Inside A Chinese Test Prep Factory

[SeaConquest]

Did anyone else read this?

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/magazine/inside-a-chinese-test-prep-factory.html?utm_content=buffer15e5c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&_r=1

 

I vividly remember the pain of cramming for the bar exam -- a crucible that I would not wish on my worst enemy -- but this takes things to a whole new level.

[Farrar]

Ugh.

 

Here's what I love about America, for all its flaws... while the deck is also stacked in favor of the privileged here, there is no one make or break moment in education for anyone. There can always potentially be second or third or fourth or fifth chances or different paths to success. And while I question the whole "college for everyone" thing, I like that it can be flipped to be college for anyone. I don't want to be as simplistic as to say anyone who wants to succeed can, but we have done so much to make college possible for more people who really want it.

[ebunny]

These kind of articles must be taken in context..you're looking at the most populous country in the world with the number of college aspirants faaar outstripping the number of universities/colleges. Then, you add in first generation learners who're aiming for upward mobility. And then you add in the competitiveness that comes from the previous 2 factors plus the middle class cohort trying to establish their own space.

 

I do recall reading something similar on KIPP? Maybe not to the same degree...oh..wait.here's a link....http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.in/2012/03/at-kipp-i-would-wake-up-sick-every.html

[Mergath]

What I can't get over are the stacks of books at each desk!  Holy cow!  

[Southern Ivy]

I just spent yesterday complaining about the number of tests I have to give my students and how we take too many practice tests to get ready for the real test. We go over and over the information. It feels like we do more test prep than teaching; but, apparently, I was wrong. We don't do ANY kind of test prep when compared to these students. Poor kids. That's an insane amount of pressure.  :sad:

[Farrar]

I know there are some American proponents of this in a way. People are who like, they work this hard (not just in China, but in many Asian nations) and that's why we're going to "lose" to them... just in the economic and innovation and productivity sort of sense.

 

But I was talking about this article with dh last night and saying that I think it's really the other way around. How can you win if such a huge proportion of your potential workforce is turned away from opportunities to do their best work? How can you win if you only allow a tiny percentage of people who are successful at one moment become your only educated workforce people? And everyone else has to go off and dagong, as they say, and become a migrant laborer - and being migrant labor means you can't ever really get ahead become you aren't there legally and you can't have kids there because they can't go to school... Argh. It's just not good for society.

[Tsuga]

 

How can you win if you only allow a tiny percentage of people who are successful at one moment become your only educated workforce people?

 

I wouldn't trade our system for China's in a million years, but this is kind of how I feel about poverty.

 

We just weed ours out younger, before we track them in high school.

[Carol in Cal.]

Great article.

[Farrar]

I wouldn't trade our system for China's in a million years, but this is kind of how I feel about poverty.

 

We just weed ours out younger, before we track them in high school.

 

I suspect we'd agree about this overall, and I don't like to defend our system of education or social mobility for the most part because I think it's pretty rotten... but I think there is at least still a chance for some people, in part because you can study your ass off and get a scholarship to Harvard... or you can drop out and go back to community college and end up with a living wage. It's not enough of a chance for enough people, I know. Sigh.

 

Are there nations that do a good job with this and don't put everyone through a single, make or break funnel?

[Tsuga]

I agree completely. There are small chances and most importantly there are second chances. Like I said I wouldn't trade our system for a high stakes system, particularly not China's, for the world.

 

But in terms of lost talent, I feel sad. But it's not the same as what is going on in China, of course.

 

I think Finland has a nice system but frankly, I've never been anywhere that has what we have with our second-and-third chances community colleges. It is one of the things I really do love about my country.

[Laura Corin]

I do think other countries apart from the US have good second and third chance options.  In my own family: my  second brother dropped out of university after one year, went to work in a casino as a croupier, then later went to college to study computer programming - he has a very nice middle-class life; my aunt went to drama school, then took a secretarial course, before later doing a well-respected part-time Open University (correspondence) degree and advancing in her career; my elder brother failed most of his school exams, but was taken into a computer programming course in his forties - he didn't manage to complete the course, but that was for private reasons.  

