They aren’t the miracle that most in the West believe. They can do MATH.
Shock and Aw.
- In Taiwan after school you go to a buxiban to study some more. Rote memorization. Who has time to become creative? Or to discover art or who you are or . . . will the next Harry Potter or new music genre or Nobel Prize winner come from this system?
- In China–the urban elite are well educated and compete in those international tests that freak out the West so much: OMG they’re getting ahead! But they fail to understand that the elite are wafer thin and outside of the urban areas people are poorly educated, education is expensive, and what’s available is rote memorization to prep for the Gaokao, the almighty test that gets you into the college system, IF you aren’t connected and can’t grease the palms of those who have access to the houmen or back door. If you’re from an rural area, you have few rights if you move into the city. If you’re hit by a car, you have no recourse, for example. Because you don’t live there. It’s brutal. Everyone else who can’t do the gaokao is attempting to go to a good school abroad, by sometimes taking the SAT for real but usually with the help of an SAT company that has the answers ahead of time and which prepares the essays. In the US or Britain they can learn English, get those international chops and then use family connections to tap into the SOEs (state owned enterprises that are completely intermeshed with the government) and get a good appointment where you can pull down your share of emoluments (as someone in our own administration seems to also understand more than integrity, but hey that’s just how things are done)
- in Korea, you compete compete compete compete against a single rubric of EDUCATION and BEAUTY unless your family is forward looking. It’s a tiny country where everyone knows each other and “helps each other out” if you’re well connected.
Most Westerners look at the one international test and say: wow they are doing great! But: Cheating on the test + only a thin swath actually takes the test + who cares!!! Where’s the creativity and original thought??