News and Culture: All the Brains in the World

We all know there's a sh*t load of people in China, but did you know they're all really smart? Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but that must be what it seems like to every Chinese parent, high school student and soon-to-be graduate. In a recent lesson, a teacher asked us whether we thought a Chinese student's life was fulfilled. We, of course, replied that we didn't know, we hardly ever see them. The teacher laughed, "Of course not" she said, “Chinese students only go to lessons, to the canteen and back to their rooms to study". And it's true - the university I'm at has no adverts for extra-curricular activities, and as far as sports teams go it seems you're either in them or you're not. There's not even a collegiate Hoodie for crying out loud! 

The point I'm trying to make is that this week's post is going to be about why the Chinese are so obsessed with studying and getting good grades. I feel that this is relevant as I seem to have entered into an educational system where 70% is considered slacking. "Why is China so mean?!" asks Sophie, when I tell her this. Well, this is why.

In 2011 [so I'm gonna say now] there will be [are] 7.3 million University graduates in China and in 2003 alone the number of people in higher education was 17 million. In 2009 in the UK, the number of graduates was almost 335,000, whilst the number of people applying for university in 2011 was 633,811 for 490,000 places. Bai Yong, a teacher and expert on graduate employment [no, I don't know what that is either], points out that it's just as difficult for companies as it is for students concerning employment. It's all fine and dandy for those with no education, but graduates expect something for having worked so hard, and that's where they're running into problems. He stays positive however, it's always nicer to have a smart population [Interview]. The point I picked up on however, is that noone wants to end up in a job where the wages are low, the hours are long and the work tiring as opposed to tiresome. Or at least, their parents don't want them to. Therefore everyone wants to get into university to avoid this problem - but surely it can't be that easy? So why is it that so many people are getting into Higher education? Why, it's all that hard work of course.

According to a China daily article, Chinese children have no time to play, to the extent that they spend more time in the classroom than their parents do at work. The story of one girl, Zhuzhu, is actually quite disheartening - she, like most Chinese children, has extra-curricular activities on the weekend as well as tutoring [some people get home tutoring, others go to day school]. All this because her mother is so aware of the competition for University places and, later, jobs. "She'll have time to play after she enters University" apparently. Mate, not from what I've seen.  Another girl apparently committed suicide because she didn't get into the Highschool she wanted. And you thought the job market in the UK was tough. [Article]

My favourite segment from an article I just read about a 'wolf-dad' who has brought up 4 'stereo-typically successful children' reads: "Xiao’s children’s life before college was an endless round trip between school and home. No extracurricular activities, playdates, or sleepovers were allowed. At home, TV, soft drinks, free access to the Internet, snacks and air conditioning were all banned. Even visiting a classmate’s house involved a complicated application procedure, including getting the signature of the kids’ headmaster." Lol? [Article]

In one of our listening lessons, our teacher showed us this video clip:10 Minutes to learn about China [Watch it 0.o]. It's a great intro to China if you've just been perusing my blog without actually knowing anything about the place I'm living in, but the main part I want to highlight is at 3:28, the bit about education [although at 1:50 something hilarious and kinda sad occurs. Just watch the whole thing, it's quite interesting and mainly accurate.] For those of you who didn't bother, it basically says that Chinese kids can memorise a lot of info, but don't have the ability to analyse this information, or do anything else basically. They don't participate in extra-curricular activities, mainly cause they're too busy preparing for those exams they seem to have at every second of their lives. It's actually something you notice in China too - you don't see any children over the age of about 7 out playing, or even out! You'd be surprised how many listening exercises revolve around people's kids not getting into a good middle school because they only have a 75% grade average.

In sort of other news, but along the same lines, a phrase that keeps popping up in my life more and more often nowadays is 'networking'. Not really sure of what it means, I panic less for myself and more for my already graduated/ soon to graduate friends.

"I need to network!" Exclaimed Eva, graduating from the LSE this year.

"I don't want to enter the real world!" I exclaimed in return. Why can't we just continue studying forever? We agreed.

And if we feel like that, how do Chinese students -  who have done nothing their entire lives besides studying -  feel? Do they have this concept of networking? And how easy - in a country famous for corruption - is it for those without connections to work their way to the top? Well, if you continued to watch the video, at about 7 minutes in  when it starts talking about 面子 [mianzi, lit. face] and 关系 [guanxi, relationships/ connections], you'll see that they do have this concept, in fact possibly to a further degree than we do in the west. It's all about keeping/saving face in China, as our teachers constantly remind us.

So something to think about, when you think that it's all going horribly wrong for you at any particular point in your career, or you're finding things a bit 'hard': Life for Chinese children is a competition. An uphill struggle. I would even go as far to say it's a fight. From the minute they enter school, everyday for the next 12 years is going to be hell... Wow, ok that was a bit much, but yes. Life is hard for Chinese children, and now you know why. Pray for them, because they don't have the time to.


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