Why are more and more people from the West moving to Russia? "Unpromising." Why more and more people are leaving Russia
Are schoolchildren allowed to sleep in class in China? February 13th, 2017
This is not the first year that I have heard that today’s Russian schoolchild is terribly overloaded with the school schedule and the amount of knowledge that is provided for in the school curriculum. And now the school curriculum is simplified, school items They are cleaning up and even the second shift in our region was canceled - otherwise it’s hard for a schoolchild to study on the second shift.
Remembering your school years with second shifts and 6 lessons a day (the class was really physics-mathematics, but not that much), I somehow don’t remember the terrible workload, even taking into account the internationally recognized strong Soviet program training. In our country, everything will be reduced to insanity, so they canceled the second shifts - but they transport schoolchildren and teachers by bus to other schools (because there are not enough classes). So we've started simplifying the program and the burden on the child - how far will it go?
Oh yes. So why do Chinese schoolchildren sleep on their desks? Maybe they are so lazy?
Now we'll find out...
Photo 2. 
For most students, sleeping in class results in a severe reprimand. But for these Chinese children, this behavior is not only allowed - it is encouraged.
First grade students primary school No. 1 in Guoxing (Shaanxi Province of western China) live in neighboring Xi'an. The school building is too small to accommodate lounges, and most students live too far away to go home for lunch, so they are forced to take their midday naps at their desks.
Photo 3. 
This tradition is known as wujiao and is familiar to students in all schools in mainland China and Taiwan - taking a half-hour nap immediately after lunch. Although this habit may seem strange to Europeans, teachers insist that the children are very happy with their “sleeping” situation.
Although some of them bring blankets and pillows, most simply lie down on the tables with their clothes and even shoes on.
Photo 4. 
Says the school principal: “They don't have time to go home and there's no room for beds at school, so they sleep on tables. They feel quite comfortable - and there is no chance that anyone will be late for the start of the next lesson."
Photo 5. 
“We learn while we are alive. And we will study until we die” - the slogan of a Chinese high school student is not at all a figure of speech. In a country of almost one and a half billion people, higher education is one of the few, if not the only, social elevator for those who want something more than a daily bowl of rice. True, you need to pay such a high price for it, which probably only the most outstanding children in the world are capable of. And another five million Chinese. This is the number of places allocated annually for new first-year students. Not as much, by the way, as it might seem at first glance. Some time ago, Russian Minister of Education Dmitry Livanov complained that almost 75% of school graduates in Russia become students. So, in China this figure is almost four times lower.
For some universities, the competition can be up to 200 people per place. Moreover, not only school graduates of the current year apply for admission
Traditionally, those who fail the exam continue to try again and again, proving that perseverance is also one of the Chinese virtues. Sometimes veteran applicants really amaze the imagination: a few years ago, the entire Chinese press wrote about 81-year-old Wang Xia, for whom luck smiled only on his tenth anniversary.
There's no time to breathe
The typical daily routine of a Chinese schoolchild is monstrous, both from the point of view of sanitary standards and simply from a human perspective. Get up no later than five in the morning and immediately independent studies. From eight in the morning until four in the afternoon there are lessons, and then from four until nine in the evening there are additional classes. Finally, at nine in the evening you can have dinner... and continue studying until fatigue and sleep completely knock you off your feet. Theoretically, there are two days off, but using both is bad form. Neither teachers nor parents will understand such “sloppiness.”
Sunday morning is the permissible maximum rest for a decent schoolchild, but if you fill it with useful educational activities, this will cause the unconditional approval of family and neighbors. Chinese wisdom says: while you are catching your breath, you have already been pushed back several steps
Summer holidays often do not exceed ten days, and then part of them is devoted to the necessary self-preparation. Regular summer picture in Singapore shopping centers with good air conditioning: hundreds of people who are not at all interested in shopping, but are poring over textbooks and notebooks. As a rule, these are high school students who are preparing for the main exams of their lives - the Gaokao.
