China series, Part 4: Education - Part 1

[Prometheus]

I've been teaching in China for over 12 years now. I've taught at private schools, public schools, universities, and training centers. I've had students as young as 2 and as old as 72. Education is a huge part of Chinese life. Let's see if I can break the post word limit.

j/k I hope I won't drone on that long.

A little background:

Children are the future. It sounds like a cliche, but in China, it's a literal truth. Children in China are a parent's retirement plan. Children are expected to return the "favor" of being cared for by their parents by caring for their parents when they retire. This requires having enough money to feed, clothe, and house yourself, your spouse, your children, and up to four parents: the 4-2-1 conundrum... now 4-2-2.

How does one make enough money for this expenditure?

In China, the answer is always, "Education." Being well-educated brings opportunities for getting a "good job." A "good job" is not necessarily one you like (or even do well) but one that pays well and offers "face."

Getting those "good jobs" also relies heavily on having a diploma from a "famous university." Getting into any university in China relies on doing well on the National College Entrance Examination, more commonly referred to as the GaoKao (highest test). Only about 85% of high school seniors will be accepted to a university. China has about 40 million students between the ages of 15 and 19. You can do your own math as to how many will take the test annually and how many will either be consigned to a menial job or have to repeat senior year in order to prepare to take the test again.

The GaoKao is a grueling 3-day ordeal where students are tested on Chinese language, math, and a foreign language, usually English (which is why I get paid so much). The testing rooms are virtual prisons. The rooms are swept for electronic devices before, during, and even after the testing sessions. Students are patted down and wanded to make sure they aren't entering with anything other than their brains to help them with their scores. The buildings facing schools will be electronically scanned.

The stress on the students is INTENSE. Everything in their lives has led to this moment. The future of their family is at stake.

The dark joke among the foreigners a week before the test and the week after the results are sent out is, "Watch out for falling children." Suicide rates in China are a state secret but we all know when the spikes are happening.

"How does one pass the GaoKao?"

How does one get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice.

And practice starts early. Parents around the world certainly help their children learn the basics of reading and writing their own language prior to entering kindergarten, but the Chinese are on a whole other level. Here, a child's room (and maybe others in the home as well) are outfitted with books and maps and posters, anything that might give the child a leg up on the competition.

By age 3, the child is most likely enrolled in a preschool (bilingual if the parents can afford it) and spends 8 to 10 hours a day learning. If the preschool is not bilingual (and sometimes even if it is) the weekends of the child will also be filled with classes. By the time they are 5, they are almost certainly taking English lessons, math lessons, calligraphy lessons, swimming lessons, and music lessons.

"What about playtime?", you might ask.

Playtime won't earn you money... unless you are particularly gifted at a particular sport, at which point you will be whisked off to a special school for budding athletes.

Chinese children probably get less than 10 hours per week for unstructured playtime and much of that is "recess" at school.*

School.

Let's move on to grades 1 - 12.

Students begin their school day sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning. They will study 8 to 10 subjects per day and leave school somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00 and they will have a couple hours worth of homework still to finish... even at age 6. If they get out of school before mom and dad are out of work, they will go to an after school program where other teachers will help them with their homework and maybe even give them some more. Many parents DEMAND that more homework be given.

After school is also a time for more math classes, English classes, and any other sort of classes that parents can afford. Remember, the parents will pay almost anything to invest in their retirement plan. Again, that's how I make my money and live a fairly good lifestyle.

In school, during those many hours, and over those 12 years, Chinese students will learn Chinese reading, writing, grammar etc. They will learn math all the way up to calculus by grade 11. I've seen 5th graders doing trig. They will learn art, computers, music, PE, science, geography, civics (training on Morals and Lawful Behavior**), and English. Public schools (and even many private ones) don't really teach English well, which is another reason why I have a job.

There is a 6-week "Winter Break" and a 6-week "Summer Break" every year and if you thought those would be times for vacation and fun... you'd be mostly wrong. On the last day of school before break, each student will be handed at least one workbook per subject to be completed as homework during the breaks. Yes. Even the 1st-graders. Teachers who don't give enough homework may find themselves without a job, even though there are government restrictions on the amount of homework. Parents DEMAND it.

