Why are Chinese people so clever?

If the school system over there is so good then why do so many parents over there pay so much money to have their children educated in the UK?

A city like Singapore is bound to do well. London does spectacularly well, and unlike singapore, regularly receives children into its education system with little grasp of English. This is a huge obstacle that teachers in London have to, and successfully, grapple with.

Migrants from pretty much every ethnicity tend to do well at school. School children of Japanese origin do spectacularly well but so do the children of US expats. UK children educated abroad do well too. Does this not say something of the characteristics of mobile parents who more often than not can afford a level of education your average child of an unemployed coal miner has little access to?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 41

RodgertheRabbit

1

Original post by Llamageddon

If the school system over there is so good then why do so many parents over there pay so much money to have their children educated in the UK?

I think the general consensus is that they have a great(er) culture and work ethos, not a better higher education system/format. Universities are made great by the free exchange of ideas, and you cannot say what you want in China.

Reply 42

Llamageddon

18

Original post by RodgertheRabbit

I think the general consensus is that they have a great(er) culture and work ethos, not a better higher education system/format. Universities are made great by the free exchange of ideas, and you cannot say what you want in China.

I think this is said exclusively by people who have a vested interest in promoting this idea or who have never had to work in Beijing.

Most people of Chinese ethnic origin are not educated in Macao, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore or Hong Kong and the comparison between students at the top end in one society against the full range of students in another is not a reasonable one.

Reply 43

RodgertheRabbit

1

Original post by Llamageddon

I think this is said exclusively by people who have a vested interest in promoting this idea or who have never had to work in Beijing.

Most people of Chinese ethnic origin are not educated in Macao, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore or Hong Kong and the comparison between students at the top end in one society against the full range of students in another is not a reasonable one.

I agree, we market ourselves as a nation that educates. it is one of our great and main exports in the UK, perhaps under a sceptical eye many Chinese would elect to remain in China to finish their studies.

It would be interesting to see the scientific output per capita between our two nations to see if it is indeed just a great marketing campaign or if it holds true. Given our size, the UK, and our position on the world stage financially/militarily/technologically/scientifically I would lean towards it being true. But I am sceptical without any numbers to back it up.

Reply 44

username1494226

19

Because they're taught to behave like process driven machines. They're simply taught that way. Its a means of teaching devoid of any soul or actual thinking. Add to that strict parenting and these poor kids are highly pressurised.

Reply 45

ForgetMe

21

Not all of them, one Chinese girl that works in same place as myself is the opposite of clever.

Reply 46

Maker

20

They are not, none of sisters or me got into Oxford.

Reply 47

Howard

5

I'll be a lone voice of dissent and go out on a limb and say that I have never found the Chinese to be clever.

I've worked with dozens of Chinese people and found them to be utterly at a loss if they don't have a written process or procedure to follow. In my experience they can memorise but can't think. That's why they make good structural engineers (they can do structural calculations in their head!) but lousy construction managers (can't make a decision unless it's a procedural decision with a flow chart) I think this is something to do with the way they are educated. They are taught by rote (force fed facts and systems like a goose 12 hours a day) but not taught to think independently.

I don't see many inventions coming out of China. Nothing at all really - unless it's been evolved from a product produced elsewhere, stripped down, and reverse engineered.

Reply 48

jjm456

1

Original post by Howard

I'll be a lone voice of dissent and go out on a limb and say that I have never found the Chinese to be clever.

I've worked with dozens of Chinese people and found them to be utterly at a loss if they don't have a written process or procedure to follow. In my experience they can memorise but can't think. That's why they make good structural engineers (they can do structural calculations in their head!) but lousy construction managers (can't make a decision unless it's a procedural decision with a flow chart) I think this is something to do with the way they are educated. They are taught by rote (force fed facts and systems like a goose 12 hours a day) but not taught to think independently.

I don't see many inventions coming out of China. Nothing at all really - unless it's been evolved from a product produced elsewhere, stripped down, and reverse engineered.

I wouldn't say this makes the Chinese any more or less intelligent than anyone else really, however I completely understand where you're coming from. I think Chinese culture and the education system enforces strict discipline and hard work, as well as promoting a teaching approach of learning by rote as you say. I think this has led to the Chinese being very knowledgeable, having good memories and being able to accurately and efficiently follow instruction, however it's probably reduced the ingenuity and creativity that the British approach to education instils. This has led to the Chinese being excellent in examinations (which I assume is what inspired this thread), but less inventive in the workplace, as you've alluded to.
I wouldn't say it makes them more or less intelligent, as in many ways its quite a subjective term and people often like to mould it to their own strengths. They're just used to using their brains in a slightly different way.

Reply 49

the bear

20

they don't have a benefits culture.... if you don't work you starve

Reply 50

El Salvador

21

Original post by Maker

They are not, none of sisters or me got into Oxford.

PRC has the second-largest group of minority students at Oxford, despite it not being a part of the EU, Oxford not recognising the Chinese public examination, and this group doesn't count other Chinese regions such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Reply 51

El Salvador

21

Original post by Rakas21

1) None of this libertarian rubbish about personal development, in Asia it's about academic excellence. The NUT is a massive roadblock for the UK here.

Not true. All schools in Hong Kong talk about 'whole-person' development, even though that usually means being good also at two musical instruments, two sports, and three other languages.

Reply 52

El Salvador

21

Original post by Howard

I don't see many inventions coming out of China. Nothing at all really

Electronic cigarette? Anti-ship ballistic missile? Car fueled by charcoal? Turning Urine Samples into Brain Cells? Cure of a solid cancer? Maglev wind power generators? Or with the recent Nobel Prize winner who found a treatment for malaria?

Original post by Howard

- unless it's been evolved from a product produced elsewhere, stripped down, and reverse engineered.

Which invention isn't evolved from an existing product, especially nowadays?

If you're counting ancient inventions, there's also ice-cream, paper, printing, compass, acupuncture, coffin, banknote, cookware, gunpowder, goldfish, china, horse collar, junk, landmine, match, paper cup, tea, tofu, loo paper, football etc.

Reply 53

Howard

5

Original post by jjm456

I wouldn't say this makes the Chinese any more or less intelligent than anyone else really, however I completely understand where you're coming from. I think Chinese culture and the education system enforces strict discipline and hard work, as well as promoting a teaching approach of learning by rote as you say. I think this has led to the Chinese being very knowledgeable, having good memories and being able to accurately and efficiently follow instruction, however it's probably reduced the ingenuity and creativity that the British approach to education instils. This has led to the Chinese being excellent in examinations (which I assume is what inspired this thread), but less inventive in the workplace, as you've alluded to.
I wouldn't say it makes them more or less intelligent, as in many ways its quite a subjective term and people often like to mould it to their own strengths. They're just used to using their brains in a slightly different way.

Yes, I think that pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Reply 54

Chicken.M.

20

superior genetics (east asians only though)

Reply 55

Mr Flak Jacket

6

Rote learning culture and intense pressure from parents to be model sons and daughters.

The Chinese people I came across who followed this line of personal development were some of the most dull, one-dimensional people I have ever met.

I don't think it should be emulated.

Reply 56

nulli tertius

21

Original post by pomma

I don't get why Chinese/Japanese and other Asians are so clever, is it their upbringing? how were they brought up? How do they revise? I'm so confused