"Students form a separate community there, and do not find it easy to mingle with locals because they speak different languages, and behave and think like Americans," said a student who graduated from TAS last year.
"Given that most students are from affluent and distinguished families, students tend to be somewhat egocentric and overbearing. They can also be materialistic, constantly competing over material belongings," said the student, citing the annual senior prom as an example.
Senior prom is traditionally one of the highlights of high school for American students. At TAS it is held for juniors and seniors prior to commencement and is part of graduation festivities.
"Students first have to find a date. Nobody would go without a date. Then they worry about their appearance -- the hairdo, the gowns, the tuxedos. Even the car you drive to the prom is an issue. There is a lot of peer pressure."
Learning in an environment so detached from the outside leads some students to develop identity crises. Their confusion sometimes leads to delinquent behavior and tension with the local community.
an alien culture
"People call us `third culture kids.' The culture here is not totally American, nor is it entirely Taiwanese. It is a unique TAS culture -- students form a different culture from the community in which we live," said John Wu, a student who graduated this summer and is going to the University of Southern California.
"We have to adjust ? People can be hostile to us because we are not traditionally minded."
Clashes between the locals and the school's students have occurred due to a lack of mutual understanding and the students' occasional boisterousness.
Two years ago, 20 TAS students were involved in a fistfight with the borough chief of Tienmu, where the school is located, when the students were warned not to vandalize walls inside a Tienmu park. In a bid to show the power of their connections, the students threatened to seek assistance from the American Institute in Taiwan.
But some of the students said that they consider being part of an "in-between culture" to be advantageous, saying that it gives them opportunities to see and experience more of the world than they otherwise would and that they benefit from exposure to the traditions of both East and West.
Asked what they considered to be the school's particular strengths, students and parents all cited the school's high-quality programs and teaching staff.
The school is said to be ranked the third-best international American college preparatory high school in the world. Parents said that it provides courses that foster a love of learning, and cultivates analytical abilities and creativity. Students are encouraged to ask questions and their individual opinions are respected. Projects and oral presentation take the place of the multiple written tests that are prevalent in ordinary Taiwanese high schools.
"When my son went to the local schools, he hated going to school. But his attitude changed completely after he was transferred to TAS. There must be something about TAS that made that change for my son," said Daisy Hung (洪蘭), the wife of Minister Tzeng.
RSS