During these breaks, students will be sent to training centers providing "camps" where they can study more English, math, Chinese, etc.

The "Winter Break" will always coincide with Spring Festival - Chinese New Year - which is actually 2 weeks long but these days even the parents probably only get 5 days off.

If the parents have any money left over, they might take a vacation in the Summer, but workbooks will be brought along so that the child has something to do on the plane or in the hotel room. Can't have them watching movies and playing games on mom's phone all the time.

I think I'll take a break here, myself, before moving on to talking about university life....

*Because of all of the studying and lack of playtime, Chinese children are often emotionally stunted and have poor interpersonal skills vis-a-vis their western counterparts, which is another reason Chinese students tend to stick together even when studying abroad. No one else can understand.

**Every school has a CCP office. The cadres are there, not only to teach children how to be good "communists" but make sure the other teachers are sticking to the Party-approved curricula.

[Prometheus]

Addenda:

Only grades 1 through 9 are guaranteed in China, but there is a movement to extend government funding to include grades 10 - 12. High schools (grades 10 - 12) in China are often pay as you go affairs with only some local funding being used as opposed to funding from the central government.

Class sizes in Chinese schools can be huge compared to western schools: 35 to 45 students on average, but I have taught in middle school classrooms with over 70 students. Desks were literally wall to wall and students had to climb over them to enter or exit the classroom.

Teachers go to the students rather than students changing classes unless it's something requiring a specific setup such as computer class, art class, or science lab. You won't find lockers in the hall.

Many schools have living quarters to board students whose parents think that living at school will guarantee better studying.

[ant-mac]

As a fully paid up, card-carrying member of the lazy fucker club, I'd just like to thank you for providing me an all new set of nightmares that'll cause me to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

For years after I left high school, I'd wake up in terror from the "I'm late and I haven't studied for the school exam" nightmare. You can imagine my enduring relief when reality reasserted itself.

PS - I'm aware that many Chinese students attend - or at least attended - various Australian educational centres...

What's the general perception of Chinese educational facilities verses foreign ones? Is there some type of "pecking order"?

[Prometheus]

Dec 1, 2020 23:34:39 GMT ant-mac said:

As a fully paid up, card-carrying member of the lazy fucker club, I'd just like to thank you for providing me an all new set of nightmares that'll cause me to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

For years after I left high school, I'd wake up in terror from the "I'm late and I haven't studied for the school exam" nightmare. You can imagine my enduring relief when reality reasserted itself.

PS - I'm aware that many Chinese students attend - or at least attended - various Australian educational centres...

What's the general perception of Chinese educational facilities verses foreign ones? Is there some type of "pecking order"?

You mean "International Schools"?

There are two types:

Chinese owned and operated, which - while somewhat better than public schools for the most part - are often just face-saving locations for parents to send their kids to when the kid didn't get a high enough score to be gain entrance to a top primary, middle, or high school.

The vast majority of the students are Chinese. The "international" students are most likely North Korean or (at least in my city) Russian.

Tuition is comparable to paying for a year at a "famous Chinese university."

Foreign owned and operated international schools, offering diplomas valid in the country of origin, offer a much better education, but often lack discipline as they are trying to accommodate so many varying cultures.

The students are mostly children of foreign business managers whose companies are paying the exorbitant (read: gouging) tuition*. There are still plenty of Chinese students - government required quotas - but these are often the children of the extremely wealthy and they almost always lag behind their foreign classmates.

* one year's tuition would pretty much pay for a four-year college stint and still have money left over for post-graduate tuition in a Chinese university

[ant-mac]

Dec 2, 2020 1:20:15 GMT Prometheus said:

Dec 1, 2020 23:34:39 GMT ant-mac said:

As a fully paid up, card-carrying member of the lazy fucker club, I'd just like to thank you for providing me an all new set of nightmares that'll cause me to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

For years after I left high school, I'd wake up in terror from the "I'm late and I haven't studied for the school exam" nightmare. You can imagine my enduring relief when reality reasserted itself.

