Kids and Education III

[L_F_Miranda]

I've decided to start a new tread based on a whole different subject, How children are educated in other places, in this case CHINA.

I know that Chinese culture and society differs, "COMO EL CIELO A LA TIERRA," in comparison to ours, but its still interesting to see what others do and we don't.

The following are EXCERPTS from NY TImes columnist Nicholas D. kristof's article "The Educated Giant." May 28 2008

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One reason China is likely to overtake the U.S. as the world’s most important country in this century is that China puts more effort into building human capital than we do.

There are, I think, four reasons why Chinese students do so well.

First, Chinese students are hungry for education and advancement and work harder. In contrast, U.S. children average 900 hours a year in class and 1,023 hours in front of a television.

The second reason is that China has an enormous cultural respect for education, part of its Confucian legacy, so governments and families alike pour resources into education. Teachers are respected and compensated far better, financially and emotionally, in China than in America.

A third reason is that Chinese believe that those who get the best grades are the hardest workers. In contrast, Americans say in polls that the best students are the ones who are innately the smartest. The upshot is that Chinese kids never have an excuse for mediocrity.

Chinese education has its own problems, including bribes and fees to get into good schools, huge classes of 50 or 60 students, second-rate equipment and lousy universities. But the progress in the last quarter-century is breathtaking.

It’s also encouraging that so many Chinese will shake their heads over this column and say it really isn’t so. They will complain that Chinese schools teach rote memorization but not creativity or love of learning. That kind of debate is good for the schools and has already led to improvements in English instruction, so that urban Chinese students can communicate better in English than Japanese or South Koreans.

[RPR]

Your threads are inspring. It's too bad that you duck and run and make new threads when things get too hot for your liking.

[Suki]

What do you think Miranda is ducking and running from RPR? Points made in which thread? Miranda doesn't post that much. He has been posting lately. I hope it is because he is having some fun at it. That Black and White thread has gone way off topic. But it had a lot of good postings.

[L_F_Miranda]

Ave Maria Suki, ¿Sembrando sisaña?

¿Que tiene que ver esta cinta de la educación en China con "run and duck"?

[Suki]

Ave Maria Miranda,
RPR es el que dijo eso. No yo.

Estaba dandote una buena excusa.

Suki