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The NYT article was more informative. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/asia/china-child-resume.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/asia/china

The NYT article was more informative. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/asia/china-child-resume.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/asia/china-child-re... > Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Kansas, said the debate reflected widespread anxiety among Chinese parents about getting their children into top schools. In China’s test-dominated system, exam scores determine where students go to college and what careers they can pursue. It's easy to forget how different other education systems can be.

openIce 8y ago
>It's easy to forget how different other education systems can be. Yeah isn't it weird how Europe and Asia care more about exam scores when applying to schools than how far you can kick a ball or how much money your parents have...
thrwia22 8y ago
yeah and it's then easy to believe in that a 5yo could read 10,000 books, cause the "educational system is different". i am quite amazed that some people buy that with serious face. there's limit to lies
- loungelover 8y ago
  That’s only 5.4 books per day since birth totally possible
  - ahussain 8y ago
    Kids' books also have a lot of pictures
    - village-idiot 8y ago
      They’re also read to them and not by them up until a certain age.
      - jacobolus 8y ago
        It is entirely possible for a kid to learn to read by 3 or 3.5 years old, if parents are obsessive about it. In the long run life isn’t a race, and the kids who don’t learn to read until they are 6 catch up fine. But small children are quite capable if you push them. I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you got your kid reading picture books all day for three years from ages 3–5, you could plausibly get to 10,000. Picture books are pretty short. However, it sounds like this isn’t a literal 10,000 books. The New York Times story says the kid’s “CV” lists the 408 books he has read this year. So probably <1000 as a lifetime total.
- galuggus 8y ago
  10,000 in Chinese often means a big number. It is the equivalent to myriad in English.
  - fhars 8y ago
    A myriad literally (literally literally, not figuratively) is 10000 in English... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
- tedmiston 8y ago
  I think the 10,000 figure from BBC was possibly hyperbole or a mistake. The NYT article says 400 books this year… which is still a ton, but less so if you consider books that can be read in an hour or less.
liftbigweights 8y ago
> In China’s test-dominated system, exam scores determine where students go to college and what careers they can pursue. This is only true for the masses. The children of political and business elite have special privileges and greater options ( such as studying at harvard, yale, oxford, etc ). > It's easy to forget how different other education systems can be. It isn't so different. The education system in the US is dominated by test scores as well. The quality of jobs and career are dependent on the quality of colleges you attend and your scores. Of course in china ( and much of asia ), they have a large population for limited opportunities and resources so the situation can get extreme. China has the same landmass as the US but they have 1.1 billion more people.
- olliej 8y ago
  For the elite, the same applies in the US. You can generally buy your way into the Ivys if your parents have enough money, or if your parents were students (which the could have been because their parents had been). Coupled with the general problem of high paying jobs in many fields favoring the school on your degree over actual ability you get a self reinforcing cycle.
  - naveen99 8y ago
    Where do you find ball park estimates on amount of donation to secure a spot in an ivy ? Asking for a friend :)
    - why_only_15 8y ago
      It depends on the Ivy. Somewhere like Harvard I've heard the minimum is about $1M.
- ardy42 8y ago
  > It isn't so different. The education system in the US is dominated by test scores as well. The quality of jobs and career are dependent on the quality of colleges you attend and your scores. They're very different in degree. The US uses test scores in a much looser way, and they're usually one factor among many in admissions. Extracurriculars can be extremely helpful to get into a good US school, but I understand in China they'd be a waste of time and a distraction from what a student should really be focusing on: the college entrance exam.
ianmcgowan 8y ago
Not that different from the US, outside the hacker news bubble. I have a high schooler and let’s just say there’s a lot of attention to three numbers right now - GPA, SAT, and ACT. Those numbers will have an outsized impact on my kid’s life. Granted though, that there are still paths to a happy life, but just a little more “alternative”.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- ourmandave 8y ago
  If you're looking at Parental Plus loans, those scores will have a big impact on your life as well. =(
  - tedmiston 8y ago
    Do you mean that the Parent PLUS loans are directly dependent on test scores or something like lower standardized test scores → less scholarships going into school → more loans?
    - ourmandave 8y ago
      The latter. The amount of academic scholarship money a few points on the ACT makes is huge when you multiply by 4 (or more) years.
      - tedmiston 8y ago
        That makes sense but my personal experience is that I was able to obtain substantially more scholarship dollars post-starting college vs anything offered off of high school credentials. I graduated high school at the top of my class (< 1%) and had strong but not super competitive test scores. I went to a public state school so perhaps different for others.
- hoaw 8y ago
  I would agree. The west had a chance to reform their education systems to become different with the new information age, but most countries choose not to. In fact they have been going the other way. Today in most countries things like housing, grades, connections and insurance are even more important than it used to be. Turns out people really do not want to compete on similar terms in the open market.
dawhizkid 8y ago
It isn't that different. If you want to go into management consulting or investment banking (the most "elite" career paths out of college if you want to pursue business) then to even have a chance to apply you have to go to a school with on-site interviews to those companies, which is basically limited to Ivy league + MIT + Stanford + a select few top public schools and liberal arts colleges.

