Do you know who is watching your kids?
The Chinese educational system takes a brute force approach to teaching: memorize everything. Teachers and parents smash information into the brains of students.
The result is usually astonishing. The Chinese educational system excels at teaching discipline, and students from China are, to generalize, dedicated and earnest about their education, and smart, smart, smart. Through hours of schooling, after-school tutoring and weekend schooling, Chinese students learn to master subject matter in ways most Canadian students can’t fathom.
With exception of the Chinese dedication to schooling and the seriousness that Chinese culture gives to education, few Canadians would want to see their children schooled by Chinese methods. We westerners prefer a more individualized approach to knowledge. Students are not automatons or memorization machines. Students are people. They need choice, freedom, and room to develop their independence and creativity.
Westerners probably give children too much freedom (the stereotype that western children live amid a culture of disrespect isn’t off base). But in light of new reports on surveillance of Chinese children, choice is preferable to no choice.