 

Many universities also have 'foundation year' programmes that allow mature students without traditional qualifications to take a degree over four years rather than three - here's one.  There are local colleges (similar to community colleges) that offer Higher National Diploma courses, often in vocational subjects, which can stand alone or be converted with extra work into degrees.

 

L

[JumpyTheFrog]

Wow, what those students and their families sacrifice is insane. Our educational culture seems incredibly lazy compared to theirs. I liked the comment by a (presumably) high school or college student who said he wouldn't complain so much about his homework anymore after seeing what life is like in China.

[KarenC]

What an awful way to spend your childhood!

[Tsuga]

Wow, what those students and their families sacrifice is insane.

It's not insane if you saw what they were trying to leave behind. The stakes are higher.

[JumpyTheFrog]

It's not insane if you saw what they were trying to leave behind. The stakes are higher.

I understand that, but it still seems too extreme. If you need IVs to keep you awake, you are studying too much. At some point, the students would be better off with more sleep because sleep deprivation screws with your memory.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Did anyone else think this article makes most Americans look wimpy in comparison? We are a bunch of whiney softies compared to these students.

[Tsuga]

Hoppy, there is no question that it's extreme.

 

But it's a short-term sacrifice for a huge payoff--first of all, think about the wedding odds in China. How does a poor farmer boy get a wife? Answer: he doesn't. 

[SeaConquest]

Did anyone else think this article makes most Americans look wimpy in comparison? We are a bunch of whiney softies compared to these students.

 

I think it really depends on what you value in your life -- stoicism, achievement, competition, being the best you can be at all costs v. joy, following one's passions, balance, peace, etc. Obviously, we have the luxury of choice; something these poor children do not.

[madteaparty]

These kind of articles must be taken in context..you're looking at the most populous country in the world with the number of college aspirants faaar outstripping the number of universities/colleges. Then, you add in first generation learners who're aiming for upward mobility. And then you add in the competitiveness that comes from the previous 2 factors plus the middle class cohort trying to establish their own space.

 

I do recall reading something similar on KIPP? Maybe not to the same degree...oh..wait.here's a link....http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.in/2012/03/at-kipp-i-would-wake-up-sick-every.html

I had to take an entrance test to gain a (free) college seat in my little Eastern European country, as well. I studied like that for about a summer, 16 hours a day. I guess I don't see what the big deal is. Not sure if a summer of pain is much worse than the nonsense one has to go through starting in middle school here for the privilege of paying the gdp of a small country in tuition fees. I know those are not the only two choices, but the NY times has a knack for hyperbole, imo. I asked my husband's Chinese associate about this test and he said some people get waivers.

[Garga]

I had to take an entrance test to gain a (free) college seat in my little Eastern European country, as well. I studied like that for about a summer, 16 hours a day. I guess I don't see what the big deal is. Not sure if a summer of pain is much worse than the nonsense one has to go through starting in middle school here for the privilege of paying the gdp of a small country in tuition fees. I know those are not the only two choices, but the NY times has a knack for hyperbole, imo. I asked my husband's Chinese associate about this test and he said some people get waivers.

 

 

We've had Chinese students stay with us for the past summers.  Two different sets of kids.  

 

The first set were 13 years old and they said that they're in school from 7 in the morning until 6 at night.  That's inside the school building.  Then they go home and do 3 hours of homework.  I thought they were misspeaking English or something.  There must have been a translation error.  11 hours IN the school building plus 3 hours of homework = 15 hours of school a day??  No way.  

 

But then the 16 year olds came last year and they are in school from 7 in the morning until 10 at night.  IN the school.  They said only one boy in their class stays up until 12 doing extra studying.  The rest go right to bed.  They were somewhat disgusted by the kid who stayed up till midnight--but in a defeated kind of way.  Again, it's 15 hours of school and this time, they're not even home for the last 3 hours of it, like the 13 year olds.

 

They don't do this for a summer.  This is year after year after year after year, all school year long.

