Worry about Yifan's Education - Part II
By Jian Shuo Wang on 2009-05-17 21:00 · EducationThis is a series of articles on education in Shanghai (I tried to avoid big topics like Education in China:
Worry about Yifan’s Education and
Worry about Yifan’s Education - Part II Is China Changeable?
Chinese or International Eduction?
In the previous article about Yifan, I talked about the choices I am trying to make for Yifan’s education. As some of my readers pointed out, this is a pretty private decision. I post it here, just to help my readers to understand the challenges, and the environment I am living in - not just from the point of view of a tourist, but also from the local residents.
Education Resources are Limited
As I mentioned many times in this blog, although the GDP of this country grows very fast, the public resources like education, and health care is still far behind the demand.
To put things into perspective about why and how I am worried about education of my son, let me first describe the environment. The bottom line is, you should not use the standard of education resources of most developed countries as a basis to make decision for China.
My Story in Henan
Let’s talk about the university education and my story first. Back to the year of 1995, when I entered the Gaokao (The entrance exam for colleges), there are more than half million people as myself stepped into the exam rooms with me in Henan province. Think about half million people as smart as you are, and as anxious about the future as you are, and as hard working (or more hard working) than you are.
The result? There are very limited opportunity to win in that game. There are not many good university for the students. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, for example, offers 55 positions, and Tsinghua, at that time, offers less than 50, I remember. Considering the good universities you will be happy to enter, that is 500 slots there at most.
That means, if you are not the top 500 students out of the 500K students, you are over.
There are many other colleges that you can go, but everything considered, the majority of the students entering the exam rooms will be disappointed and get back to their home with no university to go to, and they have to throw themselves to the low end labor market - construction workers, or low end sales people, or farmer, maybe…
Today, I checked the web. Congratulations. The total number of students competing for a permit to enter university in Henan province raised from 500K to 950K, and universities get more students. SJTU, as an example, raised their quota from 55 to 84. In short, competition gets tougher, than before.
The Best or the Fittest
“The fittest survives”. It is from the Darwin’s law. The very sad reality is, in a tough selection process like the one I described, the best may not survive, only the fittest one survive - the fittest one to exams. That is a reality that no one can easily change.
It is just like to get a train ticket in the Spring Festival. If the rate is 6 out of 10 people can get the ticket you want, you can safely assume that the one who made reasonable effort can get a ticket, and those who don’t want to wake up early to line up for a ticket will fail. However, in a competition where only 1 or 2 ticket out of 1000 people is issued, what qualification the one or two luck guys need? Smart, or hardworking is not the complete answer. Luck plays so important a role.
Back to Primary Schools
The weird thing that I just discovered after Yifan was born (I didn’t pay attention to it before) is, the pressure from university went down all the way to middle school, to primary school, and even to kindergarten. If you miss step once in the chain, chances are, you are over.
I think I already tend to give up for kindergarten entrance, since it is so competitive in Shanghai. You need to prepare the kid so well ahead so they can pass the entrance exam - at the age as young as 3. I heard the story from my friend, that his son was rejected, just because his son chose cake, instead of bamboo for a panda.
Crazy!
That is the reason many of my friends already chose to immigrate to other countries to get out of this. Think about the pressure and the heavy school bag, the deep degrees of glasses in very early years, I almost tend to quit this competition. I may survived in this crucial race myself 15 years ago, but what for, for the next generation?
To be continued in part III
28 Comments
Success is not measured by his paper qualification. Quality of life is also important. Remember, Kids will alway be kids. Don't expect him to be a profesional kid so soon. Is the international school equivalent to Oxford University ????
This is the reason why China will not change. Wang Jianshuo, you have this attitude too.
That is easy said than done. I doubt that there are any parents who do not want there children to be happy. But in the end, most parents chose to follow the crowd and participant in the competition. As Jian Shuo said, one misstep in the chain starting from kindergarten, you risk falling out of the line. And it is very tough to get back in again. Imagining if like most parents in China, you can not afford a good education overseas. The only option they have is stay in the line.
