It does seem to be a universal truism. Stupidity and bitchin.

lol

In Beijing they also enforce traffic redirection during exam times to limit road noises. The future of their children is a lot more important to Chinese parents than western ones, and for better reasons than just "little mandarin"-ism. Acceptance into university is the difference between a likelihood of starving and having a chance at fabulous wealth. Who wouldn't want their child to have the best possible chances at that point?

If anything I think this isn't pandering, this is just really caring about academic results. There used to be similar restrictions around schools in ancient China as well, so I guess you could call it cultural if you want. China's always been a place that really, really values education and the opportunities it brings.

IN America it doesn't matter if you fail your tests or not. You don't have to even graduate from college to become fabulously wealthy. In China, these kinds of tests have been a make-or-break proposition since Master Kung, well over a thousand years ago.



Hardly a "some namby pamby Paris Hilton wanna bees". The suicide rate for kids who fail out of school there is about like it is in Japan. It would take someone who lives in our little American bubble of entitlement to see it that way. Many of those students won't make it because of just a few percentage points.

The free market there has made it even worse. Education isn't even as guaranteed as it was, and it was never all that great. Their idea of "free market" just means that they don't have to support the poor as much anymore, and socialist ideal of free education has shifted to a whole generation of Chinese no longer being able to afford to educate their children. Paris Hilton? Hardly. We're the nation of Paris Hilton, after all.

I've seen a lot of comparisons like this. Americans have no clue of what it is like to live in some of these nations. They assume there is a relative amount of opportunity in these places. That couldn't be further from the truth.

P.S. This is an English comprehension test. I wonder how many American kids could pass a Chinese comprehension test. I wonder how parents here would react if their kids' future rested on a few percent on such. We refuse to even learn enough Spanish to order a hamburger, and the idea of tolerating billboards in Spanish makes us protest.

Hell, I wonder what percent of High School kids could even friggin find China on a map, when many of them can't even find all of our own states.

Actually, it's the other way around. NCLB was based on socialist educational structure.

We can agree, or argue the point of whether it is merited or not. But one thing is sure, it is pandering.

I was not arguing about opportunity, as I am fully aware of the limited nature of it in totalitarian regimes. But as I indicateed with Cacto's answer, it is pandering. It really comes down to a level playing field. But these students may get in - at the expense of others - due to what amounts to pandering to the parents objections.

You raise good points about the system there - but the reality is self evident. If only 5.67 million are going to get in, then putting them into a sensory deprivation chamber is not going to increase that number. There are going to be winners and losers, and it appears that some just got a boost at the expense of others.

But then this was not about the lousy state of the American education system (which is more than a single blog entry in itself). And it is not really about a comparison with the American education system either, since we are not preparing our students to enter a university in China. Whether American students can speak chinese, or locate it on the map does not make a diddly damn bit of difference to the 9 million+ students competing for spots in their schools.

Baker touched on it, and you bring up a good point about Education here, versus other countries. America is one of the most liberal (if not the most) when it comes to who can get into higher education. Many countries pigeon hole students early in life, and ensure that some cannot (or with a great deal of difficulty) move beyond a trade school.

Are they better than the US? Statistics would indicate they are. Results indicate that there is more to the story.

And yes, NCLB is very socialistic, and from my viewpoint, a stupid law.

On the contrary, you compared the Chinese parents to Paris Hilton. You compared you taking tests in American schools with planes overhead to them doing so. You compared it to the NCLB and said they were sinking to our level. Hollywood, Manhattan, yadda yadda.

If Paris Hilton demands a lunch break modeling one week, and the next week coal miners demand one, are the coal miners just as pampered? You are comparing the demands on American kids to the demands on Chinese kids, because of a request that is similar. Might as well be a different planet.



It makes a big difference because our kids get into college knowing basically nothing, and then our bloggers compare Chinese kids' situation to Paris Hilton and Beverly Hills. They have to prove proficiency in English (about as alien a language to Chinese as it gets), and even then only 5 out of 9 get in. Those that don't won't end up being Bill Gates in China.

You started the comparison. You just don't have a clue about one half of it. To me, I can't imagine walking a mile in the shoes of the Chinese parents or students, so I damn sure wouldn't be making fun of them and likening them to Paris Hilton.

It is true I was flippant with my comparisons (not having grown up in China and not being familiar with their system). So I see where you can criticize me for comparing them with Paris hilton (as I was discussing this from the perspective of spoiled Americans). However, you may have a "clue", but you fail to see the irony and self defeating nature of this act.

There are almost 200 countries on this planet. 4000 languages, and even more cultures. I am not about to walk 10 steps, much less a mile in all of those shoes. So I have to approach events from my perspective,and comment on them in such a way. If that means that sometimes I am flippant, so be it. I cannot be all knowing. However, removing the flippancy, the article would still stand as a testament to absurdity. Something you seem to fail to grasp.

I will not stop commenting on the absurdity as I see it, even when my soles are not dusty from a walk. Especially on what amounts to a written version of my opinion.

You can sympathize with those parents, and indeed I know of some that I would empathize with - on an individual basis. But then empathizing with all 1 billion+ is self defeating since those you champion here, are denying positions to the ones not mentioned.

The fact remains, they have a quota system. And there is nothing you nor I can do about it, or did to make it a fact of their life.

Actually the smart thing to do would be to only write about what you know. If you know bugger all about something, don't write about it. You're only going to mislead the ignorant and amuse/infuriate the knowledgeable, neither of which is particularly desirable.

Or you could just look it up. It really doesn't take much intelligence to figure out that exams in a third world state three times the size of the US take on a different importance to those in the US.

If your problem is more looking at things from the perspectives of others then I'd recommend a new book that's come out by Anna Wierzbicka and her daughter. It's about the different views on life possessed by those who are bilingual. It's fascinating and you might find it useful. I imagine you can find it on google or get it from Amazon - the title is "Translating Lives".

I'm not trying to jump on you, Doc, but you guys often also ask why the world hates us so much. Stuff like this is an example. It's the "Let them eat cake" syndrome.

I know you don't care what Chinese people who might visit the site think. They give people a box down here at the bottom to comment on absurdity, too, though.

I doubt I hold as much sway as you give me credit for. However, I was commenting on a news article (one can argue a biased one, or very ignorant one, but that is for another blog). JU is not a news site, or a policy site, so I do not fear about being quoted when I state an opinion. Nor will I stop when I see or read something that is absurd, regardless of the justification or circumstances that brought it about.

Not every country is like the US, but then I dont want the US to be like every country either. And that is the insidiousness of the ones who constantly want us to be. China is addressing an issue that I think can be better addressed, but then I dont have all the facts of power to change their system. Yet sure enough, in a short amount of time, someone here is going to use that incident as justification for changing something here (dont beleive me? Check out the platform the democrats ran on here in 2004).

I have admitted - given the facts that Baker presented - to being flippant because I was not an expert on the situation. I will not stop commenting on them because I dont know how to spell the Chinese Education ministers full name. You are more than welcome to point out my ignorance at such times, as I do enjoy learning more about things I am not an expert on. But I will not stop commenting on them even when I dont have 100% of the background of the situation.