This nature of test-taking carries over to high school. Chinese students spend a large part of their high school years preparing for the GaoKao, a national standard exam that will determine what university the student will go to (and if they can go to university at all.) There is so much pressure on the students to perform well on the GaoKao, that they spend the majority of their time studying and put the rest of their life on hold. Chinese students do less extracurriculars, play fewer sports, and even date later that their Western counterparts.
Høres ikke helt ut som noe vi burde kopiere, men det er noe veldig galt med lønningene til lærere i realfag. De ligger rundt 20-25% lavere enn det du vil få betalt hvis du i stedet for å utdanne deg til lærer utdanner deg til en ingeniør.
Chinese kids even get fractions faster than English-speaking kids, since the concept is built into the language. For example one-half (fifty percent) is understood as 百分之五十 (bǎi fēn zhī wǔ shí) or literally, “fifty out of 100” in Chinese. And because math is more easily understood, Asian children “get” math faster than their Western counterparts.
Jeg har alltid synes det er rart at folk sliter med prosentregning, men det vet jeg at det er veldig, veldig mange som har et vanskelig forhold til. Dvs at de ikke med en gang skjønner hva det vil si at kredittkort har 20% rente og boliglån 3% rente…