 

When we talked with other kids in the group, they all hate it. (A group of students come every year--we host 2 of the group.)  They get extremely serious when they talk about school and say it's THE most important thing.  Not like, "Gee, it's important for kids to get an education," but deadly serious: school is THE most important thing.  They also (both sets of kids) made a point of saying how much they respect their teachers and how their teachers are important and do so much to help them learn.

 

The one boy last year kept going on and on about how he wished he could do school in America because in America you get to learn all sorts of things and you are not just taught to the test.  He rhapsodized about education in America vs being taught to the test.  I absolutely did NOT have the heart to tell him we're headed in that direction.  

 

These kids are so beaten down with all their schooling.  They get so serious and you can see the terror in their eyes when they talk about school in China.  The stakes are so high.  They work so hard.  These are kids and they're in school for 15 hours a day, every day, all school year long, throughout their entire teen years.  I don't know at what ages these long hours star since the students that I meet aren't younger than 13.  

They also study for hours a day during holidays and summers as well.  They don't stop just because it's a vacation from school.  I think it's terrible.  It breaks my heart when I look them in the eye as they're telling me about school in China.  

[JumpyTheFrog]

There has to be bad effects on health from those long hours. Those kids are short anywhere from 2-4 hours of sleep per night.

[Farrar]

I had to take an entrance test to gain a (free) college seat in my little Eastern European country, as well. I studied like that for about a summer, 16 hours a day. I guess I don't see what the big deal is. Not sure if a summer of pain is much worse than the nonsense one has to go through starting in middle school here for the privilege of paying the gdp of a small country in tuition fees. I know those are not the only two choices, but the NY times has a knack for hyperbole, imo. I asked my husband's Chinese associate about this test and he said some people get waivers.

 

From what I know from friends who have come from European countries with that sort of system, I really second what Garga said about how different it is. You're talking about one summer of serious cram time. Three months of your life, probably with a little bit of crazy blow off time here and there. For these kids it's one or two full years. And that was probably after serious schooling for you, but not after the sort of schooling Chinese kids have where they've been in classes late into the night from the time they were five or six with only a half day off during the week. This gaokao prep school is crazy intense, but it's only a step above what the already extremely intense they've had in the past. And if you failed, what were the consequences? Bad, I'm sure. But would they have meant you could never have any chance to get ahead in life ever? Never get any other sort of education? Never get any sort of work other than menial labor or farm work? Never get married? Or, if you managed to get married, likely not have the ability to live with your spouse or children? The people who can get waivers are the people who can pay for them. This sort of cram school is for poor kids.

 

I do think having rigorous, well-written exams can be one of the best ways to ensure a fair system. And I think it's fair to have to cram sometimes. I mean, I don't know what can work better. But things like AP exams, if you bomb them, oh well. You'll get another chance. If you bomb the MCAT's, you can take them again and again and again. In fact, friends who are doctors told me that most people aren't accepted to med school on their first try. If you don't pass the bar on the first go, you can take it again. The chances aren't endless and not everyone has the resources for them, but they exist at least.

[madteaparty]

From what I know from friends who have come from European countries with that sort of system, I really second what Garga said about how different it is. You're talking about one summer of serious cram time. Three months of your life, probably with a little bit of crazy blow off time here and there. For these kids it's one or two full years. And that was probably after serious schooling for you, but not after the sort of schooling Chinese kids have where they've been in classes late into the night from the time they were five or six with only a half day off during the week. This gaokao prep school is crazy intense, but it's only a step above what the already extremely intense they've had in the past. And if you failed, what were the consequences? Bad, I'm sure. But would they have meant you could never have any chance to get ahead in life ever? Never get any other sort of education? Never get any sort of work other than menial labor or farm work? Never get married? Or, if you managed to get married, likely not have the ability to live with your spouse or children? The people who can get waivers are the people who can pay for them. This sort of cram school is for poor kids.