The most important two hours in life
Gaokao is all-Chinese entrance exams to universities. Every year in early June, for three days, all graduates of the country test not only their erudition and intellect, but also their psychological and physical endurance.
Gaokao includes both compulsory subjects (Chinese language, literature and mathematics), each of which is allocated two hours, and elective subjects: foreign languages and the so-called complex sciences. Here the test timing is reduced by half an hour.
If the student does not complete the test within the allotted time, the exam is considered failed. If a student allows himself to talk during the test, which for obvious reasons happens extremely rarely, the result will also be canceled. But cheating threatens with a lifelong ban on taking the Gaokao. It is clear that under such conditions the question of crib sheets does not even arise.
Comparison of the Unified State Exam and Gaokao is possible only formally. Both are epoch-making exams that open (or close, in case of failure) doors to the world higher education. However, the degree of nervousness and pressure on students in China is simply not comparable with Russian realities. A Chinese teenager is completely crushed by the expectations placed on him by his family and friends. Failure in an exam is not just an academic nuisance, but something comparable to a betrayal of a family, whose moral debt he must repay throughout his life. However, motivation built on feelings of guilt and duty, having at its disposal only a very tangible stick and virtual carrots in the “beautiful far away”, does not always bring the correct results.
The main thing is the result
Enormous amounts of information that need to be processed, in addition to the obvious benefits for mastering the subject, lead to strict prioritization, often to the detriment of quality. Western teachers working with Chinese students say that the terrible workload in most cases does not allow students to concentrate, think through and analyze tons of reading and learning. “If I ask their opinion about a book, I often see only bewilderment in their eyes,” American teacher Renee Forseth Williams writes in her blog, “but everything changes if I clarify that there will be a test based on the book. Some people say that – if it’s not for a test, I’m not interested.” In fact, only what is subject to testing is memorized. On the one hand, this allows you to really fully master the program. On the other hand, it completely excludes a creative approach, for which there simply is not enough time or energy.
Only for our own
Despite all the medieval cruelty of the Chinese educational model, attempts to instill local experience on European and American soil are made with enviable regularity. However, they are not particularly popular or successful. And yet, from time to time, the teaching and parent community explodes with emotion, reacting to books about “other” educational concepts. "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" - quite self-explanatory name provocative work by Yale University professor Amy Chua. The author talks in detail about the strategy for teaching music to his daughters, already on the first page listing a strict set of rules required to achieve success. Actually, in fact, this is a set of prohibitions. Girls are not allowed to participate in school celebrations and theatrical productions, watch TV, choose classes of their own, get any grades other than A's, and even play other musical instruments than the ones their mother chose for them. As one would expect, such a technique ultimately leads to monstrous conflicts in the family and nervous breakdowns. Although girls do manage to achieve significant success in music.
sources
Chinese secondary education is unique in that, in addition to traditional ones, they try to instill moral principles in children and help them unleash their creative potential.
In China, all children aged 6 must go to school. First, they study for six years in primary school, then another three years in junior high school. This is compulsory education for everyone. After graduating from a first-level secondary school, you can enter a higher-level secondary school, where you study for three years. True, for this you need to pass entrance exams.
Public schools in China cater to Chinese children, but some are allowed to accept foreign students as well.
In this case, tuition will be paid, about 5 thousand dollars per semester. Training is conducted in Chinese, so for admission you need to pass an exam in Chinese, English and mathematics.
In addition, foreign students will first have to study for a year preparatory program. It will cost, on average, 28 thousand yuan ($4,500) per semester. The cost of a semester of schooling after enrollment is the same.
Typically, Chinese schools with international branches for foreigners are located in major cities, especially in Beijing and Shanghai. Mostly children of employees of international companies study there.
Among the public schools in China that accept foreigners is Beijing High school named after the First of October, Middle School of the People's University of China, Beijing No. 4 Middle School, No. 2 Middle School of East China Normal University (Shanghai), Middle School of Fudan University in Shanghai and Middle School of Shanghai Jiaotong University.
