Chinese Education

The chinese education system is the largest in the world with around 300 million students enrolled. It has evolved greatly since the communist revolution but has many links to the ancient Confucionist system, such as the style of rote learning and the importance given to teachers in their society. This importance gives teachers great respect, especially by the government which gives them tax free status, and a national holiday Teachers' Day. As I worked here for over a year I saw these differences firsthand enjoying the special privelages (loving the presents on Teachers' Day!), but also seeing many hardships and difficulties for children and teachers. The main focus of the Chinese system is, as I have already mentioned, rote learning, or learning by repetition. This can lead to quite in-depth knowledge, but the global knowledge is reduced, especially when coupled with the practice of cheating and copying which has a far less negative connotation in China, and driving me mad trying to stop it happening. While being considered backward by western standards this system is unavoidable due to another problem- class size. The average class size in chinese middle and high schools is around sixty children. This creates enormous difficulties for teachers in terms of control and organisation, I was very stresses, finding it difficult to organise and motivate, but also for simple things like remembering students names. The subjects are often similar to those studied in the West, such as, language, maths, science, etc. But there is also a heavy focus on moral and political education from elementary school onwards, due to the multi-ethnic and political make-up of China, although many call this propaganda, and as a foreigner living here I was forbidden to discuss my own views and opinions. Sport and exercise have a greater emphasis in the Chinese system than in American or European schools with children doing stretching and eye exercises everyday. As well as the ever popular kung-fu the children also play the more international sports such as football and basketball. There is also the military training for 12, 15 and 18 year olds, and the marching practice before school, which never failed to wake me up! One of the negative differences is the use of corporal punishment, which, though theoretically banned since the communist revolution in 1949, still continues in practice, with students being caned or paddled in many schools. I often saw this firsthand, and was actually disliked by many students for not practising it, as it made me appear weak. It is very noticeable how hard the students dedicate themselves to their studies; there are no student bars like in Europe, and when asking the average student at University if they go out to bars to drink or socialize, or meet members of the opposite sex, their usual response is- no time, must study. Most students have never had a partner or drunk alcohol before they finish university, and a large amount have premature greying. It has often been said that the Chinese (and to some extent also Korean and Japanese) students have no real childhood. On average, China's children spend 8.6 hours a day at school, with some spending 12 hours a day in the classroom, the majority of children spending longer hours at school than their parents spend at work1.
1 China Daily, 13 May 2007

Additionally the high stakes testing in order to pass into the next grade results in many students being left with no other choice but to drop out of the school system all together, and this has even been known to lead to cases of suicide2. According to a recent survey conducted by the Chinese Youth and Children Research Center3, children are feeling unhappy about a lack of playtime, due to long school hours and growing pressure from parents to study hard. Almost all of the students involved in the survey said they had to do homework, revise and prepare for classes after school. Around half of the students' parents testified that they often don't allow them to play outside as it means less study time. So in conclusion, what is better? Students may have less free time than in the West but they have a far fuller education and without this amount of study, they would have no chance of getting into the limited places at university. We may laugh at their backward system but they have far lower employment and salaries than we enjoy here, and a much larger and more overstretched education system. So perhaps their way is necessary, and will in fact lead to the rise of the Chinese dragon.

2 The Guardian, July 6, 2005 3 Chinese Youth and Research Centre, May 2007