@@sirant Literacy rate in India is 76.3%, literacy rate in China is 99.8%. This means almost a quarter of 1.4 billion or 350 million the same population size as the US in India cannot read or write !
And mastering the 3 Rs when they graduate. High unemployment among the young people in China, which is highly touted by some Western scholars among reasons for their prediction of China's economic collapse, will mean more STEM graduates for the PLA. When our armed forces are lowering standards to find enough recruits, an increasingly smarter PLA will keep many Pentagon generals from sleeping soundly at night. The good news is that no US President will be dumb enough to order an attack on China, whether it is over the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea. We are just playing Texas Hold ‘them with the CCP and bluffing them like crazy. LMAO!
I attended the University of Hawaii during the 1970s. Some of my classmates were from Hong Kong. They told me that going to American universities was so easy because much of the mathematics, science and technology taught at the universities in the West was taught at the high school level in Hong Kong. So going to universities in the West was like a holiday to students from Hong Kong.
Has to do with Confucian family values and a hybrid Confucian/legal law society ! The west and Europe only governs with legal law alone which Confucius said will perish because they will all see the law as something to get around through legal loopholes via wealthy lawyers !
How about the amount of time wasted by US public school teachers (and, in turn, their students who are there to learn) trying to maintain discipline in their classrooms?
The Chinese consider education of children as the top priority in their lives and in national agenda. The old Chinese went to the extent of enduring hunger just to save enough money for their children's education. The Chinese parents are strict and devote very much attention to the safety, welfare and wellbeing of their children. The job of the teachers in Chinese schools is also very demanding. These are different from the West, where it is relatively relaxing to raise and teach children.
True! When I married my wife, she told me we had to save 60% of our salary every single month, for the education and benefit of our child. Being a westerner, I thought this crazy and impossible, but we did it by living simply and finding other ways to enjoy life than spending money. In the end, we used that money to pay for tutors, after school programs and our daughters full university with no loans or expenses to her. It was well worth the effort.
I worked in public and private schools in Chengdu China for a decade. If there is something that students in Chinese learn, it is discipline and respect for their teachers. At the beginning of each class the students have to stand silently and take a bow to their teacher and it is not until the teacher gives them permission to sit down. At the end of class the students have to stand and take a bow in silence. When at any time in class I would crossed my arms all the students in the class inmedatelly would stop talking immidiately and stay quiet in absolute silence. Then after the class in the playground studentes would run to me a high five or a group hug a sign of mutual love and respect. I made sure that all my students had fun in class with many games and fun learning activities because learning must be fun in order to be effective . .
I miss my teaching days. The affection and fun we had with the students was always a highlight of my day! It makes me very proud inside to hear from my past students on their ongoing successes in the world. I am glad you enjoyed your experience as well!
@@esphilee Very true! I was treated with great kindness, respect and appreciation by the students, their parents and my Chinese coworkers when I was a teacher.
So true, however most of the American population would never accept the fact that the vast majority of students are illiterate and cannot calculate basic math.
China has a long long history that values the arts, science, and medicine, as well as scholarship and craftmanship of many kinds. And that across class lines too.
@nuckingfuts9515 USA has the tofu infrastructure. The USA spends more money on military than infrastructure and the infrastructure is barely maintained and so many bridges in America collapse
You mentioned North Korea in a negative manner. There are a lot of misconceptions about North Korea much more than China. Did you know all housing are provided free to all citizens in N. Korea? Starvation is false because China will not let that happen to their brothers which were part of China at one time. You should look into that.
I would love to look into that further. And for the record, I personally did not state that about North Korea, I have never been there, so it would be impossible to say. But, it is a very widely shared fact that North Korea is a very difficult place to live. I never mentioned starvation or any specifics about North Korea, only that many people believe China is the same. I merely stated it is a common conception, not a fact.
@@sirant I recently watched some videos about overseas Chinese in North Korea, and the situation there seems to be tougher than I expected. Free housing is mostly limited to cities, and while people in rural areas may not be starving anymore, their living conditions are not great either. Along the China-North Korea border, many North Koreans are sent by the government to work, but only in certain restaurants or factories. They are also closely monitored to prevent them from escaping. I'm not sure how they share their earnings with the government.
I know. That was one of the craziest bits of Reverse Culture Shock when I came back to Canada in 2015.... After teaching grammar for 12 years, I was SHOCKED how little the typical Canadian knows about grammar.... Schools aren't even teaching their own languages properly sadly
@@sirant Let me put it this way. I would look at any social system from a free market point of view. The end product caters the expectations of consumers in general. If most of the consumers "accept" the product as OK, the product remains as such. At least, theoretically in a "democracy", the end users do have their say. Who to blame for a failed education system? I would say it was the end users, ie parents, employers, government, etc.
@@iWantPeace838 The rich don't need to worry because their real estate taxes will keep the local public schools in good shape or they can just send their kids to expensive private schools. The poor may be too impaired to worry about their kids - "Hillbilly Elegy".
The American school has a happy education system, that is terrific for kids and terrible for parents! If you want them to work in McDonald then sure, just go with the happy education system!
Happy education system?? Are you serious or joking??? Why all the school shootings? And all grassroots mass shootings also? I see nothing happy about their education nor social environment
I think he was making a joke, comparing the education system to the McDonalds kids "Happy Meal". Garbage food designed to get kids addicted to unhealthy habits at an early age.
I brought my children from Chile to study in China and I see a big difference between the form of education in one country and another. My daughter was studying in fourth grade in primary school and had to start mid-semester of second grade, because she had to learn Chinese. Now she is in third year and it has been very difficult at first to adapt to the language and studies, but now she has leveled, but the learning is much higher, for example in mathematics I see a big difference in the way of teaching and the tasks are done every day with a lot of practice, but what is incredible is the depth of seeing it, by making the student have You have to reason, think and analyze the questions to find the correct answer, not just saying that 2+2 is equal to 4, not the normal and linear way that is often taught in the West, but they put other variables in and you have to reason, so you can get to 4. And it is true that they have a single snack at lunch and then sleep for 1 hour, and then do exercises and other activities to stimulate them and keep them in shape. I think the decision I made to bring them back was not a bad one and I don't regret it.
Thank you for sharing your story! I think you are 100% correct!! You have given your kids a massive advantage, especially in the language skills, which will make them much more valuable employees in the future! Great Choice!!
Thank you Sirant!. Very interesting information. I've been tyrying to see a video just like this from the several expat youtubers I follow. This is the first time someone shows and explains how elementary and high school sare in China. Much better than in the West. There is a reason Chinese students are among the top ratings in the Pisa studies.
The western society did not want their citizens to know better alternatives. Only by toughening up, their citizens become stronger on their own, resilient and open to new adventures, able to overcome difficulties
The school in Beijing where I worked for 10 years, has a dormitory building, a gymnasium including 4 X100 meter swimming pool, a 400 meter running track and a standard soccer field... they have 20 three D printers...
Wow! Very high quality! I wonder why chinese students come to Cagayan Valley in the Philippines when their education is far superior than ours? Must be some hidden agenda somewhere.
Skills, skills, skills !!! Chinese schools and Chinese parents focus on students learning skills. Western society is not focused on skills, instead we focus on “feel good” and “woke indoctrination.
Great video. Thanks Sirant. I was born and raised in Shanghai. I did not know when I was a kid that China's public education system is so good. I knew it until I worked in the US and send my daughter to a nearby public school. The content in that school is just too easy, so I immediately transferred her to a private school for better academy. IMO the private school in the US is not bad. It's funny that in these private schools nobody talks about "happy education". Most kids work very hard and most of them are Chinese, some Indian, few white, very few others. Unfortunately only less than 10% kids in the US actually go to private schools. The "good education" is just not available for most of the people.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am glad your child was able to benefit from the private system. It is sad all students cannot have the same opportunities.
As a Chinese student myself I can say that the math teaching is really good. And I only found out that when I was in another country. My computation skill compare to the locals is way more faster and accurate and to think I'm just average in class.
@@loremasteringwion9930 My bad, slip of the tongue. I meant Advanced Mathematics, part of her curriculum in University. Thank you for pointing that out.
17:00 that’s exactly my feeling when came to Toronto in middle school. Everything, even the final exam questions were quite easy and I collected countless Waterloo contest awards 😂
❤China….Education and personal well being is so deeply embedded into the Chinese culture. I taught at a massive university in Guangdong Province it really opened my mind up to how important education and success was to the students. Unlike the west, Chinese students aren’t in a huge rush to grow up, check the education box, and move into the working world, and I think parents really enforced this. 90% of my students didn’t have boyfriends/ girlfriends because either their parents didn’t allow it or education was far more important. Along with this, the collectivist culture is so blatantly obvious. They think, act , talk, eat, dress, believe, as a group not as individuals. Most people in the west (including my family) have formed their opinions of China based on what the media feeds them, without setting foot in the country. I’m so glad I had the privilege to take a little closer look into this amazing country. My advice, if you’re intrigued about traveling to China, go for a minimum of a year, and teach! Just traveling won’t give you even close to the same perspective as teaching. ❤China!
