Comments on: What’s Wrong with China’s Secondary Education System

By: Nln

Nln — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:58:19 +0000

Hi
I’m a Danish first-year university student and I would like to point out that our english classes in high-school (as was the case with almost all of our subjects) were as much of a joke as anything. Every other class we would be talking about grammatical errors to avoid, mistakes that we would never have thought about making if they hadn’t been repeated to us so many times. The danish system seems to be all about keeping the academic level at an absolute minimum, removing any kind of interest in intellectual pursuits.

By: Varenia

Varenia — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:15:51 +0000

I think only half of the junior high students gets to go to highschool,and that’s in Shanghai, the most developed city in China.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:36:09 +0000

Hi Dachuan,

Thanks for the thoughts. First, I’d like to say that my general worldview has changed tremendously since writing this post.

These days my view is simple: Free it up. Don’t impose these policies from above, but instead let individuals and the market decide. That means that universities and schools would not be publicly owned. I don’t want to get into such a view here, but wanted to say that out front. I’m for the same in the US, and if it happened I think all of the problems referred to above would be lessened greatly.

Also, I don’t view China as a threat. Instead, I view my government’s view of China as a threat (and vice versa).

In conventional measures (total GDP), China is going to pass the US much sooner than most experts think.

It’s great that China is rising, it’s a reflection of the greater freedoms available to most Chinese people and it doesn’t have to come at the expense of anyone. The opposite view is based on Mercantilist and Militarist views of the world that have been ground to dust in theory (now if only most people in the world would realize this).

It’s not great that America is becoming less and less free, that’s a great threat to my family and friends and ultimately to the rest of the world.

By: dachuan

dachuan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:17:30 +0000

Many good points in this post

To some extent, the Chinese education system is a tragedy and everyone wants a reform
However, not sure if you have thought about the reason behind the existence of such a system –the size of the population- as long as the college entrance test system is there, the schools will have to be like that.

Everyone hates the way of enrolling college students in china, but no one has a better idea than using an entrance test that all high school graduates have to take – the test at least ensures the equity of candidates for colleges within a region (passing scores for students in different regions are different, which is quite unfair ).

Besides, I keep wandering why so many people enjoy saying bad things about china, are they doing this for china or its people’s good??

As you said, Jeremy, “We already are well ahead of China – the question is neither this nor for how long, but instead ‘what can we do to insure the US continues to move forward?’—so probably the reasons are

1. Seeing and talking about bad things in china makes you guys happy as by doing this, you can feel “We already are well ahead of China” –deep down you feel china is a threat.

2. By convicting the world that china need changes, you can find reasons for your future interference like dividing china, establishing a new government for your interest.

Frankly, nothing transcends interests and perhaps, race, in this planet.
So it’s ok to create excuses for your countries interests, but we both know it’s selfish and dirty.
No country will be a dominant character on the earth forever; there is always a limit out there, you never know, Jeremy, you never know.

By: FOARP

FOARP — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:30:14 +0000

I taught in primary school for a while when I was a student in Nanjing. The classes were smaller than the ones you describe, but the degree to which even English was rote-learned was somewhat shocking. I remember walking into my first class to find that the students had already learned how to read all of the dialogues in the book – but had no idea how to use the language contained in them. The atmosphere was marginally less militaristic than the one you describe, but the portraits of Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Lei Feng etc. which hung from the walls did make things seem somewhat oppressive.

By: Yume

Yume — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:30:20 +0000

Well…I can say that you’re completely right about what’s wrong…
I have a friend in China. She says her school does not let her have a proper weekend; she has one day off in a fortnight.
Overworked? Of course.
But with more than a billion people in China, secondary schools have to overwork the students. Otherwise once the children grow up, they cannot attend adaqute universities and end up unemployed. I believe the reason for such a tough secondary school program in China is for the eventual good of the students.
And it also builds up (though it also sometimes breaks down) the student’s constitution. The overall grading system forces the student to work on all areas of progress as, after all, all areas of the world are linked together. It expands the knowledge of students in many areas of study and will eventually be helpful in the future for the students.

By: canrun

canrun — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:02:52 +0000

"What’s Wrong with China’s Secondary Education System"

The friggin' goal of brainwashing 1.3 billion people! THAT'S the 800 pound gorilla in this room...

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 01:50:29 +0000

Hey Preya – no you are completely right. It was me that was wrong. =)

By: Preya

Preya — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:58:46 +0000

Oh, sorry! I thought I was on the right page because the text right above my comment is from “what’s wrong with China’s secondary Education System.”

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:43:51 +0000

Hey Preya,

I think you are responding to the first post in this series instead of this one (which talks about what is good, relatively speaking, about China’s education system) – but thank you for the input.

We already are well ahead of China – the question is neither this nor for how long, but instead ‘what can we do to insure the US continues to move forward?’

By some measures (ie using CPI data based on the old calculation methods like those at shadowstats.com to figure out things like GDP growth rate and inflation) the US is not only not moving forward – it is falling behind. What is for sure is that competitive forces from around the world have caused US median (average wages might be going up still) real wages to fall over the past 6-7 years – and will likely force wages down in real terms (after inflation) for years to come.