Private schools
There are also private schools in China, and they are more popular among foreigners.
One of the best is the boarding school Beijing New Talent Academy. Children aged 18 months and older are accepted here (the school has kindergarten) up to 18 years old. You can study in Chinese together with Chinese children or in the Cambridge International Center existing at the school in English according to British educational program. To enter the school you need to pass exams in Chinese, English and mathematics. If a child enters the Cambridge International Centre, then he must also pass mathematics in accordance with the requirements of the British program. Children who study in English still learn Chinese language and culture. The cost of training at the Beijing New Talent Academy is 76 thousand yuan per year for studying in Chinese ($12 thousand) and 120 thousand yuan for an English-language program ($20 thousand).
If the American system is closer than the British one, you can choose Saint Paul American School in Beijing. Education there is conducted according to the American educational program with compulsory study of the Chinese language and culture.
In general, Chinese public and private schools that accept foreigners are aimed at children whose parents live in the country, although many schools offer boarding. Most students in international programs in Chinese schools are children of expats. Almost all schools require that a foreign child studying in a Chinese school have an official guardian in the country (this can be a parent) - a Chinese citizen or a person permanently residing in China and holding a residence permit. The guardian is responsible for the student and is the point of contact in case problems arise.
Being Chinese is not easy. When there are more than one and a half billion of you in a country without social guarantees, you have to work hard to find a place in the sun. But Chinese children are ready for this - their hard work begins in first grade.
At one time, I worked as an English teacher in four Chinese schools (and as a trainer at a kung fu school). Therefore it is very interesting to compare Russian education and features of schools in the Middle Kingdom.
Children in school uniform―tracksuits―at a lesson dedicated to Earth Day, Liaocheng, April 2016.
- Many schools in China do not have heating, so teachers and students do not take off their outerwear in winter. Central heating is available exclusively in the north of the country. In central and southern China, buildings are designed for warm climates. This means that in winter, when the temperature can drop to zero, and sometimes even lower, the only means of heating is air conditioning. School uniform - sports suit: wide pants and a jacket. The cut is almost the same everywhere, only the colors of the suit and the school emblem on the chest differ. All school grounds are bordered by large iron gates, which are always kept closed, opening only to allow students to leave.
- In Chinese schools, they do exercises every day (and more than one) and conduct a general exercise. The morning at school begins with exercises, then a line on which the main news is reported and the flag is raised - school or state. After the third lesson, all children do exercises to relax their eyes. To the accompaniment of soothing music and a recorded narrator's voice, schoolchildren click on special dots. In addition to morning exercises, there is afternoon exercise - around two o'clock in the afternoon, when, to the same inexorable loudspeaker, schoolchildren pour out into the corridor in a single impulse (if there is not enough space in the classrooms), begin to raise their arms to the sides and up and jump.
Chinese schoolchildren from the city of Jinan do exercises on the roof.
- A big break, also known as a lunch break, usually lasts an hour.. During this time, children have time to go to the canteen (if there is no canteen at the school, they are brought food in special trays-boxes), have lunch, and also run, stretch their legs, scream and play pranks. Teachers in all schools are given free lunch. And, I must say, the food is very good. Lunch traditionally consists of one meat and two vegetable dishes, rice and soup. IN expensive schools They also give you fruit and yogurt. People in China love to eat, and even at school traditions are observed. After the lunch break, some junior schools allow five minutes of “sleep time.” By the way, a couple of times my students fell asleep in the middle of the lesson, and the poor things had to be woken up with their hearts bleeding.
A variant of a modest school lunch by Chinese standards: eggs with tomatoes, tofu, cauliflower with pepper, rice.
- The attitude towards teachers is very respectful. They are called by their surname with the prefix "teacher", such as Teacher Zhang or Teacher Xiang. Or just “teacher”. In one school, students - no matter whether they were mine or not - bowed when they met me.