 

I do think having rigorous, well-written exams can be one of the best ways to ensure a fair system. And I think it's fair to have to cram sometimes. I mean, I don't know what can work better. But things like AP exams, if you bomb them, oh well. You'll get another chance. If you bomb the MCAT's, you can take them again and again and again. In fact, friends who are doctors told me that most people aren't accepted to med school on their first try. If you don't pass the bar on the first go, you can take it again. The chances aren't endless and not everyone has the resources for them, but they exist at least.

For sure there is a difference. I failed to clearly state that in my post and I never for a moment think it's the same sort of system. I was just trying to point out that cramming in itself is not crazier, or if it is, it is not by as many degrees as the NY times and the like make it sound. I mean, someone should do an expose of private school admissions process for 4 year olds in NYC... There's more than one way to be insane ;)

What i cannot stop thinking about is how after all that cramming, it seems to be the case that international test results do not show a huge difference between students from those countries versus say Denmark or Poland. Wasn't that the point of that book about the American students who each went to be exchange students in a few different countries? The name escapes me now.

[Laura Corin]

The middle-class children who were our neighbours in China were scheduled seven days a week.  Either they were in school, or in after-school tutoring, or learning a musical instrument.  The only time they could play was at 9pm, so I swung my children's schedule to accommodate this.

 

A note on sleep: most Chinese people (adults as well as children) that I met had a nap after lunch, so the sleep deprivation of the children is not quite as bad as it might seem - even the most scheduled will probably have napped.

 

L

[Farrar]

That was my experience in China as well, Laura. And not just high school students. Little, little kids too. At the school where I taught, there was a little boy in second grade one day who was crying in the English office. He was someone's pet (teacher's pets is a very alive and acceptable thing in China). He was crying because his father, who he had not seen in five months, would not be coming to get him for Chinese New Year. He would be staying at school, though apparently his mother was going to take him out for an afternoon. A single afternoon. I don't understand why he's so upset, the teacher whose pet he was said to me with a huge eyeroll. His father is a *very* important and busy man.

[...................]

This makes my Chinese neighbors who schedule their children to the hilt and study all day long and take Chinese school on top of it seem very reasonable considering what they came from.  Whole. new. Light.

[lewelma]

school is THE most important thing

 

This is why when my dh went on a business trip to china, and the conversation with the locals strayed to kid, there was a hushed awe, when dh said that ds was working towards the IMO.  They were in *awe*.  DH could not make them understand that there is a huge difference between representing 4million people and 1 billion people.  And that china was way more invested in mathematics than NZ.  Very very interesting cultural divide. No one in NZ has even heard of the IMO.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Arcadia]

Ruth,

 

New Zealand is famous for their All Blacks rugby team and their kiwi fruit :). China has a long legacy of math, science and the imperial exams.

Also culturally to be on the national team for any competition is a family/village/town/province honour. How small the nation is doesn't diminish the honour.

[Laura Corin]

That was my experience in China as well, Laura. And not just high school students. Little, little kids too

 

Yes - the children my boys were playing with were aged around 8 to 10 and they were already on that schedule.

[Garga]

I wonder if my Chinese students are reading this thread! I just got this note today from the 13 year old (he's 14 now.) Here's what he wrote to me:

 

"Do you know mid-term examï¼It's important for chinese studentsï¼It may decide your lifeï¼I will face to this exam this year!"

 

I wrote back that I do know about the exam and that we all hope for the best for him on the test.

[SKL]

And what are the long-term effects of this?  I wonder.  So many people learning all that math and science and English, only to fail and do construction work for a living.  Or do they become entrepreneurs?  Do they marry and have kids and put them through the same?  Start them earlier?  Or skip it in favor of accepting fate this time around?  Do kids who are less pressured in the next generation do better or worse in terms of real learning?

 

I think it is interesting that the kids are strong enough to live through years of that; that they continue to respect their teachers and love and appreciate their parents through it all.

[lewelma]

I wonder, though.  My highschool experience was not overwhelmingly different.  Because I did not read until 12, I had some huge catching up to do to make it to an ivy by age 17.  I got on the bus at 8am, did homework on it, was at school from 8:30-3:30, did homework during class. Ran track/CC until 6, drove home, ate, homework from 7 to 11.  Saturdays were all day track/CC meets and I brought 5 hours of homework to do on the bus during down time.  Sundays 5-8 hours homework plus church/youth group.  I worked my butt off for years!  Not quite as intense as the Chinese experience, but heading towards that level.

