School envy a 2-way street for China, U.S.

Sarah Carr:

China's schools have struck fear in the West with their relentless focus on subjects such as physics and math - areas where American students have struggled compared with other nations.

However, visits to dozens of schools in China and hundreds in the United States reveal that both countries love to hate their own schools, and live in awe of others' strengths. While Americans revere the Chinese mastery of basic subjects such as math and geography, the Chinese extol the American emphasis on creativity and nurturing individual talent.

In the prosperous seaside region of Zhejiang, the situation's changing, though, as entrepreneurs inject some of the country's relatively new capitalist fervor into the schools. The result is a panoply of schools that comes close to resembling Milwaukee's education scene in its diversity - hardly what one would expect to find in a Communist state.

Students attend fancy private schools focused on such non-academic subjects as kung fu martial arts. A fledgling school voucher program aims to give families more choices as well as strengthen alternative and private schools. Educators describe a shift toward more local control and creativity in teaching. And parents like Xu are closely examining their new options.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 3, 2007 5:08 PM
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