Well said! I came to China in 2004 for a 1 year teaching contract. In 2024, I am still here, taught extensively in the Chinese system and raised a family. My family back home also held (and likely still does) the negative stereotypes. I am glad you had the opportunity to experience and enjoy life here yourself! Thank you for sharing your experience!
As a Chinese, I love school very much. I cannot understand why many children in Western countries do not like school and do not want to go to school. I am 40 years old now and I still want to go to school. Chinese schools are simply the most beautiful places. Most Chinese people love school very much and think that the time spent in school is the best in their lives. Therefore, many people go back to school to visit their teachers after graduation. I agree with you, yes, people should go to China to live and work, instead of learning about China through western mainstream media
Yes, education is a focus throughout China. However, as in any country, different communities have different amounts of money to invest in facilities. But, no matter how new or advanced the technology, education is always a priority.
@@hanmi1216 Wow! 1999!!! I bet it was an amazing experience! I recently saw a video showing how 50, 000 US students were invited to China to experience the Chinese school system, and they were all amazed and thrilled as well! Thank you for sharing!
@@sirant yes, it is an amazing experience. Especially that afternoon nap break that shocked me. We don't have that kind of break time here in Indonesia 😅.
@@hanmi1216 I tell ya, after teaching for 10 years, the one of the last schools I taught in China, they gave me my own apartment, even though I lived off campus anyways. I sure LOVED having a 2 hour nap in the afternoon between morning and afternoon classes!😊😊😊😊😊😊
Another reasons for Chinese parents to put their kids in school for such long time in a day, is because both of the parents are so busy in jobs, their don't have enough time to take care of their children. Rather than children getting back home early and playing video game all the rest of the day, parents prefer to put them into other classroom after school. If the school could provide more lessons till 10pm, that would be even better.
You are 100% correct! I used to teach lessons often until 8pm when I worked in large public schools. And then after that the students could attend homework sessions where actual teachers could help to make sure they understood.
I am full of admiration for the brilliant hardworking students and even more so for the wonderful teachers who are so caring and dedicated to their profession. They deserve the deep respect of their students.
As a Chinese。I'm very happy more and more foreigner work as teacher in China。it can improve Chinese kid's English level.English is very important in China ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Great education. I remember that Sophia top 2 always she studied in Hong Kong. And then when she was in UK she was granted a scholarship. Great training and facilities and faculty development and great respect to teachers.
well said. i was a chinese student years ago. The difficulty and depth of education in China are somewhat higher, which means those below average may feel a great academic pressure. Moreover, Chinese people are known for their ambition; everyone wants to be the "cream of the crop." This mindset can lead to at least half of the population feeling stressed and caught up in a rat race. In fact some people are not animal for academia; it would be distressing for an elephant to compete with a monkey in climbing trees. In my own educational journey, I didn't find things too challenging, except for the more intense periods during the third year of middle school and the third year of high school when exams were imminent. I had plenty of time for play, sports and dating, I also escaped much classes, it didn't impact my study at all. After all, no one can become an all-star player without rigorous training, and I believe that even basketball legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant underwent intense training. The key issue is that not everyone needs to have the same goal. Elephants should focus on building strength, monkeys should excel at climbing, and fish should master swimming. With this approach, life won't be too bad, and there's no need for anxiety.
I stayed in Shenzhen and Guanzhou for 3 months back in ‘98. It was an out of this world experience even 26 years ago! I can imagine, now it would be even more modern, more futuristic in all aspects of life ❤
When I was in school, it started at 7:45, and ended about 12:30 - 1pm, with a single half hour recess in the middle, about 18-20 hours a week, 550-600 hours of classes a year.
What an eye opener! The national system, that takes great care of its young: nurturing, educating, building their environment, that creates healthy life habits- that nation will have its own great future!
Thank you for this video. My 10 year old son also attends state school in Beijing. All you said about the incredible facilities and teaching are also true here. Furthermore, we should talk about how families work together with the school and teachers to educate the kids. At least one person in the family is responsible for taking the kid to school or after school activities.( math, Chinese, English, Arts, music etc classes) by the way, for the last 2 years, my son and his friends are take AI class on the weekends. They all can do computer coding and my son has started to write his own games. Simple games but nonetheless. I also have to add that we are very ordinary family, not rich at all. And live in an ordinary neighborhood. Thank you again for this video and hope you can make another video to highlight the family participation in their kid education. ❤
Thank you Sirant for spreading the fact. That swimming pool is possibly abandoned and will be replaced by other facilities. Nowadays Chinese parents in the major cities prefer indoor swimming simply because they are afraid of potential harm to their kids. The UV exposure during a standard 2-hour training drill under the sun does not sound well for pupils.
You know, I never thought of that, but you are 100% correct! I too would be concerned about the UV damage to swimmers. Thank you for pointing that out!!
for someone who has been through in both types of education, the Western education is more towards group projects and brainstorming, while the Asian education is more towards practice. Thus, Western schools do not give much homework.
@@zen-mc4ju the Western education is more towards real-world approach -- you brainstorm and discuss more in group projects instead of practicing a task repeatedly
When I was in grade 3 in Hong Kong and then immigrated to Canada and continued grade 3 there. They’re still learning adding and subtraction. Meanwhile, I already know times table by heart, division, algebra, basic geometry and basic math equations. That was back in 1971.
It's not in Hong Kong actually. That school is in Shenzhen, it is just a branch of the Chinese University of Hong Kong group of schools, but physically located in Longgang District of Shenzhen. But yes, it is a very nice looking school!
Once I visited my friend's daughter's grade school in Guangdong, she was in second grade, and she had to stay after school because she didn't do her homework. She was not happy. Now, I occasionally send messages to another child because she is struggling with her English. I am not sure if this is true for everyone, but children in high school live in dorms.
Some kids live in dormitories on campus, absolutely. Often times this is for the best. If mother and father are hard at work everyday, it is a great way to ensure their child is getting the appropriate assistance for their success. Also, it eliminates commuting long distances if the school is not close enough to home. We always lived close to my daughters school and she had two teachers as parents. So she never needed to live in the dorm.
Yes it is a norm to be kept at school longer if a student does not do his homework. Not finishing homework is viewed as a big deal even for a first grader since it shows irresponsibility. Usually only may be two or three students out of 60 do that in my primary school.
That's true but they worry about the crazed man with a sword or knife killing kids. At least it doesn't happen very often but then again they don't put out to much of the bad news that goes on
America's secretary for defence only has a BA from West Point University - I wonder how much study time he put in to "earn it"! His Chinese counterpart was a rocket scientist who was involved in the construction of China's Space Station!!!
I have met a few people who has university "degrees" that they known nothing about. Their parents literally paid their way through "higher learning" and now we have graduates with less skills than McDonalds employees. It is a sad part of the modern western educational system I have seen with my own eyes....
I remember growing up in the US small town in Illinois in the 90s. Our playground was the parking lot. When we fell, our pants ripped and we get bloody knees and elbows
I have never gone to school in America, but I know all about the Canadian school system. And working for over a decade in the Chinese school system I met hundreds of teachers from America who told me horror stories of the classrooms and schools there. That is EXACTLY why they came to China instead of teaching in their home country.
The push for education is historical and cultural… growing up in the west with Asian parents… it was a difficult situation being caught in between… it’s only when I became an adult with kids, I realized that most kids need to be pushed as the typical tendency is to avoid reading and doing math…
I like to see titles like this as it is likely to attract western media readers and they will most likely be surprised when they find a modern society more advanced than their own, a society focused on giving young people a good education and confident start to their lives.
Thank you for your comment! And I agree with you 100%! It's not clickbait to get viewers, like those videos that show sexy women in their thumbnails with no relation to the video at all. Sharing information is a tricky business and requires some creativity to reach a broader audience.
@@sirant absolutely, the whole point of content creating is to reach viewers and if you can draw in viewers and help them change their minds then you are doing a very good thing 👍🏼
It is simple from an old China hand. China and East Asia in general are merit based. You go to the elementary in your neighborhood then around 6th grade you take a test to enter the middle school of your ability level in the city, then after middle school you take another test to enter the best high school of your ability, then the Gao Kao Test (High Test) to enter the university of your ability at national level, province, or local. Competition is the name of the game. Further, almost all kids in East Asia go to after school cram school to learn English or higher math skills to do better on the test and then return home to do several hours of real homework. Bad behavior and lack of work ethic are not tolerated. Parents support teachers and good behavior. Parents push kids because they are your retirement policy. you are expected to support your parents in old age and provide them a nice flat and a good stipend to live on. Compare this to the USA where our kids are not pushed or made to be responsible, or have a work ethic. All economic levels are expected to behave and they all pay for the after school cram schools out of their pockets. Those kids that do not work or behave are tracked early into a good vocational program to become a productive member of society. Academics is viewed as a path to wealth and power. Yet, all kids are expected to become a contributing member of society. Taught in Taiwan 1988-89, MA East Asian Studies Chinese, Taught 27 years in US Schools, Fulbright Scholar Japan 2003, Fulbright Scholar China 2005. Retired from US public schools last May after 26 years. Often it is is said by Western people that Asian schools are pressure cookers that burn out kids, yet compare this to US schools where people under perform grade level, drop out, are violent, involved in drugs. Which is better I ask?
