Final Entry

Hello to all my faces. As usual, I hope this message finds you all in good health and spirit. I survived my first trip to China. Great experience and memories to match. Great to be back in the good old USA! When I got off the plane it was odd to see the clear blue skies of the northwest. China has definitely earned the title of the leading country when it comes to pollution. The country is rich in history and the people are very accommodating and hard working. I will try to post a few pictures as soon as possible. To conclude I will list what I have learned about their educational system:

• The tour guide stated that the Chinese are good at math and science. I agree, but not because they are Chinese but because they start school at 7:30am and finish at 4:00pm. After school the students will study until 11:00 or 12:00 pm.
  
• The culture also considers it a disgrace to not do well in the area of education. Couple that with families being allowed only 1 child per household and you have a pretty solid support system for students.
• The academic competition is fierce based on so many hard working students trying to get into the best colleges.
• The facilities are not as good as our public schools. They still use chalk and didn't see much technology in the schools. Class size ranged from 30 to 60 students per class which was amazing based on schools that had no central air conditioning. At times the heat and humidity was unbearable which shows you how spoiled we really are in regards to school facilities.
• What can we do to compete with the Chinese educational system? I believe one thing we can do is form solid partnerships with parents and students to help them understand the importance of education. We basically need to work much harder as a country if we plan on competing with a country like China. Now is the time to change our system or face the fact that we will soon be overshadowed by other countries who are working harder.