PS - I'm aware that many Chinese students attend - or at least attended - various Australian educational centres...

What's the general perception of Chinese educational facilities verses foreign ones? Is there some type of "pecking order"?

You mean "International Schools"?

There are two types:

Chinese owned and operated, which - while somewhat better than public schools for the most part - are often just face-saving locations for parents to send their kids to when the kid didn't get a high enough score to be gain entrance to a top primary, middle, or high school.

The vast majority of the students are Chinese. The "international" students are most likely North Korean or (at least in my city) Russian.

Tuition is comparable to paying for a year at a "famous Chinese university."

Foreign owned and operated international schools, offering diplomas valid in the country of origin, offer a much better education, but often lack discipline as they are trying to accommodate so many varying cultures.

The students are mostly children of foreign business managers whose companies are paying the exorbitant (read: gouging) tuition*. There are still plenty of Chinese students - government required quotas - but these are often the children of the extremely wealthy and they almost always lag behind their foreign classmates.

* one year's tuition would pretty much pay for a four-year college stint and still have money left over for post-graduate tuition in a Chinese university

I was referring to educational centres in other countries.

Do the Chinese value home-grown schools, colleges and universities more or less than ones in other countries?

[Prometheus]

Dec 2, 2020 1:37:53 GMT ant-mac said:

Dec 2, 2020 1:20:15 GMT Prometheus said:

You mean "International Schools"?

There are two types:

Chinese owned and operated, which - while somewhat better than public schools for the most part - are often just face-saving locations for parents to send their kids to when the kid didn't get a high enough score to be gain entrance to a top primary, middle, or high school.

The vast majority of the students are Chinese. The "international" students are most likely North Korean or (at least in my city) Russian.

Tuition is comparable to paying for a year at a "famous Chinese university."

Foreign owned and operated international schools, offering diplomas valid in the country of origin, offer a much better education, but often lack discipline as they are trying to accommodate so many varying cultures.

The students are mostly children of foreign business managers whose companies are paying the exorbitant (read: gouging) tuition*. There are still plenty of Chinese students - government required quotas - but these are often the children of the extremely wealthy and they almost always lag behind their foreign classmates.

* one year's tuition would pretty much pay for a four-year college stint and still have money left over for post-graduate tuition in a Chinese university

I was referring to educational centres in other countries.

Do the Chinese value home-grown schools, colleges and universities more or less than ones in other countries?

You mean the places where overseas Chinese go to be inundated with more classes and homework demanded by the Tiger Moms?

I can't really speak to those as I've never worked in one. I just work in a training center here. Training centers here are ubiquitous, but there are chains that carry more swagger, simply because they are "famous."

"Famous" carries a lot of weight here. It's prestigious. It's face-enhancing. The logo for the NY Yankees is "famous" so Chinese wear Yankees gear as if it's a brand comparable to Chanel or Gucci. When you tell them that it's just the logo of a baseball team (which very few Chinese know about, let alone play), they will just tell you, "But it's the best and most famous team!"

The Chinese certainly value an overseas education more than their own, though. A diploma from even a so-so university abroad provides waaaaay more face than all but the most prestigious Chinese universities. And, trust me, the Chinese know the rankings of the top universities around the world.

However, they don't seem to grasp that even "the best" (overall) universities might not be the best for a particular course of study. But that doesn't matter to them. A diploma from Harvard is still a diploma from Harvard.

[ant-mac]

Dec 2, 2020 2:06:33 GMT Prometheus said:

Dec 2, 2020 1:37:53 GMT ant-mac said:

I was referring to educational centres in other countries.

Do the Chinese value home-grown schools, colleges and universities more or less than ones in other countries?

You mean the places where overseas Chinese go to be inundated with more classes and homework demanded by the Tiger Moms?

I can't really speak to those as I've never worked in one. I just work in a training center here. Training centers here are ubiquitous, but there are chains that carry more swagger, simply because they are "famous."

"Famous" carries a lot of weight here. It's prestigious. It's face-enhancing. The logo for the NY Yankees is "famous" so Chinese wear Yankees gear as if it's a brand comparable to Chanel or Gucci. When you tell them that it's just the logo of a baseball team (which very few Chinese know about, let alone play), they will just tell you, "But it's the best and most famous team!"

