Chinese+Education

Education
Re-education By Rebecca I don't know about you, but going to school sometimes can seem like such a pain. Getting up, dragging your limp body out of bed, and attempting to catch the bus on time. At one point in China's government, their chairman Mao, shut down all schools and universities. For many kids, this would seem like a dream come true but there was a twist. Children and former students were required to do labor during what would have been school hours. Before this major change happened, only 20% of the population could read. Many kids had to work for their parents farming and raising livestock. To change this large percentage, many kids were required to enroll in school during the winter because less farming was needed. Education standards raised but shortly after, chairman Mao took over and forced all schools to shut down It would seem nice to be off of school for a long period of time, but would like to do hours of backbreaking work? Never be able to read a book again? Or even listen to music that is considered too old? I didn't think so. The reason why Mao shut down schools and universities was so he could control what people knew. Although this was his intention, he explained to people that by banning schools, it would bridge the social class gap between people. This made citizens believe that everybody was equal. This period was called the "Re-Education". Basically, Mao had students live their life as peasants. They learned what it was like to be in the lower class and the tasks that they preferred. This movement lasted for three years until 1969. Elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools were opened a year before colleges and universities could reopen. A few years later, education began to grow and by the 1990's there were over 150 million students enrolled in an elementary school and over 55 million in middle schools.

Chinese and American Education are very different. They differ in number of sutdents enrolled, drop-out rates, and teacher to student ratios. There are 98% of Chinese students enrolled in school, while 88% of American students are enrolled in school. This shows more students are in school in China than America. The drop-out rate for Chinese students is 2%, while for American students it is 9%. This shows more American students do not finish school unlike China. The teacher to student ratio in China is 18:1. In America it is 15:1. This shows there are less students in American classes than Chinese classes.
 * Chinese and American Education By Joe Fitz**

Works Cited

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