 

I was just insanely driven, and my parents used to make me stop and sleep.  It never occurred to me to blame my parents.

 

Difference is that I *knew* it would pay off.  In China, if you fail, you are back to construction work.

 

 

[Arcadia]

And what are the long-term effects of this? I wonder. So many people learning all that math and science and English, only to fail and do construction work for a living. Or do they become entrepreneurs?

A lot go into manufacturing but manufacturing costs has gone up in China so factories has moved to Vietnam and Thailand.

Culturally and historically Chinese have always move to wherever opportunity might be. The joke is you can find a Chinese anywhere in the world doing business. People who can afford to leave the country take up permanent residency elsewhere. It is such a populous country that it is hard to educate or feed everyone of school going age adequately.

My SIL who is from China, drop out of middle school because she doesn't like studying and was earning $400 per month as a factory worker in her province. My parents offered to pay for her further education but she wasn't interested, it's a standing offer.

 

ETA:

This 2007 Yale article partially explains the migration

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/chinese-migration-goes-global

[Garga]

 

I was just insanely driven, and my parents used to make me stop and sleep. It never occurred to me to blame my parents.

 

Difference is that I *knew* it would pay off. In China, if you fail, you are back to construction work.

I think that's the key. You were self-motivated and knew it would pay off. And you knew that there was no one test that would break it all apart for you. You could try again in another avenue if something fell through.

 

What about the people who aren't as intense as that? The everyday kid who wants to do well in school, but not work all the time? I feel for those kids. And then to do all that work and fail? Oh, how horrible.

[madteaparty]

So to add another nuance, **no first hand experience** but my DH has a super nice Chinese kid that works with him and I asked DH to mention the article. This kid  said he himself went to a liberal school, focused on languages, and never had more than 2 hours of homework at night.

He said schools in the cities get almost an over allotment, so most those kids get waivers, but in the rural areas it is real and it is intense.

[Farrar]

I wonder, though.  My highschool experience was not overwhelmingly different.  Because I did not read until 12, I had some huge catching up to do to make it to an ivy by age 17.  I got on the bus at 8am, did homework on it, was at school from 8:30-3:30, did homework during class. Ran track/CC until 6, drove home, ate, homework from 7 to 11.  Saturdays were all day track/CC meets and I brought 5 hours of homework to do on the bus during down time.  Sundays 5-8 hours homework plus church/youth group.  I worked my butt off for years!  Not quite as intense as the Chinese experience, but heading towards that level.

 

I was just insanely driven, and my parents used to make me stop and sleep.  It never occurred to me to blame my parents.

 

Difference is that I *knew* it would pay off.  In China, if you fail, you are back to construction work.

 

I think the other difference is that you chose track, which was physical and nonacademic and probably had a lot of friendship and camaraderie. I also had many friends who did this level of activity in school here, but we studied hard and played hard in those moments in between. I didn't know that many high school students when I lived abroad, but based on what I saw in China, I think it's different.

[Wind-in-my-hair]

I suspect we'd agree about this overall, and I don't like to defend our system of education or social mobility for the most part because I think it's pretty rotten... but I think there is at least still a chance for some people, in part because you can study your ass off and get a scholarship to Harvard... or you can drop out and go back to community college and end up with a living wage. It's not enough of a chance for enough people, I know. Sigh.

 

Are there nations that do a good job with this and don't put everyone through a single, make or break funnel?

 

When I got out of highschool, I entered the University of Toronto. I only made it through a single year there. I found I was unprepared for a scholarly path. And I was the only one I knew of in my dormitory that had taken out student loans (PRIVATE student loans co-signed by my two full-time working parents in the states!!)