The Chinese certainly value an overseas education more than their own, though. A diploma from even a so-so university abroad provides waaaaay more face than all but the most prestigious Chinese universities. And, trust me, the Chinese know the rankings of the top universities around the world.

However, they don't seem to grasp that even "the best" (overall) universities might not be the best for a particular course of study. But that doesn't matter to them. A diploma from Harvard is still a diploma from Harvard.

Christ, in a certain way, they sound like a nation of fucking millennials.

"Fame" and "face"...

Fuck the reality, it's all about the image.

[Prometheus]

Dec 2, 2020 3:08:11 GMT ant-mac said:

Dec 2, 2020 2:06:33 GMT Prometheus said:

You mean the places where overseas Chinese go to be inundated with more classes and homework demanded by the Tiger Moms?

I can't really speak to those as I've never worked in one. I just work in a training center here. Training centers here are ubiquitous, but there are chains that carry more swagger, simply because they are "famous."

"Famous" carries a lot of weight here. It's prestigious. It's face-enhancing. The logo for the NY Yankees is "famous" so Chinese wear Yankees gear as if it's a brand comparable to Chanel or Gucci. When you tell them that it's just the logo of a baseball team (which very few Chinese know about, let alone play), they will just tell you, "But it's the best and most famous team!"

The Chinese certainly value an overseas education more than their own, though. A diploma from even a so-so university abroad provides waaaaay more face than all but the most prestigious Chinese universities. And, trust me, the Chinese know the rankings of the top universities around the world.

However, they don't seem to grasp that even "the best" (overall) universities might not be the best for a particular course of study. But that doesn't matter to them. A diploma from Harvard is still a diploma from Harvard.

Christ, in a certain way, they sound like a nation of fucking millennials.

"Fame" and "face"...

Fuck the reality, it's all about the image.

Image gives you face.

How else can you show the people around you how awesome you are but by the clothes you wear and the car you drive?

[ant-mac]

Dec 2, 2020 3:10:37 GMT Prometheus said:

Dec 2, 2020 3:08:11 GMT ant-mac said:

Christ, in a certain way, they sound like a nation of fucking millennials.

"Fame" and "face"...

Fuck the reality, it's all about the image.

Image gives you face.

How else can you show the people around you how awesome you are but by the clothes you wear and the car you drive?

I prefer the point MLK was trying to make when he spoke of us all being judged by the content of our character.

[Prometheus]

Dec 2, 2020 3:14:55 GMT ant-mac said:

Dec 2, 2020 3:10:37 GMT Prometheus said:

Image gives you face.

How else can you show the people around you how awesome you are but by the clothes you wear and the car you drive?

I prefer the point MLK was trying to make when he spoke of us all being judged by the content of our character.

To the Chinese, their image is their character.

[ant-mac]

Dec 2, 2020 3:17:19 GMT Prometheus said:

Dec 2, 2020 3:14:55 GMT ant-mac said:

I prefer the point MLK was trying to make when he spoke of us all being judged by the content of our character.

To the Chinese, their image is their character.

I get the impression that's a pretty important aspect for more than one Asian country.

I seem to remember hearing much the same with respect to Japanese culture too.

[Prometheus]

Dec 2, 2020 3:19:19 GMT ant-mac said:

Dec 2, 2020 3:17:19 GMT Prometheus said:

To the Chinese, their image is their character.

I get the impression that's a pretty important aspect for more than one Asian country.

I seem to remember hearing much the same with respect to Japanese culture too.

Yeah, but China is the focal point of East Asian culture in many respects, from "face" to holidays, etc.

[ant-mac]

Dec 2, 2020 3:22:47 GMT Prometheus said:

Dec 2, 2020 3:19:19 GMT ant-mac said:

I get the impression that's a pretty important aspect for more than one Asian country.

I seem to remember hearing much the same with respect to Japanese culture too.

Yeah, but China is the focal point of East Asian culture in many respects, from "face" to holidays, etc.

Not surprising, considering they're the biggest kid on the block.