It is not an easy decision for parents.
not sure if you have read this piece of essay (萧功秦：为什么我们缺少特立独行的人生态度 http://www.tecn.cn/data/16904.html), but i highly recommend it to you and other Chinese parents
"good school=good career" is an illusion that many Chinese parents have. a good degree doesn't guarantee a good career, in recents years (and i think in the coming years), the chances of starting a "good career" are not even higher for those graduated from prestigious schools
"good career=happy life" is the other illusion. in ten or twenty years, even a mediocre shanghai child will live a not-too-bad life in terms of living standards, the quality of life will not necessarily related with his or her career, although that's an important part of it
i think it's important for Chinese parents (including myself) to realize that future will be totally different from what we used to know, and carefully don't project our egos, fears and certain outdated values onto our kids and their lifes
Everyone makes a private decision based on what is best for their children given the information and opportunities that are currently available. My wife is just about to give birth to our first child and we are planning to send him to the international school where I teach. He'll grow up speaking fluent English and Mandarin. His written Chinese may not be as advanced as children in local schools, but I think he will grow up with a much better education than his counterparts in the UK.
the link i put in the last comment doesn't work, pls remove the ")," at the end of th elink. tks
something wrong to work so hard to achieve so poor level...
every manager say that in china... hard to find good local staff...
something wrong to work so hard to achieve so poor level...
every manager say that in china... hard to find good local staff...
the recent studies conducted by some MNCs indicated that Chinese graduates lack some critical skills required in managerial roles ... the problem with that is, those studies failed to understand that Chinese education system is not "designed" or supposed to provide "qualified local staff" for those MNCs operating in China.
like Jianshuo said, the education resources are limited, and the first objective of the system is to provide a workable and relatively fair screening mechanisms, which was heavily influenced by traditional Chinese education system. the second objective is to help China's economic develpment by providing a large amount of human resources that are quick learners, disciplined and can work well in manufacturing industries.
China's education system did OK for those two purposes in the past, but with a lot of prices - knowledge-based education, lack of critical thinkings and creativities, etc.
now things are changing, with more educational resources and a higher demand for people of originality and initiativeness, education system is under the pressure of reforming itself
Your story:
1. Cake for Panda
2. Bamboo for Panda
It's so funny. Poor little 3 year old kid. I guess he likes cake very much.
You want to seriously consider sending your child to the USA for education. Like our children, they don't have pressure at all. They excel in participating in all kinds of projects that encourage creativities, and as parents, we encourage them to think that everything is possible, future McDonald, Google, or Starbucks are possible for them to create. We do have SAT and etc, but we don't place strong emphasis on passing colleage entrance examinations, we place strong emphasis on getting them to think big. That's the environment here in many places in the USA. Of course, if you can find a school in China that has such an environment, that would be perfect. Anyway, best luck for your searches.
And sometimes I wonder, do the same people who say "don't spend too much time studying" also then complain when companies do work in China? Of course studying is not everything, one needs to be creative and interact with others to be successful. But there's a certain base of knowledge needed to be successful in technical fields too.
That explains why Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Michael Dell won't come out of China.
So, what is a good education? It all depends on perspectives!
http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/05/more_gaokao_a_chinese_red-diap.php
James Fallows: Gaokao from a red diaper perspective
Excerpt here:
To be honest, had I remained in the Chinese school system, I would never even have taken the Gaokao. My parents would have expended maximal resources in giving me preparation in a foreign language (and if they were well-connected they would know that German rather than English is an easier ticket for school admission), and ideally secured me a place in one of the nationally sanctioned foreign language schools.. and avoided the exam altogether, thus isolating me from hundreds of millions of potential competitors for opportunity. One should note that German instruction is provided at far less rigorous and exhausting level than English instruction in China, and the level of preparedness would have varied much more greatly depending on personal resources (i.e., ability to find, and afford tutors). As I said, in China, fair equals brutal.
In fact, I would have likely gone to the No. 2 Foreign Language Institute in Beijing, and found a way, through bribery or some other mechanism (life-opportunities are harsh in China), to the Foreign Ministry, where I would have gotten a foreign assignment. And I would make no apologies for this either, as prospects for average university graduates in China, even elite ones, are extraordinarily bleak. I was born into a red-diaper family, and given the abundance of chances of failure in the Chinese system, and its inhuman brutality, no precaution, or ethical lapse, would frankly lack warrant for any loving parent.
Please read the rest of the post. Its very interesting.
I want to repeat gain, a student can catch up 3 years before GaoKao. This may be not the case in HeNan, but it's true in Shanghai. Yifan has a Shanghai HuKou, right?
Do you know any private school, but not International school, in Shanghai which is as good as the Best Public School, the option 2 in your previous blog? Maybe you can buy an expensive apartment in a good school district and sell it out in the future.
i think your father think too much!
Your father is a person who has accepted the foreign culture, however, i think your father is the same as other fathers. Your life is your own, maybe you should choose it by your own. But you are only three, if i were your father, i will love you and let you to be the happiest child in the world. Go fucky bamboo for panda!
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