Thanks for sharing! ❤ It was not easy for China to be able to provide our young generation with better education and health services. It took our most hard working, courageous and selfless people years to make this happen. Their dedication to the cause will be forever remembered. ❤
From kindergarten to university, at least 2-hour lunch&nap time.😃 Afternoon nap is very important to refresh you and keep you concentrated in the following study and excercises.
Common misspellings. "Wierd" especially, as it breaks the rule all kids back home learn in primary school. "I before E unless after C". I always got soooooo many questions from students about all the exceptions to grammar and spelling rules. The one that kills me is how many North Americans say "I seen ....." Amazing how often I hear that in Canada.
In fact, Chinese people know more about American education than most Americans. Most Americans think American-style happy education, but this is only for the bottom people. In fact, the American elite has always understood the importance of education, and the education of the elite is actually similar to that of China.
If you watch the video right to the end, you will see me visiting some kids in a small town in rural Guangxi. Although they do not have a foreign teacher and had never seen a foreigner to that point ever, the school was large, with excellent sports facilities and a safe, secure environment! The classrooms all had AC and modern AV equipment.
I love this video! You explained China's educational system very well! All those people spouting nonsense about China should see this, but even then they'll probably think that the CCP paid/forced you to only record specific parts 😂. Keep it up! 💯
Not just the US, Canada is the same. I am in Malaysia. I am considering to enrol my daughter into the online Canadian high school diploma instead of A level. My friend’s kids did Ontario diploma, they said it was very easy, they both got above 95 out of 100.
Chinese students are not smarter than any other student in the world. They just have more emphasis, either by themselves or their parents, and strive for higher education. It's a cultural norm. If your society strives to be the same then the students will be comparable. However, there is 1.4 billion people in China so having some brilliant kids is in their favor. A matter of statistics.
Latin originated from chinese Manchu language， and all Western languages were established and improved by linguists from chinese Qing Dynasty from 1600s-1900s. Westerners have robbed the royal bibliotek of the Chinese imperial palace, over 700.000 volumes of scientific and technological philosophy books document and millions of objects, including scientific instruments and experimental equipment, all stolen by the West. Westerners like to use the wisdom of Chinese people as intellectual rouge to embellish their brains.
You are correct. Statistically there are students here in general, so they will show in higher numbers on the world stage. However, it certainly helps they have an excellent school system to thrive within!
The first 13 years of my life was without any schooling. I come to found out that those without earlier education were like having scholastic attention deprivation disorder. Our ability to analyzed data were much poorer than those with better education. Some of my working colleague growing up with military parents were doing much worse because their education was always got interrupted by the need to move from place to place along with their parents. They always got sympathy from their teachers, therefore teachers pushing them to achieve perfection were secondary. Realistically saying is, if kids got a stable encouragement to push for perfection, will grow up to have a habit of trying get perfection.
You need to improve your English grammar. People will judge whether you are really "educated" or not. My first exposure to English grammar was in junior high school when I learned everything there was to know by way of a British textbook. When I wrote my doctoral dissertation at the University of Californa at Berkeley, my advisor did not change a single word.
Yes, I admitted that I am not highly educated but I am not one of those with master's degree and beyond, but the only history they have written about Cambodia were the fallacy of bandwagon from one author to another. Again, this is my signature history of Cambodia. At the beginning, the French continued to employ the language first implement by Nguyen Phuc Anh when he became the first emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. The Chu-Han (Mandarin) was the one rebellion against the French, when the French wrest power from them in Cambodia in 1863. After the Chu-Han victory against the French in 1954, their attention was switched to focus on undermining Norodom Sihanouk's power in Cambodia. They were very successful because they limited Norodom Sihanouk's independent for only 16 years and able to put the secretive genocidal Khmer Rouge in power. They were also very successful at assigned the blamed on the Chinese for having an embassy in Phnom Penh from 1975 to late 1978 by given the Chinese only a few thousand tons of Kapok.
Although Shenzhen is one of the most developed cities in China, and the schools you visit are quite expensive, the level of public education in China is generally the same, but regional differences and the unfairness of university admissions to the gaokao (National Unified Examination for High School Graduation) remains a big problem.
Yes, I found the GaoKao to be incredibly demanding for my daughter. She took evening and weekend classes for years to prepare. Thankfully shedid well due to her dedicated work and study habits.
There is a fantastic novel that covers the Chinese education system and how it fits into Chinese society called "Chinese Dream" by Anna Lee. This video covers the really nice, expensive private schools which is great, but the novel describes the life of a foreigner who works in training centres in a third tier city, marries a Chinese lady and has children in China, so it describes lots of different aspects of Chinese education and many different individual experiences, all of which are real experiences. It is an interesting story that is really well researched and covers lots of other different aspects of Chinese society, as well and the writer obviously speaks really good English and Chinese, and balances lots of different perspectives.
Hmmm, not really sure what your point is. I suspect you didn't really watch the video... My videos are about sharing my current daily life in China as a foreigner, not a cultural analysis of the Chinese school system. Had I been writing a novel or making a 3 hour documentary, I too could have shared the past 20 years where I worked in a prefecture level rural city, married a Chinese woman and raised a child together, all while teaching in the public school system with much less funding than training centers. I based my opinion of the Chinese education system on my experience as a teacher, parent and even student in that same system, not on showing clips of nearby schools in my neighborhood. (One is private BTW, the other is a public school) If you had watched to the end you might even have noticed I visited a small town school in rural Guangxi as well. My opinion of the Chinese school system is based on hard evidence and experience over the course of 2 decades.
@@sirant My point is just what you were saying in your response, which is that what you've provided is a 20 minute video on schools, but this is a huge subject. I was in no way being critical (I fear I may have given the wrong impression when I commented on the private school focus - apologies for that) of what is in your video, just suggesting that (as you yourself did in your response) that you were not attempting to go into the subject in a very comprehensive way, but give people a taste of what Chinese schools are like, which is a completely valid and reasonable thing to do. BTW I really liked that you pointed out that the demands of the schooling system are driven by the pressures of society. The intent of my comment was simply to say, if you do want to go deeper into this subject, there is a book that covers this subject in a lot more detail (probably takes 20 hours rather than 20 minutes to get through, so it will only be for those who are deeply interested in the subject), and from quite a few perspectives written by someone who was obviously very interested and committed to the subject, speaks, and is culturally fluent in both English and Chinese. I mentioned it, because I also spent a long time teaching in China and am fluent in the language (passed HSK5 more than 10 years ago) and found it a really interesting perspective. Good luck with your videos.
@@96518 Thank you for your considerate response! I do get a number of comments of critical nature, often by people with little understanding and having not even viewed the actual video to discover the perspective! Congratulations on HSK 5, btw, that is a great accomplishment! I am currently working my way through an HSK course as well. This particular course goes up to HSK 9, should be interesting to see what new materials have been added!
@@sirant I have heard that they are changing the HSK system again, so I think that is the new one. When I did it, it only went up to HSK6 but I never bothered with HSK6 because I found it very technical and I didn't want to get into that level of detail. The only levels that I sat for were HSK4 and HSK5 (I did a 3-year grad-dip in it so the lower levels were unnecessary) and I found the material really good because there was a really good mixture of history, culture, and really modern stuff. I remember when I did HSK4 in 2011, my book had a passage on 裸婚 which my Chinese friends were really surprised at because at the time, it was a really new concept. Now I just prefer to read authentic materials, novels, newspapers, stuff online. I'm not sure what your level is but if it is not in the highest couple of levels (if it is you'll know this already) I encourage you to work hard on your character knowledge - it is the key to it all. So many times on my learning journey, and even today, sometimes people use unfamiliar phrases and idioms and I can work out that they mean from the characters, and if I don't know a word I can just make one up from my pool of characters. If I am wrong people will guess what I mean correctly anyway. Years ago I was in a conversation and the word "flask" came up (this was before they were common) and a Chinese person asked me what it meant. I had no idea and so I thought it is bound to have the characters for warm and bottle in it so I told them I didn't know and guessed it was "暖瓶" and they stared at me for a moment then said, you mean "保温瓶" and I thought "protect-warmth-bottle", that's got to be it. Anyway, I hope you have as much fun with your learning journey as I did with mine. And good luck with the videos. You are a brave man. There are many that I can't bear to watch because so much to do with China is so polarised to one side or the other.
@@96518 Apparently HSK 7-9 are brand new, as in, a year or less old! Should be interesting when I get to that stage. As much as my writing is terrible, I do try to focus a lot on reading, as I do drive here and feel it is important top be able to read the signs, among other things. I also studied in Shenzhen University for a year as well, however, as I was also working full time as well, it became a bit too much. I have had people suggest I take my videos in a more "political" or aggressive direction, in order to get views and ultimately, money, but that's not what I am all about. Other than an attention getting title or thumbnail, my videos are primarily to show my own, relatively laid back and content life in China.
This is really cool! I would like to see and learn about rural schools deep in the countryside. How they compare. As china is massive i wonder how it is possible to give same education with supplies. Thank you.
I wish I had gotten better footage, but if you watch the video to the end you will see me be swarmed by a bunch of kids in a school in a very small town in Guangxi province. They had never had a foreign teacher nor seen a foreigner at all. The school was very large and had huge outdoor recreation areas. Next time I am in that town I will get a proper video of a countryside school to share!
