Effort

China’s academic culture is one of effort. Equal ability on every student’s part is presumed; the differences in performance are thought to come from devotion to task, and students are urged to be number one.  In high school, students spend upwards of ten hours a day in class and have six or seven hours of homework, besides.  They study most of the weekend as well, and there are copious amounts of homework on summer vacation.  When, you might ask, do these young people get to behave like kids?  Answer: they don’t, at least not until they are in university, where burnout often occurs.

There is fierce competition for spots at the best high schools and the best universities. Parents who can afford it send their children to academic coaching courses over the summer, hoping to boost their children’s performance.  Some of my friends are uneasy about the degree of pressure Chinese education places on children.  But they also want to offer their children a chance to compete.

Anyone who has studied with me or watched me teach knows I believe that learning comes with effort. I don’t think most Americans ask enough of their students.  But recreation and rest are restorative, and I don’t think Chinese education takes account of this. This education system is an extreme. Telling students they’ve underachieved when they fail to be number one is cruel. Only one person is.