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School reform and looking at China

A very articulate column in the Eugene Register-Guard urges school reformers to look before they leap:

My research turned up some interesting perspectives from adults who’ve graduated from China’s school system. A Web site on home-schooling in China included an article featuring a woman who is home-schooling her children because she remembers being very lonely as a child. She seldom spent time with her parents, who worked long hours, and almost all of her own time was spent at school or studying.

Another woman was sent away as a young child to attend a better school, not an uncommon practice in China. She saw her parents once a year. Perhaps not surprisingly, she doesn’t want a child of her own.

All the glowing reports of amazingly well-educated kids fail to mention the downside of China’s education system. Contrary to (Stephen) Barnes’ perception (in a prior Register-Guard column), education funding in China is below the international average, according to numerous reports. Although the government is attempting to remedy the problem, rural children do not fare nearly as well as children in the cities. The government currently spends only 23 percent of the education budget on rural schools, even though two-thirds of the Chinese live in the countryside.

The majority of rural children do not attend school beyond junior high. Children must pass a test to enter senior high school, and rural children generally don’t score as well as their urban counterparts. Parents are required to pay tuition and higher school fees at the senior high level; if they can’t afford them, they’re out of luck, unless they can land one of a limited number of scholarships.

Students who manage to graduate from senior high face additional hurdles. There aren’t enough available spots in Chinese universities to accommodate all the students who want to attend. Often universities set a quota on the number of students they admit from various parts of the country, with preference given to city dwellers. At the same time, jobs are scarce.

There’s lots more.  Go read.