Chinese Rigid Education System needs revolutionising improvement

after a chat on the Chinese Education system, I found that I was lucky enough to get undergraduate education overseas. I strongly feel that it was the right decision and that changed my life completely…

[Let me also take this opportunity to answer my 'status - pondering what I want to do in Beijing?? I guess the answer is to reflect what I have learned in the past few years overseas and internalize the lessons and share them]

Here are some problem we figured out:
1. a very rigid education system – why so? for the undergraduate particularly, the students have to go through a minimum 4 year and maximum 6 year undergraduate program. who in the world has defined that 4 is the right number of years to be in college… there is only 1% chance if you are darn good (grades of course), then you might be able to finish it a little bit faster.. whereas, in other systems, accelerated program is designed for whoever wants to pursue that path… not even to mention about the almost “unstructured” (very flexible) US education… you can almost design what you want to do… interests are very important… it helps figure out one’s passion… to some level, SG has a more flexible system (compared to China) and more rigid system (compared to the US) nevertheless, it (SG) works pretty well so far in the Asia context to produce talented people and empower knowledge to them.

2. there are way too many students in the undergraduate system now… due to dense population of baby boomers, their children (even under one-child policy) comprise of the large portion of the society… all the universities in China have been increasing their intake of students in the past few years… that phenomenon continues even today… even though the number of students keeps growing, staff growth (quantity & quality) cannot catch up with the fast growth pace in student population. thus, one supervisor has to take care of a big group of students (can be 30 and over). The students have to share the undivided attention from their supervisor. Hence, one student can only receive very limited guidance and supervision. Many students felt lost in their golden time to learn.

3. The rewarding system (criteria to be ranked) does not really correspond with the rigid system, which worsen the entire the “eco”-system. Even the so-called better education system overseas are facing the gap between academic education and actual work practices, the inconsistent organization can only create more distance between academia and industry. It is exemplified by the increasing distraction from quality education (enlightenment, empowerment, confidence building etc). Therefore, the following point became more serious.

4. Academic staff are not dedicated as they are expected to. Due to the uneven rewarding system, professors are distracted to compete with each other over the criteria set to increase their values to make a living. I can completely understand where they come from and where they are going… everyone has to make a living… it is extremely difficult in such rigid system where educators are not much appreciated… (societal issues)

5. It seems to me that in such big environment and ambient. Innovation is considered as rebellion sometimes by the rule setters. Thereby, there is no incentive at all for educators to hold their true responsibilities. Innovation is so important in the progress of the society. It is one of the economy booster… The rule setters are very protective over their power and their impact on society.. they are afraid of change and loss of power… their minds are not open… still very closed and self-centered.

I feel lucky on the one hand that I don’t have to go through such corrupt system; I feel frustrated and disappointed on the other hand that why it is so hard to change it. Do we have to wait for some hero (once in hundreds of years) to help and knock at those rule setters’ heads?

It has to change the mindset completely… make it more open and more receptive (at least to listen) only then some adventurer will try out and make changes and impact…

how to deal with the students then? As their peers, I so hope that they can be enlightened how great they can be and how impactful their actions can be; how we can interests them in certain things and make them see the values; how to empower them with knowledge and skills to change; how to build confidence in them to let them dream… dream big…

during one of the meeting, one of the director said ” if there is no dream, there will never be reality.” that’s where you can see the greatness and furture impact…

“I believe… I can fly…”