 

When I attended U of T, Canadians had a pretty reasonable tuition, merit-based and citizenship-based priority admission, citizenship-based access to merit scholarships (I, as a U.S. citizen, could not even apply for one), and a relatively smooth transition after convocation if they planned to stay in Canada. On the other hand, their hospitality to international students was unparalleled to anything I have seen since. They had special programs and social opportunities for international students, including seminars on how to get a work visa upon convocation, childcare and family support services included with the price of fees. Comprehensive health care coverage through Ontario was, for me, a mere $500 for the school year. Their international tuition was very reasonable, even though it was about 10,000 more per year than what Canadians paid when I went there. My family never planned to be able to afford college tuition, so they didn't make plans to, and we entered the student loan mill all too willingly; but in Canada, it was expected that between taxes allocated to education that everyone pays, merit-only awards, reasonable tuition levels that a family can be expected to pay out of pocket, and a few grants given exclusively to needy scholars on a quota basis, almost everyone who really wants an education at the top level could have one. All that, and the high academic rigor that turns away the faint of heart, makes it possible to keep spaces available for those who are able and motivated to pursue it.

 

In Canada, the national government allocates educational resources to the provinces in a top-down fashion while setting the bar for each provincial satellite's education department, ensuring that access is universal and standards are replicated throughout the nation. Despite this, the universities develop unique characters and reputations more or less organically, based on local customs and long-standing traditions. It is much different than the U.S., whose educational system is polarized (like everything else), internally competitive, and ridiculously expensive for what you can expect to come out with. It is possible in the U.S. to pay high tuition for classes that are so easy that you can be expected to know nothing but a handful of career best-practices upon graduation. While the U.S. boasts some of the most prestigious universities in the world, we also have some of the absolute worst that cater to corporate niches and yet siphon federal money through aggressive admissions practices. Worse still, our society has turned the celebrated virtue of going to university into a necessity: Because higher education pretends to be universal, it becomes remedial. What needs to be learned to gain admission is taught; everything else is learned when you get there. 

 

Most of my Toronto friends received their education and went into the workforce. Many exited university debt-free and went to work in public administration or public education. Some worked in the media with their humanities degrees, and a few even dropped out before completion (debt-free and always welcome to come back), in order to pursue areas of work that relied on technical skill. A friend of mine, a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S. from an Illinois Mennonite background, ended his degree in political sciences to obtain employment at a building company in the city of Toronto. He had learned carpentry through his church's global mission service, which he pursued in his year off between high school and university. Several friends of mine halted their U of T education to pursue careers in the performing or visual arts. Again, they are always allowed back. Even I, if I could pay out of pocket for my whole family to live in Toronto, would not be barred from resuming my degree exactly where I had left off. (Perhaps as an empty-nester, if I have savings, I will).

 

U of T is probably one of the most competitive schools in Canada, which is why so many people dropped off and either entered vocations directly, or through some of the many subsidized vocational programs set up in Canada (which they call "college" as opposed to the scholarship path of "university." We States-ians seem to equate the two). Some people I knew went back to their hometown school, Guelph or Waterloo, which were less urban and less competitive. U of T is an urban school in a global city, where many students actually DO face very high stakes, and that can be an eye-opener to some people who are there without a clear-cut ambition. But for the most part, the rigor was enjoyed by those suited to it, and the fact that even I had a shot at it, that I could still go back if I wanted, means it was not a strictly determined track--my high school transcript and application showed my potential; the rigor I could either meet or eschew. While I attended U of T, a 27-year-old mother in one of my classes told me she was working on her degree in history while her children were in school. This wasn't like a University of Phoenix propaganda ad, where this would be her "second chance" at getting a good job and showing her kids the American dream. This was her leisure time away from her kids being spent in the rigor of learning something as complex and abstract as history. That door was open to her at that stage in her life based on her good standing as a citizen, and her educational merit that has no expiration date. It makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with the country I come from, why its all about money, expediency, and accolades here rather than creating a broadly educated public that engages in the life of the nation. 

 

This big rant comes from the bottom of my heart. Sorry its so long-winded. Its been more than 10 years since I left my friends in Toronto and now I am itching to go back and see how they are doing in their careers.