My China Kanfa.....China on My Mind

( Going way back in the archives here....the article below was something I wrote hree years ago on the blog, and  talks about China's educational test taking process. See new links below  for more context, as well as an update.  One very strong takeaway is that PISA did not, probably will not, release the test results from other locations beyond those of Shanghai.   Which we've heard by the way, are pretty good scores.  It would be nice if PISA, when listing Shanghai, simply had a footnote or asterisk explaining how the schools were chosen, etc.  Still from what I can tell, China was not part of the most recently released results.  For obvious reasons, if true.  News yesterday from the Washington Post.  Its a quick read, but is full itself of really good links, a few years old but relevant because China, well because China never changes.  The bottom line is one is reminded of just how tough it is to be Chinese if one is n...

Thoughts on China’s high test scores We’ve been told for quite some time now that the USA educational system is horrendous, and that quite frankly, we suck.  Meanwhile, other nations are steaming full speed ahead.   I’ve always wondered how a nation as big and diverse as the USA could be compared to a nation as homogenous as Korea, or Finland.   Nevermind their size.   Even China, which is 92% Han. Now a true study has come out based on population(thank God) rather than statistical results. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/youll-be-shocked-by-how-many-of-the-worlds-top-students-are-american/275423/ All it means is if we score low on a test, it’s no big deal as the USA is so large, it still has enough high testing students to keep it’s place amongst the top rank of nations.    Thus the rankings of countries, regardless of size and ethnic diversity, is a joke, and not an apples to apples comparison. ...