openIce 8y ago

>It's easy to forget how different other education systems can be. Yeah isn't it weird how Europe and Asia care more about exam scores when applying to schools than how far you can kick a ball or how much money your parents have...

thrwia22 8y ago

yeah and it's then easy to believe in that a 5yo could read 10,000 books, cause the "educational system is different". i am quite amazed that some people buy that with serious face. there's limit to lies

loungelover 8y ago
That’s only 5.4 books per day since birth totally possible
- ahussain 8y ago
  Kids' books also have a lot of pictures
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    They’re also read to them and not by them up until a certain age.
    - jacobolus 8y ago
      It is entirely possible for a kid to learn to read by 3 or 3.5 years old, if parents are obsessive about it. In the long run life isn’t a race, and the kids who don’t learn to read until they are 6 catch up fine. But small children are quite capable if you push them. I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you got your kid reading picture books all day for three years from ages 3–5, you could plausibly get to 10,000. Picture books are pretty short. However, it sounds like this isn’t a literal 10,000 books. The New York Times story says the kid’s “CV” lists the 408 books he has read this year. So probably <1000 as a lifetime total.
galuggus 8y ago
10,000 in Chinese often means a big number. It is the equivalent to myriad in English.
- fhars 8y ago
  A myriad literally (literally literally, not figuratively) is 10000 in English... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
tedmiston 8y ago
I think the 10,000 figure from BBC was possibly hyperbole or a mistake. The NYT article says 400 books this year… which is still a ton, but less so if you consider books that can be read in an hour or less.

liftbigweights 8y ago

> In China’s test-dominated system, exam scores determine where students go to college and what careers they can pursue. This is only true for the masses. The children of political and business elite have special privileges and greater options ( such as studying at harvard, yale, oxford, etc ). > It's easy to forget how different other education systems can be. It isn't so different. The education system in the US is dominated by test scores as well. The quality of jobs and career are dependent on the quality of colleges you attend and your scores. Of course in china ( and much of asia ), they have a large population for limited opportunities and resources so the situation can get extreme. China has the same landmass as the US but they have 1.1 billion more people.

olliej 8y ago
For the elite, the same applies in the US. You can generally buy your way into the Ivys if your parents have enough money, or if your parents were students (which the could have been because their parents had been). Coupled with the general problem of high paying jobs in many fields favoring the school on your degree over actual ability you get a self reinforcing cycle.
- naveen99 8y ago
  Where do you find ball park estimates on amount of donation to secure a spot in an ivy ? Asking for a friend :)
  - why_only_15 8y ago
    It depends on the Ivy. Somewhere like Harvard I've heard the minimum is about $1M.
ardy42 8y ago
> It isn't so different. The education system in the US is dominated by test scores as well. The quality of jobs and career are dependent on the quality of colleges you attend and your scores. They're very different in degree. The US uses test scores in a much looser way, and they're usually one factor among many in admissions. Extracurriculars can be extremely helpful to get into a good US school, but I understand in China they'd be a waste of time and a distraction from what a student should really be focusing on: the college entrance exam.

ianmcgowan 8y ago

Not that different from the US, outside the hacker news bubble. I have a high schooler and let’s just say there’s a lot of attention to three numbers right now - GPA, SAT, and ACT. Those numbers will have an outsized impact on my kid’s life. Granted though, that there are still paths to a happy life, but just a little more “alternative”.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ourmandave 8y ago
If you're looking at Parental Plus loans, those scores will have a big impact on your life as well. =(
- tedmiston 8y ago
  Do you mean that the Parent PLUS loans are directly dependent on test scores or something like lower standardized test scores → less scholarships going into school → more loans?
  - ourmandave 8y ago
    The latter. The amount of academic scholarship money a few points on the ACT makes is huge when you multiply by 4 (or more) years.
    - tedmiston 8y ago
      That makes sense but my personal experience is that I was able to obtain substantially more scholarship dollars post-starting college vs anything offered off of high school credentials. I graduated high school at the top of my class (< 1%) and had strong but not super competitive test scores. I went to a public state school so perhaps different for others.
hoaw 8y ago
I would agree. The west had a chance to reform their education systems to become different with the new information age, but most countries choose not to. In fact they have been going the other way. Today in most countries things like housing, grades, connections and insurance are even more important than it used to be. Turns out people really do not want to compete on similar terms in the open market.

dawhizkid 8y ago

It isn't that different. If you want to go into management consulting or investment banking (the most "elite" career paths out of college if you want to pursue business) then to even have a chance to apply you have to go to a school with on-site interviews to those companies, which is basically limited to Ivy league + MIT + Stanford + a select few top public schools and liberal arts colleges.