Nine Key Differences Between High Schools in China and the West
In the Middle Kingdom, it’s far from the best years of your life.
Every so often, the deep thinkers in our society start ruminating about how much they wish the American education system looked like China’s. After the usual posturing about how they don’t agree with the way things are done there, they will wax poetic about how amazing Chinese schools must be. Look at this number! See how high it is?
Unlike most of these think tank types, I’ve had the privilege to work in Chinese schools, to spend time with — and even live among — Chinese high school and university students. I’ve heard their take on their own schools, and most of them seem to long for a system that looks more like ours — less rigid, less stressful, more varied in content.
I’m not going to spend too much time giving my opinion on how much importance we put on these test numbers (Short version: Too much). Rather, I’d like to touch upon a few of the big differences between high schools in China and the United States.
I’m singling out high school because that’s where the deep thinkers focus most of their attention, but a lot of this is true for students of all ages. Suffice is to say that no Chinese student thinks that these are the “best years of their…