- In many schools, physical punishment is the order of the day. A teacher can hit a student with his hand or a pointer for some offense. The farther from big cities and the simpler the school, the more common it is. My Chinese friend told me what they were given at school certain time to learn English words. And for every unlearned word they were beaten with a stick.
Recess during traditional drumming classes, Ansai city.
- There is a rating of student performance in the classroom, which encourages students to study better. Grades range from A to F, where A is the highest, corresponding to 90-100%, and F - unsatisfactory 59%. Rewarding good behavior is an important part educational system. For example, for a correct answer or exemplary behavior in class, a student receives a star of a certain color or additional points. Points and stars will be deducted for talking in class or misconduct. The progress of schoolchildren is reflected on a special chart on the board. The competition, so to speak, is obvious.
- Chinese children study more than 10 hours every day. Lessons usually last from eight in the morning until three or four in the afternoon, after which the children go home and do endless things homework until nine or ten o'clock in the evening. On weekends, schoolchildren from big cities necessarily have some additional classes with tutors, they go to music school, art schools and sport sections. Due to the highest level of competition, children are under pressure from their parents from childhood. If they cannot do well in the exam after primary school (and compulsory education in China takes 12–13 years), then the path to university is barred.
On September 1, first-graders of the Confucius School in Nanjing take part in the ceremony of writing the hieroglyph “ren” (“person”), which begins their education.
- Schools are divided into public and private. Tuition fees at private schools can reach up to thousands of dollars per month. The level of education in them is many times higher. Special meaning attached to the study of a foreign language. 2-3 English lessons a day, and by the 5th-6th grade, students of elite schools already speak English fluently. However, for example, in Shanghai there is a special state program, paid for by the government, under which foreign teachers also teach in regular public schools.
- The education system is based on rote memorization. Children just memorize great amount material. Teachers demand automatic reproduction, without particularly caring about how understandable the learned material is. But now alternative education systems are gaining increasing popularity: Montessori or Waldorf, aimed at developing children creativity. Of course, such schools are private, education in them is expensive and accessible to a very small number of people.
- Children from poor families who do not want to study or are too disobedient (in the opinion of their parents) are often taken out of the general education institution and sent to kung fu schools. There they live on full board, train from morning to evening and, if they are lucky, receive a basic elementary education: they must be able to read and write, and given the Chinese language system, this is very difficult. In such institutions, physical punishment is the order of the day.
Classes at a kung fu school.
Teachers hit students with a stick-sword or, without further ado, they can kick or slap students. But at the end of the day, parents get a disciplined young man with the profession of a kung fu trainer and at least some chance to break into the people. Most of famous masters Kung Fu went through just such a school of life. It is also quite common for children with poor health to be sent here for a year or two so that they can strengthen their health by living and practicing kung fu or tai chi.
Regardless of where Chinese children study - in a kung fu school or a regular one, they learn from childhood three main qualities: ability to work, discipline and respect for elders by age and hierarchy.
They are taught from childhood that they must be the best, no matter what. Perhaps this is why the Chinese are now beginning to occupy leading positions in all branches of science, culture and art. Competing with Europeans who grew up in warmer conditions, they often do not leave them a chance. Simply because we are not used to studying for ten hours straight. Every day. All year round.
07.06.13
Education is the basis of any society and by how high quality it is, one can imagine the future of the state. China is currently considered one of the most successful states in the field of education.
Although there is no national ranking for China, a recent study shows that Shanghai ranks first in categories such as math, science and reading, with Hong Kong second, third and fourth, respectively.
In this post you will find 15 ways to study like they do in China, including both pros and cons.
1. Hire a tutor
To truly experience the Chinese experience, you should hire a tutor. Approximately 80% of parents in China use tutors for their children, either on a regular basis or before important exams such as the infamous Gaokao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Higher_Education_Entrance_Examination).
