Chinese students' high scores in international tests come at a cost

By Megan K. Stack, Los Angeles Times
January 13, 2011

Reporting from Shanghai — Chinese adolescence is known as a time of scant whimsy: Students rise at dawn, disappear into school until dinnertime and toil into the late night over homework in preparation for university entrance exams that can make or break their future.

So it came as little surprise when international education assessors announced last month that students in Shanghai had outperformed the rest of the industrialized world in standardized exams in math, reading and science.

But even as some parents in the West wrung their hands, fretting over an education gap, Chinese commentators reacted to the results with a bout of soul-searching and even an undertone of embarrassment rarely seen in a country that generally delights in its victories on the international stage.

"I carry a strong feeling of bitterness," Chen Weihua, an editor at the state-run China Daily, wrote in a first-person editorial. "The making of superb test-takers comes at a high cost, often killing much of, if not all, the joy of childhood."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-education-20110113,0,6192691.story

everyone at MSNBC must have had parents that let them be in plays and go to sleepovers. Chinese parents don't let their kids be in school plays and go to sleepovers! And they do great in school! You got the feeling that Savage (ne Weiner) didn't get invited to too many sleepovers.

playing with the broken mercury thermometers too many times as a youth.

He discredited himself a long time ago on this topic.

"We have seen the advantages and the disadvantages of our education system, and our students' abilities are still weak," said Xiong Bingqi, an education expert at Shanghai's Jiao Tong University. "They do very well in those subjects the teacher assigns them. They have huge vocabularies and they do math well. However, the level of their creativity and imagination is low.

"In the long run, for us to become a strong country, we need talent and great creativity," Xiong said. "And right now, our educational system cannot accomplish this."
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Quick, someone Tell Obama and Arne that China WANTS TO BE LIKE US! If we fix/address our poverty issues, we'll be the envy of the world again, no time flat!

I'm convinced the Chinese are far superior in this and the next generation will rule and lead on the world stage for many many years.

by the Education Deformers. 40%. You'd think that a number that large and significant would get plenty of play in the press.