One underappreciated fact... The social status of teachers and educators in China is much higher than in most of the west. For example, in the west if you want to show respect to an older person, you may call them Sir, with the connotation of nobility or military status, or Madam, again with connotations of nobility or elite status. In China, you would call such a person, whether man or woman: "Lao Shi", literally translated to "Teacher"...
Absolutely! That was one of the things I loved most about being a teacher here! They are given so much respect for the fact they are helping to prepare the next generations for the future of their families and country! Made the job so worthwhile!
@@sirant One of the sad aspects of many western liberal democracies is that education is one of the most critical problems facing such countries' long term viability and sustainability, while the political system does not support long term planning and solutions, resulting is inevitable decline in the education system, which ironically is one of the foundational requirements for a thriving democracy. Teachers in many liberal democracies are almost criminally under appreciated, under-compensated and not sufficiently respected.
What are the trends ? I think education in China is going in the right direction and schools in the United States are going in the wrong direction. At least public schools in large American cities.
Education in Canada is becoming worse and worse. They pay teachers MUCH less than they deserve, over work them and do not provide proper tools and supplies for them to use. This leads to classroom crowding because fewer and fewer people want to be teachers these days.
Hey, Canadian father and teacher in China here. I though I would balance your statement a little. There is a huge Vail covering the educational system here. You are correct that is is not as bad as if you where to compare it to the worst North Korean indoctrination camp however there are huge societal pressure that affect the majority of students. Firstly the infrastructure usually is a fasade. They tend to be poorly built and deteriorate within a couple of years. Most of the images you showed will be broken down and look terrible in five years. The security.... Also, not necesary and a rouse of security. Security is so easy to bypass because it is all for show. The actual guards are untrained and security systems ineffective. It is there to meet a standard but has no real effectiveness. I like China too. My daughter will also do her school here. The only reason I am confident about that is because she has western influence at home. The average Chinese student has extreme amounts of societal pressure based on working hard for it's own sake. Parents, teachers and instruction feed off themselves pushing students harder and harder. Often the students get lost and become studying machine for the sole purpose to complete against each other. They learn to do test and study for the sake of doing more tests and study more. This plays a huge role on their cognitive development and morals. You put put the Chinese educational system in a bright positive light however, it is also deeply flawed.
I think that if you are looking for a balanced, reasonable and objective conversation on channels like this, you will be sorely disappointed and wasting your time. People here see the world in two colours only. Look at their discussions, they want to be polarized, and they are not interested in any solutions or communication. They fight for "who won" while they all are only loosing.
Whatever you hear from the West about China, you just need to flip around then it'll be true. Trust me, I have too much experience in this.
You think only from the west??? Even China next door neighbor India can be the same or worst.
I agree 100%! You are right!
I have never been to India, but I hope the students get the educations they deserve!
@@sirant They do. US universities admit mostly Indians and Bangladeshi, and won’t admit a lot of Chinese like they use to.
@@sirant Literacy rate in India is 76.3%, literacy rate in China is 99.8%. This means almost a quarter of 1.4 billion or 350 million the same population size as the US in India cannot read or write !
School is meant to teach and nurture and thats what Chinese schools do instead of confusing kids with gender and sensitivity indoctrination.
And mastering the 3 Rs when they graduate. High unemployment among the young people in China, which is highly touted by some Western scholars among reasons for their prediction of China's economic collapse, will mean more STEM graduates for the PLA. When our armed forces are lowering standards to find enough recruits, an increasingly smarter PLA will keep many Pentagon generals from sleeping soundly at night. The good news is that no US President will be dumb enough to order an attack on China, whether it is over the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea. We are just playing Texas Hold ‘them with the CCP and bluffing them like crazy. LMAO!
And look at them, coming to America cuz china is un livable 😂
确实，在我们大学，如果你暂时找不到工作，那么你可以加入军队来发挥才能，积累工作经验，不过你是中国人吗，为什么你能知道这些，我没有听到任何反华博主说过这一点，他们只会说中国已经完蛋了。@@siberiantiger1585
🤣
完全同意 , 学校就是学校, 学习知识 , 中国的学校不教孩子政治和宗教 , 让学校纯粹, 让学习纯粹 . 看见学生为了不同的政治意见打架和羞辱对方, 这是错误的 . 曾经毛把文革带进校园, 造成学校的失控,后来变成社会的撕裂 , 中国付出了代价, 中国反省了. 中国政府刻意回避公开讨论这个问题, 是怕它被人利用 ,中国的国际话语权被西方控制, 政府担心被带舆论, 扩大影响到要政府下台. 这会造成一个14亿人民的国家混乱回到军阀打架的时代, 冲动的游行和无理的要求不是好事. 没有完美的国家, 大家的争论都是"对"和"对"的较量 , 像文明人那样交流, 找到中庸的解决之道, 世界会更和平, 人类之间也会和睦相处.
I attended the University of Hawaii during the 1970s. Some of my classmates were from Hong Kong. They told me that going to American universities was so easy because much of the mathematics, science and technology taught at the universities in the West was taught at the high school level in Hong Kong. So going to universities in the West was like a holiday to students from Hong Kong.
True.
American schools are best. We need to believe only America.
Yes, I totally agree. I took and passed an exam for a professional qualification in the US simply by reading free textbooks that I got from friends.
Exactly. Just like a walk in the garden!
Soooo right
chinese students have less time for bs. like vandalism, skipping class, hanging out ( while skipping class ), smoking weed, etc. ...
Has to do with Confucian family values and a hybrid Confucian/legal law society ! The west and Europe only governs with legal law alone which Confucius said will perish because they will all see the law as something to get around through legal loopholes via wealthy lawyers !
How about the amount of time wasted by US public school teachers (and, in turn, their students who are there to learn) trying to maintain discipline in their classrooms?
Add gun rights.
And LGBTQ classes. Amazing !
@@mason2547 what is a woman? hahaha
The Chinese consider education of children as the top priority in their lives and in national agenda. The old Chinese went to the extent of enduring hunger just to save enough money for their children's education. The Chinese parents are strict and devote very much attention to the safety, welfare and wellbeing of their children. The job of the teachers in Chinese schools is also very demanding. These are different from the West, where it is relatively relaxing to raise and teach children.
True! When I married my wife, she told me we had to save 60% of our salary every single month, for the education and benefit of our child. Being a westerner, I thought this crazy and impossible, but we did it by living simply and finding other ways to enjoy life than spending money. In the end, we used that money to pay for tutors, after school programs and our daughters full university with no loans or expenses to her. It was well worth the effort.
I worked in public and private schools in Chengdu China for a decade. If there is something that students in Chinese learn, it is discipline and respect for their teachers. At the beginning of each class the students have to stand silently and take a bow to their teacher and it is not until the teacher gives them permission to sit down. At the end of class the students have to stand and take a bow in silence. When at any time in class I would crossed my arms all the students in the class inmedatelly would stop talking immidiately and stay quiet in absolute silence. Then after the class in the playground studentes would run to me a high five or a group hug a sign of mutual love and respect. I made sure that all my students had fun in class with many games and fun learning activities because learning must be fun in order to be effective .
.
I miss my teaching days. The affection and fun we had with the students was always a highlight of my day! It makes me very proud inside to hear from my past students on their ongoing successes in the world. I am glad you enjoyed your experience as well!
Confucius is rooted in Chinese culture. They pay the utmost respect to the parents and teachers.
@@esphilee In the US teachers get beaten up by their students and everyone just stands around to watch !
@@esphilee Very true! I was treated with great kindness, respect and appreciation by the students, their parents and my Chinese coworkers when I was a teacher.
你是外教吗，指不定你还教过我🤗
China has a national literacy and numeracy rating of over 98%.
USA has a national literacy and numeracy rating of 54%.
This does not surprise me in the slightest. Sadly.
So true, however most of the American population would never accept the fact that the vast majority of students are illiterate and cannot calculate basic math.
What?! The US still got over 50%! Damn! I'm impressed!
@@arthurchu4491 ...and about the same percentage finishes high school as well !
China has a long long history that values the arts, science, and medicine, as well as scholarship and craftmanship of many kinds. And that across class lines too.
I really love those so called "terrible" Chinese schools which produce good engineers building amazing infrastructures.
that's well said. spot on
Tofu dreg buildings, bridges, streets and houses are unbelievable! 😀
@nuckingfuts9515 USA has the tofu infrastructure. The USA spends more money on military than infrastructure and the infrastructure is barely maintained and so many bridges in America collapse
@@nuckingfuts9515 they don't know what is it totally ,trust me . They only know the great china 🇨🇳! Which will rule the world instead of America 🇺🇸!
Amazing? That's tofu infrastructure. 😋
Chinese may be the nation that attaches the most importance to education in the world.
All started during the Imperial examinations, made dominant and open to anyone in public during Song Dynasty
@@yong9613 The Imperial examination system originated in the Sui Dynasty, 350 years ahead of Song Dynasty.
@@changhenry4648 it was expanded and used dominantly in the Song Dynasty.
Have a good day 😌
Started in 1950 after centuries of humiliation & invasions by foreign powers. Ancient rulers don't encourage inventions, research and development..
