Stunted education

I personally don't find my Chinese colleages to be intelectually stunted. The education system may be sub-optimal, but some of the people coming out of it are none-the-less, excellent and creative professionals.

" “churning out a class of like-minded wonks."...This description is accurate. (If anything, he understates it.)" I am very disappointed to find this kind of comment on Chinese Pod, even if you are quoting someone else's rhetoric. I am attracted to China, not in some theoretical, abstract way, but because I admire their culture, including their value of knowledge and learning. In a general way, I find there are an equal proportion of brilliant, creative minds in China as in any other place I know. There have been a long painful history of foreigners arriving with their 'superior' ways for education, politics and economy. On a web site, where I come to learn something FROM Chinese culture, rather than imposing MY model, I am quite shocked to find such an opinion being promoted. Also, as far as China's model of education being "potentially huge problem for China’s competitiveness", I think the steady growth of China's economy, albeit with many problems and inequalities, does not support this idea.

I too greatly admire their dedication to education. I live in California, and 15 - 20 years ago this state's schools were consistently ranked among the top in the nation. Alas lately I have seen our educational system (not just California but accross the country) eroding away by lack of value of education. I actually admire the Chinese for falling in line to learn what they need to advance their society. I hate this lazy narcissistic society which we all live in. After the fall of communism and the subsequent ending of the Cold War (and after I got a little older) I realized that in theory Communism in a wonderful system. It treats all men as equals, and all a person's basic needs are met. One doesn't have to work 18 hour days just to put food on the table and make sure the children have a roof over their heads and clothes to wear. Because of this more of societies resources can be diverted to tasks that will actually improve to quality of life for all. Such as, Science, technology, new inventions, the arts etc. Unfortunately for Communism to work it requires each and every member of that society to be dedicated to the ideal. This world will always have the lazy and the greedy so unless those people can somehow be deported or excised out of that society those individuals will always corrupt the system, so with a Capialist system at least we have natual selection on our side, only the smart and strong will survive, the weak and lazy will be killed off by Mother Nature herself. As for corruption, especially in light of the current "W" administration, we can see party corruption rampant here in America. Just like the world will always have the weak, lazy and greedy, it will also always have the corrupt users, so don't be nieve enough to think for one second that America isn't tainted with immorality. So in light of what I have personally seen the Chinese Communist Party shoud be congratulated for creating a fully functional Socialist / Communist / Capitalist hybrid system which is working quite well.

Xiaohu, it seems that the point of the article is that what it takes to get ahead in China is not (and may even be diametrically opposed to) what it takes to get ahead in the modern world, and that as China becomes more integrated and competitive in the world market this is an increasingly bad thing. I agree that the "wonks" line was pretty harsh. It's not a matter of "superior" Western and "inferior" Chinese ways, though -- the China is very much on its own accord taking a leading role in a system that prizes and promotes (and requires) talents that the Chinese educational system is very poor at producing. There's no doubt there are lots and lots of brilliant Chinese (IQ is a numbers game, after all, and there are a lot of people in China), but many of them are not being given the tools they need to get ahead in the world as it stands right now.

It's very egalitarian, isn't it. Where I live, you don't get a look in at the fun jobs unless you're bright or talented. Why shouldn't everyone get an equal chance to operate on my brain or manage my bank so long as they work hard and memorise a lot of exam questions when they're kids?

Interesting... "The World is Flat" (T. Friedman...another NYT columnist) argues in depth how the Asian giants (India & China) are in fact gaining ground on the west in terms of math and science education. The principle he argues is that the rote, nose-to-the-grindstone learning will serve students better in the information age, where business is conducted in binary code. There is also discussion of the competetive edge, and how kids in the East are hungrier than kids in the West. As a public school teacher in the U.S., I myself am discouraged by a similar trend here towards more rote learning and teaching-to-the-standardized-test pedagogy, as it stifles creative thinking. However, I see its relevance in the quest for balance. To survive in a global economy, one will need to apply some elbow grease to the rote learning, but they'll also need a deep well of thought and creativity to know when the curve is coming, and to always stay ahead of it. The future will not be 1-dimensional. Aunty Sue... it does sound "fair", but good test-takers do not necessarily make good brain surgeons, bankers, or pastry chefs for that matter. Performance on tests should be weighted alongside critical thinking tasks, personality/social skills, phsycial attributes to determine if one will be successful in a given career. A neuro-surgeon should know the ins and outs of all the cranial nerves, but they also need to know how to manage an operating team, make quick decisions, and have a steady hand!

Of course, there're good and bad points about any system. Still, a friend of mine (in Shanghai as a matter of fact) recently had her son quit playing the violin, because he couldn't practice music and keep up in one of the better schools at the same time. It certainly doesn't fit my idea of a well-rounded education. Yet, when my children were attending various honor symphonies around California, probably 70% of the students were Asian, mostly Chinese, mostly children of recent immigrants. Go figure.