After a long day at work, I rode the subway home. At a station, a couple and their child boarded the train and sat opposite of me. As they sat down, the father said "your teacher told me your grade are dropping. How can you be so dumb?"
The child, wearing a heavy pair of classes, was trembling. "Every day I leave home to go to school at 6am. I can't just go back home after class — I have to stay for after school activities until 6pm. Then I have to go to the tutor centre. We don't get back home until 9. I have so much homework that I can only sleep after midnight. Besides, I have 10 classes to go to on weekends. I never have enough sleep. I am tired all the time. How can you expect me to do well?"
The father seemed unmoved. "We wouldn't need to bring you to tutor classes if your grades aren't so bad."
The mother joined to conversation. "But I have talked to your classmates' parents. They told me that your classmates are busier than you. Yet they seem to have no trouble getting good grades."
"I am the youngest kid in the class. Everyone else was born sooner and have more time to learn."
"This wouldn't have happened if you didn't arrive a few days early. You were supposed to be born in early January, but you chose to come to the world on New Year's eve, " the mother said. "Because of that, you had to start school one year early." (In Hong Kong, most children enter kindergarten in the third calendar year after their birth.)
"You think I was able to decide my birthday?"
"I read from the Internet that babies can decide when they are born ... Stop diverting me." She then turned to her husband.
"I told you this would have happened if we didn't time 'our time together' correctly. I always told you April is the best time to do it. You know babies can be born before the due date. You just couldn't wait another month."
The father appeared to be shocked by the statement. "But they may also come overdue. Besides, I never liked your plan anyways. I never understand why you were so fixated at having a child in January?"
"Good kindergartens and schools favour kids born early in the year, that's why. Getting into a good school gives him a head start over everyone else. If you want to know why it is so important to have a kid born early in the year, just look at the boy in front of you. He was born in December and look at what he has become."
The boy seemed to realize that his parents' were in an argument over him. "Stop it! Please don't say anymore."
The parents were so involved in their argument, they couldn't hear the boy's plea. The mother began speaking "things would have been a lot different had I married that nerd. You know who I am talking about."
The father turned up his voice. "Him? He couldn't take care of himself then. I hear he still can't. You think he can take care of you and any kid you have?"
"At least he graduated from the top public school in the city. At least he can get the children I have to the schools he attended." (In Hong Kong, a public primary school is more likely to admit a child if the child's parent is an alumni.)
"Good luck with that. I don't think anyone from a good school would marry you." He paused briefly. "Perhaps I should have married your friend instead of you. She may have horrible temper, but she is working at the school you just spoke about." (A public primary school almost always admit a child if a parent works at the school.)
The couple didn't seem to notice that their boy was crying and others on board began to stare at them. "Don't think so highly of yourself. She is too good for you. In fact, you were lucky to have me."
At this time the train arrived at my destination and I got off the train. As the train door closed, one can still hear the couples' voices clearly.