You mentioned North Korea in a negative manner. There are a lot of misconceptions about North Korea much more than China. Did you know all housing are provided free to all citizens in N. Korea? Starvation is false because China will not let that happen to their brothers which were part of China at one time. You should look into that.
中朝关系很复杂，一方面虽然中国奉行不结盟政策，但是朝鲜一定程度上是中国唯一的军事盟友，中朝友好条约一定程度上算是军事盟约。另一方面中朝关系其实也没很多人想象得那么和谐，更何况即使关系很好，也不是朝鲜有任何需求中国都会去援助的。
朝鲜有点像一个起步家庭环境不错，但是在学校或者社会上长期被人欺负的人，内外因素共同造成了他有一点反社会人格，你并不能说他是个好人，但是他人格的形成是有复杂原因的。如果今后对朝鲜有一个长期的友好的外部环境，也许可以慢慢感化改变他。但是作为一个普通中国人，从外部观察，在可以预见的将来，朝鲜真的很难会有很大改变。
I would love to look into that further. And for the record, I personally did not state that about North Korea, I have never been there, so it would be impossible to say. But, it is a very widely shared fact that North Korea is a very difficult place to live. I never mentioned starvation or any specifics about North Korea, only that many people believe China is the same. I merely stated it is a common conception, not a fact.
@@sirant I recently watched some videos about overseas Chinese in North Korea, and the situation there seems to be tougher than I expected. Free housing is mostly limited to cities, and while people in rural areas may not be starving anymore, their living conditions are not great either. Along the China-North Korea border, many North Koreans are sent by the government to work, but only in certain restaurants or factories. They are also closely monitored to prevent them from escaping. I'm not sure how they share their earnings with the government.
我对朝鲜的理解其实有几个阶段。一开始我相信西方那些媒体的宣传，认为朝鲜是个可怕的地方。后来了解到西方对我们的宣传之后，我在想，朝鲜是不是也是这样被抹黑了，看了一些视频证明了我的观点之后我认为朝鲜是一个优秀的共产主义国家，比我们执行的更彻底。再后来，看到了李唐的视频，我才发现，朝鲜不像西方宣传的那么可怕，但也绝没有我想的那么好。不然中朝边境为什么要管这么严，为什么来中国打工的朝鲜人要受监视，为什么去朝鲜旅游这么困难，尤其是考虑到我们两国关系算是相当不错了。
@@jeremyheung6582 从某种程度上说所有政治问题都是经济问题。。。马克思主义观点基本也是这样嘛。朝鲜最大的问题就是外部孤立，尤其是苏联解体之后石油供应出了大问题，不然朝鲜跟古巴委内瑞拉之类的国家不会有太大区别，最差也不过是像以前伊拉克那种政治环境。
Meanwhile here in the US, we have entire districts that can't read and do math at their expected grade level.
I know. That was one of the craziest bits of Reverse Culture Shock when I came back to Canada in 2015.... After teaching grammar for 12 years, I was SHOCKED how little the typical Canadian knows about grammar.... Schools aren't even teaching their own languages properly sadly
@@sirant Let me put it this way. I would look at any social system from a free market point of view. The end product caters the expectations of consumers in general. If most of the consumers "accept" the product as OK, the product remains as such. At least, theoretically in a "democracy", the end users do have their say. Who to blame for a failed education system? I would say it was the end users, ie parents, employers, government, etc.
boys and girls have the hard time on fighting for the restroom
Without H1B America can't compete. Today the young Americans are not as hardworking and smart as their parents. Hollywood can take some of the blame.
@@iWantPeace838 The rich don't need to worry because their real estate taxes will keep the local public schools in good shape or they can just send their kids to expensive private schools. The poor may be too impaired to worry about their kids - "Hillbilly Elegy".
The American school has a happy education system, that is terrific for kids and terrible for parents! If you want them to work in McDonald then sure, just go with the happy education system!
Happy education system?? Are you serious or joking??? Why all the school shootings? And all grassroots mass shootings also? I see nothing happy about their education nor social environment
I think he was making a joke, comparing the education system to the McDonalds kids "Happy Meal". Garbage food designed to get kids addicted to unhealthy habits at an early age.
但是美国的精英阶层可不是什么快乐教育 他们只是把所谓的“快乐教育”用洗脑的方式输入给平民百姓 以保证教育隔离 所以精英的孩子以后大多数都还是精英 参考一下美国犹太家庭吧
@@fzmoifzmoi2575 don't you understand jokes at all, why are you so serious, blimey. Read to understand.
woke & lgbtq education & appreciation sessions too.
I brought my children from Chile to study in China and I see a big difference between the form of education in one country and another.
My daughter was studying in fourth grade in primary school and had to start mid-semester of second grade, because she had to learn Chinese. Now she is in third year and it has been very difficult at first to adapt to the language and studies, but now she has leveled, but the learning is much higher, for example in mathematics I see a big difference in the way of teaching and the tasks are done every day with a lot of practice, but what is incredible is the depth of seeing it, by making the student have You have to reason, think and analyze the questions to find the correct answer, not just saying that 2+2 is equal to 4, not the normal and linear way that is often taught in the West, but they put other variables in and you have to reason, so you can get to 4.
And it is true that they have a single snack at lunch and then sleep for 1 hour, and then do exercises and other activities to stimulate them and keep them in shape.
I think the decision I made to bring them back was not a bad one and I don't regret it.
Thank you for sharing your story! I think you are 100% correct!! You have given your kids a massive advantage, especially in the language skills, which will make them much more valuable employees in the future! Great Choice!!
Your children will thank you for it!
中国教育有时候有点扼杀人性！但是就提高学生能力方面还是很有效的！
@@hkhjh 請解釋 詳述中國教育怎樣扼殺人性!🙏
@@Elfan97-ec1uk
我自己就是一名中国教师，高中老师！
中国教育客观上强迫学生比拼智力，手段和过程有点不人道。
多样化在中国教育中几乎看不到，这是我最不喜欢中国教育一方面。千篇一律学科，所谓成人眼里“懂事”德育教育模式，培养终点指向--学习好、懂事的孩子。
而有些智商不高的孩子在这过程中痛苦不堪、毫无乐趣。
当然这种模式有它的优点：公平、高效，但是细细想想，这是以牺牲多少孩子天性作为代价！
作为这个教育体制的一员，深深感觉这些问题存在却又不能改变这些，有时很无力！
Thank you Sirant!. Very interesting information. I've been tyrying to see a video just like this from the several expat youtubers I follow. This is the first time someone shows and explains how elementary and high school sare in China. Much better than in the West. There is a reason Chinese students are among the top ratings in the Pisa studies.
Both school look really big and nice. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for visiting!
The western society did not want their citizens to know better alternatives.
Only by toughening up, their citizens become stronger on their own, resilient and open to new adventures, able to overcome difficulties
I sincerely hope more people go out into the world and learn for themselves what is out there!😊
They play when they play, they work hard when they learn. Respect their teachers and follow disciplines.
Very True!
This is one of the most enlightening reports of the schools system in china. Thank you.
Thank you very much!
The school in Beijing where I worked for 10 years, has a dormitory building, a gymnasium including 4 X100 meter swimming pool, a 400 meter running track and a standard soccer field... they have 20 three D printers...
Nice!
Wow! Very high quality! I wonder why chinese students come to Cagayan Valley in the Philippines when their education is far superior than ours? Must be some hidden agenda somewhere.
Thank you for showing and explaining a different perspective to their education system. Much appreciated 👏
Glad it was helpful!
There's an old Chinese saying ; In the realm of books awaits a house of wealth and a beautiful maiden. 😂
书中自有黄金屋，书中自有颜如玉。
@@WarLionsofGesar Thanks for the Chinese proverb and hope my transliteration matches as I was Western educated despite being having Chinese ancestry.
I like that!
Beautiful!
@@brianliew5901 The meaning of your translation is obviously not right.
Skills, skills, skills !!!
Chinese schools and Chinese parents focus on students learning skills.
Western society is not focused on skills, instead we focus on “feel good” and “woke indoctrination.
Wow! So impressed to hear how your daughter turned out after being in the Chinese school system!
Thank you! We are very proud of her!
@@sirant you certainly would be! Is she still overseas or back in China now?
Great video. Thanks Sirant.
I was born and raised in Shanghai. I did not know when I was a kid that China's public education system is so good. I knew it until I worked in the US and send my daughter to a nearby public school. The content in that school is just too easy, so I immediately transferred her to a private school for better academy. IMO the private school in the US is not bad. It's funny that in these private schools nobody talks about "happy education". Most kids work very hard and most of them are Chinese, some Indian, few white, very few others. Unfortunately only less than 10% kids in the US actually go to private schools. The "good education" is just not available for most of the people.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am glad your child was able to benefit from the private system. It is sad all students cannot have the same opportunities.
Money is not enough, parents don't emphasize on education.
Great video thanks for sharing 👏👏👏🎯🙏🙏
Glad you enjoyed it
As a Chinese student myself I can say that the math teaching is really good. And I only found out that when I was in another country. My computation skill compare to the locals is way more faster and accurate and to think I'm just average in class.
Thanks for sharing! I agree completely! My daughter said AP mathematics in University was very very easy!
