Schoolchildren

Ask any teacher in a primary or secondary school and they’ll tell you every year’s class is different than the next. I believe it has to do with their starcode make-up.

Each year’s intake into the educational system is made up of two different Chinese years as the school year starts in September and takes in students to that year’s class up until August of the following year. That means each new primary year’s pupils are made up of two different starcode types. 

For example, children born in the months of September to December (year of the Rat) will be joined with those born roughly from January to August) in the year of the Buffalo. Those born from September in the year of the Buffalo will be joined by those born from roughly January next in the year of the Tiger and so on and so forth, thus:-

1.Rat/Buffalo
2.Buffalo/Tiger
3.Tiger/Cat
4.Cat/Dragon
5.Dragon/Snake
6.Snake/Horse
7.Horse/Goat
8.Goat/Monkey
9.Monkey/Rooster
10.Rooster/Dog
11.Dog/Pig
12.Pig/Rat

In each year, the first of each coupling will be subdued and dominated by the second. For example, in 1. above Rat (+) will be subdued and dominated by the Buffalo (-) whilst in 2. above Buffalo (-) will be subdued and absorbed by the Tiger (+) who, in turn, will in 3. above will be subdued and dominated by the Cat (-).

So, what can this mean? Well, an awful lot, as it happens. Beyond the stated obvious described above, and the effects it will have on the children, not only in their overall behaviour with each other but, more especially, with their teachers, a lot more can be deduced and predicted if it’s a single sex school as opposed to a mixed sex school.

Take 1 – Rat/Buffalo. If it was a girls’ only school there would be a majority who were Buffalo in that year. Most of the girls would be starcode (-) and few of Rat would be be starcode (+). Very few, if any would be 4+.  Rat girls would be overwhelmed by the Buffalo types and would largely separate themselves from those of the Buffalo year. On the other hand, the situation would be reversed entirely in the previous year’s intake (as repeated in 12.) when Pig (-) would be overpowered by Rat (+) energy.

Now, if this was a boys only school, and it was a Rat/Buffalo class, they would be better inclined to get along agreeably although Buffalo would be the predominant force.

If it was a mixed school there would be all kinds of mayhem. The Rat always looks for the good times and tidbits whilst the Buffalo lazily grazes in the field of imagination.

What’s most interesting to note is that each sign will only ever be involved with the sign before and after their own and will never experience in their school years the valuable differences , interactions and characteristics every year brings until they have left and meet them in the course of their lives. If only it were possible to do so it would challenge our ideas of the self-important of our existence.

Finally, for teachers, it is a valuable tool to know your own starcode and how it plays against the class you are teaching. The right combination can be either challenging and embraced to everyone’s advantage or easily successful.