Yesterday, I returned from the best experience of my life: a two week exchange trip in China. I went with four of my classmates and two teachers and we all had a wonderful time. For ten days, myself and each of my fellow classmates lived with a student attending Beijing number eight high school, located right in the heart of the city's financial district.
I took so much out of this exchange and feel so thankful to be afforded with such a wonderful oppertunity. Although we had a great time, the most important lesson I learned on this trip is quite grim. But nevertheless, its something that every American should realize...
Basically, if this country doesn't wake the hell up, we're going to get our ass kicked in the global market. This isn't a concept I learned by going to China. Just like everyone here on Dkos, I'm an avid political junky and have read all about China's economic potential.
But before my exchange trip, I only conceptualized what I would read or hear. I didn't fully understand what I was hearing. There was something empty about this concept that I thought I understood. I learned, however, that you can't truly understand something without experiencing it firsthand.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I got an up close and personal look at why Americans fear China so much. I saw exactly why China has so much economic potential. The most fundamental reason we fear China is simple: Their work ethic.
Every night, the student I lived with came home and did a minimum of five hours of homework. I go to a rigorous high school, and I get loads of homework, too. But unlike my Chinese friends, I don't sacrifice a social life outside of school.
That was the most striking difference between my life and my student's. One of the first questions I asked him was what he liked to do on his spare time. His answer:
"In China, we are very busy so we do not have enough time"
Imagine, being so enthralled in school or work to the extent of not having any hobbies. During my ten day stay, my student didn't go out with a friend once. It was all study, study, study.
Of course, this type of education is inhumane and ridiculous. But it's what we're competing against. Their work ethic would not exist, however, without their unequivocal passion for math and science.
One day, I sat in on my students english class and their teacher asked me if I could do a question and answer session about American schools. I first gave a brief introduction about my school here in Tulsa, Oklahoma and about myself as a student. I told them I was particularly interested in history and politics and not so much in math or science. This not only puzzled the class, it angered them. How dare I insult math and science, the two most essential subjects for a school of predominantly young, aspiring engineers and businessmen. And to like history? What kind of job could that pointless class get you?
During my students physics class, you could hear a pin drop amdist the traditional teaching methods of the young, knowledgeable teacher. During geography, however, everyone started to undwind. The teacher was an old bag. Short and fat, she taught for maybe five minutes at the beginning of class and then had her students learn out of a workbook for the rest of the period. During these fourty five minutes, a group of nearly 45 studious Chinese teenagers laughed and found whatever they could to distract them from their geography workbooks.
While the students might outwork us in school, the teaching has a long way to go. Class sizes are up to 45 or 50 students which is way less than a poorly funded public school in Oklahoma. Teachers teach very traditionally and many students simply memorize information instead of definitively ingesting the material. In my opinion, this is the one barrier preventing China's young scholars from dominating the world in just about every math and science related sector.
I could go on and on but I'm pretty jetlagged. I just want everyone to know that the fear of China is real and you better take it seriously. If you love this country, teach your kids (if you have any), not to finish their dinner because children are starving in China but to finish their homework because some kid in China would love to do it for them. So let's hope the 2008 olympics don't hold the same fate for China as they did for Japan in 1964: Coronation as a world economic power for years to come. Otherwise, this country's very existence will be endangered for years to come.