@@sirant There is no such thing as AP mathematics in university. AP is a university level high school course only offered in high schools.
@@loremasteringwion9930 My bad, slip of the tongue. I meant Advanced Mathematics, part of her curriculum in University. Thank you for pointing that out.
17:00 that’s exactly my feeling when came to Toronto in middle school. Everything, even the final exam questions were quite easy and I collected countless Waterloo contest awards 😂
Congratulations! I am always happy to see when students received good end results from their hard work in school!
Way much better than singapore .
Hwa Chong Institution is way better. But that's if you can afford it at $100 per month.
Thanks!
Thank you for watching and your support!
❤China….Education and personal well being is so deeply embedded into the Chinese culture. I taught at a massive university in Guangdong Province it really opened my mind up to how important education and success was to the students. Unlike the west, Chinese students aren’t in a huge rush to grow up, check the education box, and move into the working world, and I think parents really enforced this. 90% of my students didn’t have boyfriends/ girlfriends because either their parents didn’t allow it or education was far more important. Along with this, the collectivist culture is so blatantly obvious. They think, act , talk, eat, dress, believe, as a group not as individuals. Most people in the west (including my family) have formed their opinions of China based on what the media feeds them, without setting foot in the country. I’m so glad I had the privilege to take a little closer look into this amazing country. My advice, if you’re intrigued about traveling to China, go for a minimum of a year, and teach! Just traveling won’t give you even close to the same perspective as teaching. ❤China!
Well said! I came to China in 2004 for a 1 year teaching contract. In 2024, I am still here, taught extensively in the Chinese system and raised a family. My family back home also held (and likely still does) the negative stereotypes. I am glad you had the opportunity to experience and enjoy life here yourself! Thank you for sharing your experience!
As a Chinese, I love school very much. I cannot understand why many children in Western countries do not like school and do not want to go to school. I am 40 years old now and I still want to go to school. Chinese schools are simply the most beautiful places. Most Chinese people love school very much and think that the time spent in school is the best in their lives. Therefore, many people go back to school to visit their teachers after graduation. I agree with you, yes, people should go to China to live and work, instead of learning about China through western mainstream media
This is interesting. Is it like that through out China?
Too bad education isn't as valued in Canada as there.
Yes, education is a focus throughout China. However, as in any country, different communities have different amounts of money to invest in facilities. But, no matter how new or advanced the technology, education is always a priority.
Yes as far as I know. I joined a summer school programme in Beijing back in 1999, and that's what the school is looks like.
@@hanmi1216 Wow! 1999!!! I bet it was an amazing experience! I recently saw a video showing how 50, 000 US students were invited to China to experience the Chinese school system, and they were all amazed and thrilled as well! Thank you for sharing!
@@sirant yes, it is an amazing experience. Especially that afternoon nap break that shocked me. We don't have that kind of break time here in Indonesia 😅.
@@hanmi1216 I tell ya, after teaching for 10 years, the one of the last schools I taught in China, they gave me my own apartment, even though I lived off campus anyways. I sure LOVED having a 2 hour nap in the afternoon between morning and afternoon classes!😊😊😊😊😊😊
Another reasons for Chinese parents to put their kids in school for such long time in a day, is because both of the parents are so busy in jobs, their don't have enough time to take care of their children. Rather than children getting back home early and playing video game all the rest of the day, parents prefer to put them into other classroom after school. If the school could provide more lessons till 10pm, that would be even better.
You are 100% correct! I used to teach lessons often until 8pm when I worked in large public schools. And then after that the students could attend homework sessions where actual teachers could help to make sure they understood.
I am full of admiration for the brilliant hardworking students and even more so for the wonderful teachers who are so caring and dedicated to their profession. They deserve the deep respect of their students.
As a Chinese。I'm very happy more and more foreigner work as teacher in China。it can improve Chinese kid's English level.English is very important in China ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Love the content of your vlog. Look forward to more. Just subscribed.
Awesome! Thank you! A lot more interesting content coming!
I heard that in one US state, teachers are allowed to carry weapons to school. What a "perfect" society that America is! 😱
Yes, the law was just passed in Tennessee. So the solution to the gun problem is MORE guns... Oy.... Poor kids.
Looks a lot better than the schools in my town in California!
Great education. I remember that Sophia top 2 always she studied in Hong Kong. And then when she was in UK she was granted a scholarship. Great training and facilities and faculty development and great respect to teachers.
thank you for tell us the truth。I'm watching your
many videos and subscribe
well said. i was a chinese student years ago. The difficulty and depth of education in China are somewhat higher, which means those below average may feel a great academic pressure. Moreover, Chinese people are known for their ambition; everyone wants to be the "cream of the crop." This mindset can lead to at least half of the population feeling stressed and caught up in a rat race. In fact some people are not animal for academia; it would be distressing for an elephant to compete with a monkey in climbing trees. In my own educational journey, I didn't find things too challenging, except for the more intense periods during the third year of middle school and the third year of high school when exams were imminent. I had plenty of time for play, sports and dating, I also escaped much classes, it didn't impact my study at all. After all, no one can become an all-star player without rigorous training, and I believe that even basketball legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant underwent intense training.
The key issue is that not everyone needs to have the same goal. Elephants should focus on building strength, monkeys should excel at climbing, and fish should master swimming. With this approach, life won't be too bad, and there's no need for anxiety.
Also well said! I agree completely!
*The BBC would ONLY show @**13:30** with comments on how China is falling apart*
Oh of course, though they would likely make up some other crap as well.
@@sirant Like they usually do. BBC is sooo bad.
In the west these days, the only place to see the true China is from vloggers like yourself, thank you very much.
@@lw7795 Thanks for watching!
I stayed in Shenzhen and Guanzhou for 3 months back in ‘98. It was an out of this world experience even 26 years ago! I can imagine, now it would be even more modern, more futuristic in all aspects of life ❤
I have been lucky enough to witness the changes firsthand for the past 20 years! Thank you for sharing!
There is a Chinese proverb that says that it is better to witness once than to hear someone say it a hundred times
When I was in school, it started at 7:45, and ended about 12:30 - 1pm, with a single half hour recess in the middle, about 18-20 hours a week, 550-600 hours of classes a year.
Wow! I never got out of school that early. When I was teaching in China, I often had lessons at 5pm and even some evening sessions after dinner.
You must be Singaporean. Only half a day in school for primary schools, ridiculous...
What an eye opener! The national system, that takes great care of its young: nurturing, educating, building their environment, that creates healthy life habits- that nation will have its own great future!
Absolutely!
Thank you for this video. My 10 year old son also attends state school in Beijing. All you said about the incredible facilities and teaching are also true here. Furthermore, we should talk about how families work together with the school and teachers to educate the kids. At least one person in the family is responsible for taking the kid to school or after school activities.( math, Chinese, English, Arts, music etc classes) by the way, for the last 2 years, my son and his friends are take AI class on the weekends. They all can do computer coding and my son has started to write his own games. Simple games but nonetheless.
I also have to add that we are very ordinary family, not rich at all. And live in an ordinary neighborhood.
Thank you again for this video and hope you can make another video to highlight the family participation in their kid education. ❤
Great idea for a video! I will certainly do that! Thank you!
Chinese students actually learn things in classes.
Ok but can they tell us what a woman is?
Thank you Sirant for spreading the fact. That swimming pool is possibly abandoned and will be replaced by other facilities. Nowadays Chinese parents in the major cities prefer indoor swimming simply because they are afraid of potential harm to their kids. The UV exposure during a standard 2-hour training drill under the sun does not sound well for pupils.
You know, I never thought of that, but you are 100% correct! I too would be concerned about the UV damage to swimmers. Thank you for pointing that out!!
for someone who has been through in both types of education, the Western education is more towards group projects and brainstorming, while the Asian education is more towards practice. Thus, Western schools do not give much homework.
Does this mean that Westerners always like to talk but not do things?
@@zen-mc4ju the Western education is more towards real-world approach -- you brainstorm and discuss more in group projects instead of practicing a task repeatedly
@@MrDragonballzbin u mean a group discussion of LGBT? or how to abuse the teachers? emmmmmmm..
@@samesamebutdifferent-i2 definitely not those kind of topics 😂
When I was in grade 3 in Hong Kong and then immigrated to Canada and continued grade 3 there. They’re still learning adding and subtraction.
Meanwhile, I already know times table by heart, division, algebra, basic geometry and basic math equations. That was back in 1971.
Wow, nice school you have👍🏿👏🏿
Chinese education it’s a not a joke! Go take a look at their exams. You will understand how lucky the kids are in United States.!
The school you showed in Hong Kong, very modern, very good facilities. Very large and clean in general.
It's not in Hong Kong actually. That school is in Shenzhen, it is just a branch of the Chinese University of Hong Kong group of schools, but physically located in Longgang District of Shenzhen. But yes, it is a very nice looking school!
Once I visited my friend's daughter's grade school in Guangdong, she was in second grade, and she had to stay after school because she didn't do her homework. She was not happy. Now, I occasionally send messages to another child because she is struggling with her English. I am not sure if this is true for everyone, but children in high school live in dorms.