3. Improve your teachers’ skills every week.
Even the most interested in the high professionalism of school teachers do not conduct professional development on a weekly basis. In China, schoolchildren are taught by teachers who devote half a day a week to sharing experiences with " the best teachers"This additional training is not done for money or certification, but as part of their job.
Teachers are the heart of the school system and successful learning cannot occur without an appropriate attitude towards them. This is also understood in Finland, where teachers receive competitive salaries and only the best of the best can teach in schools.
4. Do more homework
The typical student is constantly trying to cut down on homework time, but in China not only do students often spend four hours a day on homework, but some also prepare extra assignments. Of course, this does not go without a trace: doing homework is the No. 1 reason for lack of sleep.
True, a large number of homework is not a guarantee of success: for example, in Finland they assign little homework.
5. Forget about curiosity
Schoolchildren and parents who have encountered various systems education will be very surprised by the contrast of freedom that schoolchildren have in learning. China is very focused on standardized tests, despite concerns that they stifle innovation. If you really want to learn like in China - which of course is a wonderful way to learn math and exact sciences, - be prepared for the fact that you will have to put aside your creative endeavors.
6. Spend more time
One of the most noticeable differences between Chinese schoolchildren is that they spend a lot of time studying. Often schoolchildren study for 12 hours a day (including time spent studying both at school and at home).
7. Improve teachers' teaching skills
Research in the United States shows that the quality of teaching deteriorates because teachers lack certain teaching skills. In one study, less than 5% of American teachers were able to complete exact wording for a math problem when 40% of ninth graders in China succeeded. To learn like China, teachers need to engage students with interesting illustrations from the subject area they are teaching.
8. Avoid taking breaks
One of the cornerstones of schooling in the United States is that long periods of learning should be interspersed with opportunities for children to exercise outdoors. In China, such breaks are not used. Despite the proven benefits for children, some American schools have also begun to abandon them.
9. Learn in Chinese
Of course, this is out of reach for most students. But there is an intriguing explanation for why Chinese students do so well in math - other languages (eg: English) are too counterintuitive and impair math comprehension. For example, "two thirds" in Chinese literally means "out of three parts, take two." This is a small difference, but it illustrates the fact that the Chinese have the ability to learn in a more logical language.
10. Remember, remember, remember
For centuries, part of education in China was memorizing the works of Confucius. As mentioned, the Chinese education system focuses on standardized tests. The result is a culture that has taken the path of rote learning, which, again, leads to high results in mathematics and the exact sciences.
You can train your memory and other types of mental abilities in game form on Lumosity (service review).
11. Increase the degree of pressure
Students are often stressed in high school leading up to final exams, and some parents may expect their children to perform well academically as early as early age. But nowhere in the world do children learn under more pressure than in China. Surveys show that most schoolchildren are very worried about exams. The competition for places in the best universities is enormous, given that the pride or shame of a family depends on admission.
12. Respect your teacher
Chinese students learn in an atmosphere of mutual respect between themselves and the teacher. Hand in hand with this respect comes an attitude of faith in the words of the teacher. In the past, these ideas were philosophical statements; today they are mathematical expressions.
13. Exercise
Although the random fun of breaks is not observed in Chinese schools, they do not neglect physical exercise. Due to government instructions, all schoolchildren rub their eyes at the appointed time to protect their eyesight. In the evening they warm up. These exercises will be a part of their lives for at least 12 years.
14. Don't separate children by ability.
For many years, even now, in China they did not practice the division into gifted and other schoolchildren. Instead, students are grouped randomly and kept almost the same throughout school. Thus, stronger students become informal helpers for other classmates.
A similar approach is used in adaptive learning and the Montessori system, where students of different age groups and levels of development are encouraged to help each other.
15. Require learning a foreign language as early as possible
Most schoolchildren study a foreign language at school for 10 years or more. Most popular language- English. If you want to learn like them, pick up a beginner's guide to Chinese language and study it for more than a decade or so.
