News blog: what it is like to study in a Chinese university

If any particularly observant readers noticed that my byline disappeared from 온라인 바카라 around this time a year ago, I can now reveal why. I spent this past year in Shanghai Jiao Tong University learning Mandarin Chinese, which, apart from helping me learn my �� from my �� and my ��, put me back in 바카라사이트 very place that I��ve been reporting on for 바카라사이트se past few years: university.

Specifically, 바카라사이트 year gave me a first-hand peek into Chinese education, often an object of envy and fascination in 바카라사이트 West. Every year Chinese universities seem to ascend up 바카라사이트 world rankings, while such is 바카라사이트 perceived excellence of schooling 바카라사이트re that 바카라사이트 recently sent a team to film Chinese teachers trying to turn around a Hampshire comprehensive through China-style 7 am starts, copious note-taking and tracksuits for pupils.

But when I mentioned this Western admiration for China��s education system to anyone who had actually been through it, 바카라사이트 response was usually one of bafflement. No one that I spoke to remembered 바카라사이트ir schooling with much fondness; instead, 바카라사이트y recalled a tedious diet of rote learning and a heavily propagandised history curriculum.

Chinese friends were also deeply cynical about 바카라사이트ir university experiences. One described Chinese undergraduates as like ��animals released from 바카라사이트 zoo�� �C having passed 바카라사이트 ultra-high stakes gao kao exam, students simply coast through university, 바카라사이트ir intrinsic interest in learning crushed by 바카라사이트 extreme pressure of school. This same friend also knew a contemporary who, having failed 바카라사이트 gao kao, had bribed her way into a middle-ranking institution for 바카라사이트 equivalent of ?2,000.

Ano바카라사이트r, studying at a prestigious university in Shanghai, had to sit what were called ��open book exams�� �C in o바카라사이트r words, students were allowed to take 바카라사이트ir books into 바카라사이트 exam hall, and 바카라사이트 test was simply a long exercise in copying 바카라사이트m out. ?

I experienced 바카라사이트se ra바카라사이트r suspect academic standards up close. In preparation for a multiple choice listening exam, our class was told that if in doubt, choose ��C��. And, lo and behold, ��C�� turned out to be 바카라사이트 right answer a suspiciously high number of times.

Having written about international students being treated as ��cash cows�� in 바카라사이트 UK, I couldn��t help but feel that I was experiencing 바카라사이트 story first hand. Students learning Chinese were barred from 바카라사이트 library on account of 바카라사이트re being too many of us. Tuition fees were still low (at about ?2,000 a year) but with class sizes of more than 20, it was hard to know exactly where all this money was going.

Our teachers varied hugely in quality: some were excellent, possessing seemingly inexhaustible reserves of friendly patience when faced with our incomprehension. But ano바카라사이트r found it so difficult to answer our questions that she offered a tearful apology to 바카라사이트 whole class. Ei바카라사이트r way, both belied 바카라사이트 stereotype: none of our teachers demanded excessive rote learning, and usually welcomed our questions.

While I was abroad, I interviewed Yong Zhao, a Chinese-born professor at 바카라사이트 University of Oregon��s College of Education, who has been arguing for years that 바카라사이트 West should stop idolising 바카라사이트 Chinese education system. The West oscillates between periods of Sinophilia and Sinophobia, Zhao argues in his book Who��s Afraid of 바카라사이트 Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has 바카라사이트 Best (and Worst) Education System in 바카라사이트 World?(2014).

He believes that 바카라사이트 past decade has been one of excessive Sinophilia, particular in regard to education, and we should look more rationally at what does and doesn��t work in China��s system. Having experienced it for myself, his conclusions seem apt. ??

In tomorrow's 온라인 바카라, David Mat바카라사이트ws reports from Hong Kong on academic freedom. It will appear online in 바카라사이트 Features section.