Some kids live in dormitories on campus, absolutely. Often times this is for the best. If mother and father are hard at work everyday, it is a great way to ensure their child is getting the appropriate assistance for their success. Also, it eliminates commuting long distances if the school is not close enough to home. We always lived close to my daughters school and she had two teachers as parents. So she never needed to live in the dorm.
Yes it is a norm to be kept at school longer if a student does not do his homework. Not finishing homework is viewed as a big deal even for a first grader since it shows irresponsibility. Usually only may be two or three students out of 60 do that in my primary school.
Schools in uk are falling apart.
Sorry to hear it. Though you are not the first I have heard say this.
Yes, because they see profits and not the education.
Very good video you made, thanks a lot, I really need this info
Glad to hear that!
At least Chinese students don't have to worry about active shooters. Maybe that's why they can concentrate on their studies better.
That's true but they worry about the crazed man with a sword or knife killing kids. At least it doesn't happen very often but then again they don't put out to much of the bad news that goes on
America's secretary for defence only has a BA from West Point University - I wonder how much study time he put in to "earn it"!
His Chinese counterpart was a rocket scientist who was involved in the construction of China's Space Station!!!
I have met a few people who has university "degrees" that they known nothing about. Their parents literally paid their way through "higher learning" and now we have graduates with less skills than McDonalds employees. It is a sad part of the modern western educational system I have seen with my own eyes....
@@sirant
In America, many universities will hand out doctorates and professorships freely, let alone batchelor of arts and masters!
@@BobsSite-r1z That's terrible... Really devalues the hard work done by actual students.
Thanks for sharing and surfacing the truth. 👏👍
My pleasure
American schools especially in high schools, the students are more interested in sex and how to look pretty and sexy like their Hollywood idols. !
Social Media Education....
I remember growing up in the US small town in Illinois in the 90s. Our playground was the parking lot. When we fell, our pants ripped and we get bloody knees and elbows
Me too
That's why Westerns are tough, a Chinese person would go to the hospital for a scraped knee
Ss usual usa calls this terrible
I enjoyed watching travel videos from our western perspective.
Are these private schools ?
Nope, both public schools.
I went to a Summer School, in a University library, upper floor, the bathroom sink was the follwing: a wetened paper pipe with plastik faucet...
America will consider this a threat to their national security.
Heh. Yep. not a lot they don't!
Senator Cotton once said. He does not want to see China students coming to America to study STEM fields. He prefers them to major in Art, Music ... 😅
Do you know how terrible American schools are?
I have never gone to school in America, but I know all about the Canadian school system. And working for over a decade in the Chinese school system I met hundreds of teachers from America who told me horror stories of the classrooms and schools there. That is EXACTLY why they came to China instead of teaching in their home country.
The push for education is historical and cultural… growing up in the west with Asian parents… it was a difficult situation being caught in between… it’s only when I became an adult with kids, I realized that most kids need to be pushed as the typical tendency is to avoid reading and doing math…
I like to see titles like this as it is likely to attract western media readers and they will most likely be surprised when they find a modern society more advanced than their own, a society focused on giving young people a good education and confident start to their lives.
Thank you for your comment! And I agree with you 100%! It's not clickbait to get viewers, like those videos that show sexy women in their thumbnails with no relation to the video at all. Sharing information is a tricky business and requires some creativity to reach a broader audience.
@@sirant absolutely, the whole point of content creating is to reach viewers and if you can draw in viewers and help them change their minds then you are doing a very good thing 👍🏼
@@JohnnysCafe_ Thank you! That is exactly why UA-cam itself recommends the practice! You are very wise!
Good luck U 🙏 amazing experience in China 👍🕊️🌏
Thank you for your kind words and support.
One of the main things for children attending school in China as opposed to the US is they will not get shot for being at school.
Sad, but true. All children should be safe.
Thank you for your informative video🙏👍🙏
My pleasure
Thumbs up and subscribed, Sirant!
Thank You!
Chinese students are more respectful and attentive toward their teachers unlike US and the Western world. "To Sir with Love'
It is simple from an old China hand. China and East Asia in general are merit based. You go to the elementary in your neighborhood then around 6th grade you take a test to enter the middle school of your ability level in the city, then after middle school you take another test to enter the best high school of your ability, then the Gao Kao Test (High Test) to enter the university of your ability at national level, province, or local. Competition is the name of the game. Further, almost all kids in East Asia go to after school cram school to learn English or higher math skills to do better on the test and then return home to do several hours of real homework. Bad behavior and lack of work ethic are not tolerated. Parents support teachers and good behavior. Parents push kids because they are your retirement policy. you are expected to support your parents in old age and provide them a nice flat and a good stipend to live on. Compare this to the USA where our kids are not pushed or made to be responsible, or have a work ethic. All economic levels are expected to behave and they all pay for the after school cram schools out of their pockets. Those kids that do not work or behave are tracked early into a good vocational program to become a productive member of society. Academics is viewed as a path to wealth and power. Yet, all kids are expected to become a contributing member of society. Taught in Taiwan 1988-89, MA East Asian Studies Chinese, Taught 27 years in US Schools, Fulbright Scholar Japan 2003, Fulbright Scholar China 2005. Retired from US public schools last May after 26 years. Often it is is said by Western people that Asian schools are pressure cookers that burn out kids, yet compare this to US schools where people under perform grade level, drop out, are violent, involved in drugs. Which is better I ask?
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for sharing! ❤
It was not easy for China to be able to provide our young generation with better education and health services. It took our most hard working, courageous and selfless people years to make this happen. Their dedication to the cause will be forever remembered. ❤
Amazing comment! Thank you!
From kindergarten to university, at least 2-hour lunch&nap time.😃 Afternoon nap is very important to refresh you and keep you concentrated in the following study and excercises.
So true!
Having to tell Americans that "definately" or "wierd" are not words is so tiring.
Common misspellings. "Wierd" especially, as it breaks the rule all kids back home learn in primary school. "I before E unless after C". I always got soooooo many questions from students about all the exceptions to grammar and spelling rules. The one that kills me is how many North Americans say "I seen ....." Amazing how often I hear that in Canada.
9:30 actually they are junior middle school students, aged from 13 to 15(may ±1 for some inevitable reason)
Yes, those ones are definitely older, though the other side had little wee ones. 😊
In fact, Chinese people know more about American education than most Americans. Most Americans think American-style happy education, but this is only for the bottom people. In fact, the American elite has always understood the importance of education, and the education of the elite is actually similar to that of China.
everythin so organized n clean...bravo China....
Agreed!
EDUCATION is a way to PROSPERITY! 👍❤️🇧🇬
Absolutely!
Is this a Tier-1 city? What about average Chinese school outside the cities?
If you watch the video right to the end, you will see me visiting some kids in a small town in rural Guangxi. Although they do not have a foreign teacher and had never seen a foreigner to that point ever, the school was large, with excellent sports facilities and a safe, secure environment! The classrooms all had AC and modern AV equipment.
There might be difference in the resources you can get in different cities. But the enthusiasm and dedication at education is built in blood.
I love this video! You explained China's educational system very well! All those people spouting nonsense about China should see this, but even then they'll probably think that the CCP paid/forced you to only record specific parts 😂. Keep it up! 💯
Glad you liked it!
Not just the US, Canada is the same. I am in Malaysia. I am considering to enrol my daughter into the online Canadian high school diploma instead of A level. My friend’s kids did Ontario diploma, they said it was very easy, they both got above 95 out of 100.
Looks good to the modern standards. Good job
Chinese students are not smarter than any other student in the world. They just have more emphasis, either by themselves or their parents, and strive for higher education. It's a cultural norm. If your society strives to be the same then the students will be comparable. However, there is 1.4 billion people in China so having some brilliant kids is in their favor. A matter of statistics.
Latin originated from chinese Manchu language， and all Western languages were established and improved by linguists from chinese Qing Dynasty from 1600s-1900s. Westerners have robbed the royal bibliotek of the Chinese imperial palace, over 700.000 volumes of scientific and technological philosophy books document and millions of objects, including scientific instruments and experimental equipment, all stolen by the West. Westerners like to use the wisdom of Chinese people as intellectual rouge to embellish their brains.
You are correct. Statistically there are students here in general, so they will show in higher numbers on the world stage. However, it certainly helps they have an excellent school system to thrive within!
Hello from California. I agreed with everthing you said.
Thanks for visiting and your comment!
The first 13 years of my life was without any schooling. I come to found out that those without earlier education were like having scholastic attention deprivation disorder. Our ability to analyzed data were much poorer than those with better education. Some of my working colleague growing up with military parents were doing much worse because their education was always got interrupted by the need to move from place to place along with their parents. They always got sympathy from their teachers, therefore teachers pushing them to achieve perfection were secondary. Realistically saying is, if kids got a stable encouragement to push for perfection, will grow up to have a habit of trying get perfection.
You need to improve your English grammar. People will judge whether you are really "educated" or not. My first exposure to English grammar was in junior high school when I learned everything there was to know by way of a British textbook. When I wrote my doctoral dissertation at the University of Californa at Berkeley, my advisor did not change a single word.