It's never too early (or too late) to start learning foreign languages, especially since you can do it online. In addition, research has shown that
Advantages of secondary education in China
Secondary education in China today is deservedly considered the best in the world. Just look at the results of the international ranking PISA, which has been organized since 2000 and conducted every 3 years by the OECD. The rapidly increasing lead of Chinese students is more than impressive: in the year they scored 556 points overall and 600 points in mathematics (493 and 496 on the OECD average), and already 613 points in mathematics this year (494 on the OECD average). This Chinese “miracle” is explained by the wise policy of the Chinese government in the field of education and extremely high degree motivation of Chinese schoolchildren who consider academic success today as the key to a prosperous life in the future.
The Chinese government has set itself the goal of transforming the country from an agricultural, semi-literate country into a super-technological power within 20 years, for which it has adopted a plan to modernize the education system. This plan is based on the symbiosis of Western teaching methods and traditional Chinese ones, on the promotion of Chinese universities in world rankings, and is aimed at turning Chinese education from a recipient into a donor. This plan turned out to be correct and very effective. If in 2001, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education, the number of foreigners studying at Chinese universities was only 60 thousand people, then in 2012 it had already grown to 328.3 thousand. At this rate, China will soon compete with the traditional leader in attracting foreign students - the United States (number of foreign students - 764.5 thousand). By 2020, China should become the largest Education Centre in Asia, increasing the number of foreign students to 500 thousand. And he has already left Russia behind: 224 thousand foreign students, and if we take away those who came from Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Abkhazia, then only 100 thousand will remain. It is not surprising that the government’s significant investments in education in China are quickly paying off: income from the sale of educational services has already reached $1 billion, which is 2 times more than Russia’s income.
5. Matriculation certificates are recognized throughout the world and guarantee direct admission to Western universities.
6. excellent sports infrastructure and comfortable living conditions
7. inexpensive compared to the UK, Switzerland, USA and Canada prices
8. children find themselves in an environment of peers who are motivated to learn
Boarding schools in China
| School name | City | Training program | Cost, EUR/year | Language of instruction | Notes | Photo | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Harrow international school Beijing |
English (ESL) |
6-12 grades |
 |
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|
Harrow international school Shanghai |
English (ESL) |
6-12 grades |
 |
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|
Beijing Huijia Private School |
English (ESL) |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Keystone Academy |
English (ESL) |
8-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Yew Chung Shanghai International School |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Canadian International School of Beijing |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School |
English |
 |
||||||
|
Canadian International School Kunshan |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Beijing Shuren Private School |
Guangzhou |
English |
6-12 grades |
 |
||||
|
Guangzhou Huamei International School |
suburb |
China |
Chinese |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||
|
Beijing New Talent Academy |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Beijing National Day School |
English |
6-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Guangdong Country Garden School |
Beijiao |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
||||
|
Shanghai Gold Apple Bilingual School |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Fudan International School |
English |
7-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Beijing International Bilingual Academy |
English |
 |
||||||
|
Beijing No. 55 High School |
English |
6-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Beijing No. 04 High School |
Chinese |
 |
||||||
|
Dulwich College Suzhou |
Suzhou |
English (ESL) |
1-12 grades |
 |
||||
|
High School Affiliated To Nanjing Normal University |
Nanking |
English |
State school at Nanjing Normal University (NSFZ) |
 |
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|
Shanghai Jin Cai High School |
English (ESL) |
1-12 grades |
 |
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|
Wellington College International Shanghai |
English |
7-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Wellington College International Tianjin |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Wuxi United International School |
Sidong |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
||||
|
Alcanta International College |
Guangzhou |
English |
9-12 grades |
 |
||||
|
Beijing Haidian International School |
English |
1-12 grades |
 |
|||||
|
Oxford International College of Chengdu |
Chengdu |
English |
9-12 grades |
 |
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|
Saint Paul American School |
