881, after Bishop Joseph Scher founded St. John's College, he merged two church girls' schools, "Pi Wen" and "Ji", to establish St. Mary's College. To the north of St. John's College, the two schools are separated by a bamboo fence, and services are held in the same chapel. Male and female students from the two schools have the opportunity to come into regular contact, which makes the school very uneasy.

In order to avoid any indecent incidents, St. Mary's School moved to its new location (today's Donghua University campus on Changning Road) in September 1923 and opened its doors.

Looking at these two girls' schools, we can find that the education here is indeed extraordinary.

The school's goal is to cultivate ladies with a noble demeanor and lay a solid foundation for entering the upper class in the future.

Therefore, in addition to Chinese English, mathematics, history and geography courses, there are also various elective courses such as music, dance, and performance.

The school emphasizes English over Chinese. Except for Chinese, all students’ textbooks are original English. Even China’s history and geography textbooks are edited and published by American publishers.

Therefore, students here can speak and write in English extremely proficiently.

Of course, there are many people who have excellent Chinese scores. Zhang Ailing graduated from Chinese and Western Girls' High School in 1937. Her brilliant writing made her a famous writer at home and abroad.

"Aristocratic" schools attach great importance to the education of students' etiquette and demeanor, requiring students to start with small things and behave in a gentle and elegant manner: greet teachers when they see them, do not shout loudly in school, and rely on their feet when going up and down stairs. Go right, speak softly in the library, be sure to put your seat back in place when you leave, chew carefully and make as little noise as possible when eating, etc.

The school also provides "luxury education" to students. Every fall when the school starts, a large-scale Western-style tea party is held to introduce new teachers and meet with celebrities and famous parents.

At the meeting, there are strict etiquette regulations. How to receive guests, arrange seats, talk and behave, etc. are all very particular and no mistakes can be made.

The guests, teachers and previous students all showed their talents, elegant manners and gorgeous costumes, making the freshmen understand the importance of "etiquette" and "elegance" as soon as they entered the school.

The school’s home economics courses have developed from the original women’s class to modern women’s home economics education.

The home economics course at the high school level at the Chinese and Western Girls' School is divided into three years. In the first year, you learn how to beautify yourself, your family and the environment; in the second year, you learn how to treat your boyfriend, choose a partner and organize a family; In the third year, you learn how to entertain guests, how to hold tea parties, banquets and dances, and how to make Western pastries, Western dishes, etc.

In order to apply the knowledge learned in the home economics class into life, the school has specially designated a private living room for senior high school students, which can be decorated by the students according to their hobbies. The living room is equipped with carpets, Sofas, gramophones, etc., as well as various fabric decorations and knick-knacks, are all brought by students from their own homes. The living room decorations in the apartment are either luxurious and gorgeous, or elegant and unique, with new and original designs.

Of course, the tuition fees of "aristocratic schools" are much higher than those of ordinary schools.

In order to attract students to enroll, early church schools did not charge tuition fees and even gave students living allowances.

The tuition fees of some public schools and ordinary private schools are also relatively low, but these two girls' schools are full-fee schools. For example, the tuition fee of St. Mary's College in the 1920s was equivalent to that of Ten months' salary of an ordinary worker is unaffordable for ordinary citizens' families.

Even so, there are still many parents and students trying every possible means to squeeze into the school gate.

In order to ensure the source of outstanding students, the school has adopted a strict examination system and treats all candidates equally. As long as they can pass the strict examination and can afford the tuition, the school will admit them all, not just the disciples. .

In 1946, the then mayor of Shanghai Wu Guozhen wanted to send his daughter to the Chinese and Western Girls' Middle School, but the school refused to make an exception and insisted on taking the exam. Fortunately, she passed the exam, which greatly relieved the school. tone.

Such schools are very popular with society and parents. They hope that their daughters will receive the influence of European culture and become a young generation who can speak English, understand Western etiquette, and join the upper class.

The school’s excellent teachers and good educational environment often make the school in danger of being overcrowded.

After graduating from school, students have also become high-quality students that universities in the country are competing for. Some directly go to Europe and the United States to study abroad, and some students marry into wealthy families after graduation.

For a long time, the principals of Shanghai’s missionary schools have been foreigners. After the May 4th Movement, calls for the right to receive education became increasingly louder, and the Nationalist Party adopted restrictive measures against missionary schools. It is stipulated that it must "file a case" with China's education authorities.

Around 1930, the two schools were "registered" one after another. The Chinese and Western Girls' School was renamed "Chinese and Western Girls' High School", and St. Mary's College was renamed "St. Mary's Girls' High School".

After the case was established, the school hired a Chinese as the principal according to regulations. From then on, except for English courses, all other junior high school courses used Chinese textbooks, and high school mathematics and world history still used English textbooks.

In 1952, the Shanghai Municipal Education Bureau took over Santa Maria Girls' High School and Zhongxi Girls' High School, and merged the two schools into Shanghai No. 3 Girls' Middle School.

The heritage of more than 100 years of history and culture and the modern consciousness of innovation have enabled batch after batch of graduates to possess the qualities of being both beautiful and smart.

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