Yes, I admitted that I am not highly educated but I am not one of those with master's degree and beyond, but the only history they have written about Cambodia were the fallacy of bandwagon from one author to another. Again, this is my signature history of Cambodia. At the beginning, the French continued to employ the language first implement by Nguyen Phuc Anh when he became the first emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. The Chu-Han (Mandarin) was the one rebellion against the French, when the French wrest power from them in Cambodia in 1863. After the Chu-Han victory against the French in 1954, their attention was switched to focus on undermining Norodom Sihanouk's power in Cambodia. They were very successful because they limited Norodom Sihanouk's independent for only 16 years and able to put the secretive genocidal Khmer Rouge in power. They were also very successful at assigned the blamed on the Chinese for having an embassy in Phnom Penh from 1975 to late 1978 by given the Chinese only a few thousand tons of Kapok.
Great video! I like your T-shirt!
Thank you!
Although Shenzhen is one of the most developed cities in China, and the schools you visit are quite expensive, the level of public education in China is generally the same, but regional differences and the unfairness of university admissions to the gaokao (National Unified Examination for High School Graduation) remains a big problem.
Yes, I found the GaoKao to be incredibly demanding for my daughter. She took evening and weekend classes for years to prepare. Thankfully shedid well due to her dedicated work and study habits.
The US needs to get it together and focus on education not indoctrination
Agreed!
There is a fantastic novel that covers the Chinese education system and how it fits into Chinese society called "Chinese Dream" by Anna Lee. This video covers the really nice, expensive private schools which is great, but the novel describes the life of a foreigner who works in training centres in a third tier city, marries a Chinese lady and has children in China, so it describes lots of different aspects of Chinese education and many different individual experiences, all of which are real experiences.
It is an interesting story that is really well researched and covers lots of other different aspects of Chinese society, as well and the writer obviously speaks really good English and Chinese, and balances lots of different perspectives.
Hmmm, not really sure what your point is. I suspect you didn't really watch the video... My videos are about sharing my current daily life in China as a foreigner, not a cultural analysis of the Chinese school system. Had I been writing a novel or making a 3 hour documentary, I too could have shared the past 20 years where I worked in a prefecture level rural city, married a Chinese woman and raised a child together, all while teaching in the public school system with much less funding than training centers. I based my opinion of the Chinese education system on my experience as a teacher, parent and even student in that same system, not on showing clips of nearby schools in my neighborhood. (One is private BTW, the other is a public school) If you had watched to the end you might even have noticed I visited a small town school in rural Guangxi as well. My opinion of the Chinese school system is based on hard evidence and experience over the course of 2 decades.
@@sirant My point is just what you were saying in your response, which is that what you've provided is a 20 minute video on schools, but this is a huge subject. I was in no way being critical (I fear I may have given the wrong impression when I commented on the private school focus - apologies for that) of what is in your video, just suggesting that (as you yourself did in your response) that you were not attempting to go into the subject in a very comprehensive way, but give people a taste of what Chinese schools are like, which is a completely valid and reasonable thing to do. BTW I really liked that you pointed out that the demands of the schooling system are driven by the pressures of society.
The intent of my comment was simply to say, if you do want to go deeper into this subject, there is a book that covers this subject in a lot more detail (probably takes 20 hours rather than 20 minutes to get through, so it will only be for those who are deeply interested in the subject), and from quite a few perspectives written by someone who was obviously very interested and committed to the subject, speaks, and is culturally fluent in both English and Chinese. I mentioned it, because I also spent a long time teaching in China and am fluent in the language (passed HSK5 more than 10 years ago) and found it a really interesting perspective.
Good luck with your videos.
@@96518 Thank you for your considerate response! I do get a number of comments of critical nature, often by people with little understanding and having not even viewed the actual video to discover the perspective! Congratulations on HSK 5, btw, that is a great accomplishment! I am currently working my way through an HSK course as well. This particular course goes up to HSK 9, should be interesting to see what new materials have been added!
@@sirant I have heard that they are changing the HSK system again, so I think that is the new one. When I did it, it only went up to HSK6 but I never bothered with HSK6 because I found it very technical and I didn't want to get into that level of detail. The only levels that I sat for were HSK4 and HSK5 (I did a 3-year grad-dip in it so the lower levels were unnecessary) and I found the material really good because there was a really good mixture of history, culture, and really modern stuff. I remember when I did HSK4 in 2011, my book had a passage on 裸婚 which my Chinese friends were really surprised at because at the time, it was a really new concept.
Now I just prefer to read authentic materials, novels, newspapers, stuff online. I'm not sure what your level is but if it is not in the highest couple of levels (if it is you'll know this already) I encourage you to work hard on your character knowledge - it is the key to it all. So many times on my learning journey, and even today, sometimes people use unfamiliar phrases and idioms and I can work out that they mean from the characters, and if I don't know a word I can just make one up from my pool of characters. If I am wrong people will guess what I mean correctly anyway. Years ago I was in a conversation and the word "flask" came up (this was before they were common) and a Chinese person asked me what it meant. I had no idea and so I thought it is bound to have the characters for warm and bottle in it so I told them I didn't know and guessed it was "暖瓶" and they stared at me for a moment then said, you mean "保温瓶" and I thought "protect-warmth-bottle", that's got to be it. Anyway, I hope you have as much fun with your learning journey as I did with mine.
And good luck with the videos. You are a brave man. There are many that I can't bear to watch because so much to do with China is so polarised to one side or the other.
@@96518 Apparently HSK 7-9 are brand new, as in, a year or less old! Should be interesting when I get to that stage. As much as my writing is terrible, I do try to focus a lot on reading, as I do drive here and feel it is important top be able to read the signs, among other things. I also studied in Shenzhen University for a year as well, however, as I was also working full time as well, it became a bit too much. I have had people suggest I take my videos in a more "political" or aggressive direction, in order to get views and ultimately, money, but that's not what I am all about. Other than an attention getting title or thumbnail, my videos are primarily to show my own, relatively laid back and content life in China.
Those Children in China look So Happy and innocent; the way they Should be!! But you are right, it's nothing but Jealousy from the West.
elementary in China already learning the science of programming languages were you only learn it in Colleges in U.S.
This is really cool! I would like to see and learn about rural schools deep in the countryside. How they compare. As china is massive i wonder how it is possible to give same education with supplies. Thank you.
I wish I had gotten better footage, but if you watch the video to the end you will see me be swarmed by a bunch of kids in a school in a very small town in Guangxi province. They had never had a foreign teacher nor seen a foreigner at all. The school was very large and had huge outdoor recreation areas. Next time I am in that town I will get a proper video of a countryside school to share!
One underappreciated fact... The social status of teachers and educators in China is much higher than in most of the west. For example, in the west if you want to show respect to an older person, you may call them Sir, with the connotation of nobility or military status, or Madam, again with connotations of nobility or elite status. In China, you would call such a person, whether man or woman: "Lao Shi", literally translated to "Teacher"...
Absolutely! That was one of the things I loved most about being a teacher here! They are given so much respect for the fact they are helping to prepare the next generations for the future of their families and country! Made the job so worthwhile!
@@sirant One of the sad aspects of many western liberal democracies is that education is one of the most critical problems facing such countries' long term viability and sustainability, while the political system does not support long term planning and solutions, resulting is inevitable decline in the education system, which ironically is one of the foundational requirements for a thriving democracy. Teachers in many liberal democracies are almost criminally under appreciated, under-compensated and not sufficiently respected.
@@seanmei3444 Well said. Though sad that it is so very true.
Can you please compare the Estonian school system and Chinese School System and The Terrible Prussian School System
Sorry, I don't think I can. I know nothing about them. I would have no basis for comparison. I only speak about my personal experiences.
@@sirant Okay
What are the trends ? I think education in China is going in the right direction and schools in the United States are going in the wrong direction. At least public schools in large American cities.
Education in Canada is becoming worse and worse. They pay teachers MUCH less than they deserve, over work them and do not provide proper tools and supplies for them to use. This leads to classroom crowding because fewer and fewer people want to be teachers these days.
I like the kid in the last picture :D he was trying to button up his shirts before taking the picture
Hey,
Canadian father and teacher in China here.
I though I would balance your statement a little.
There is a huge Vail covering the educational system here. You are correct that is is not as bad as if you where to compare it to the worst North Korean indoctrination camp however there are huge societal pressure that affect the majority of students.
Firstly the infrastructure usually is a fasade. They tend to be poorly built and deteriorate within a couple of years. Most of the images you showed will be broken down and look terrible in five years.
The security.... Also, not necesary and a rouse of security. Security is so easy to bypass because it is all for show. The actual guards are untrained and security systems ineffective. It is there to meet a standard but has no real effectiveness.
I like China too. My daughter will also do her school here. The only reason I am confident about that is because she has western influence at home.
The average Chinese student has extreme amounts of societal pressure based on working hard for it's own sake. Parents, teachers and instruction feed off themselves pushing students harder and harder. Often the students get lost and become studying machine for the sole purpose to complete against each other. They learn to do test and study for the sake of doing more tests and study more. This plays a huge role on their cognitive development and morals.
You put put the Chinese educational system in a bright positive light however, it is also deeply flawed.
I think that if you are looking for a balanced, reasonable and objective conversation on channels like this, you will be sorely disappointed and wasting your time. People here see the world in two colours only. Look at their discussions, they want to be polarized, and they are not interested in any solutions or communication. They fight for "who won" while they all are only loosing.