BBC documentary was good drama, but experts say it shows only part of the picture

The recent three-episode BBC documentary Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School has attracted lots of attention.

Five Chinese teachers were invited to instruct a group of British teenagers using Chinese methods. The teachers spent a month working with 50 teenagers at Bohunt School in the southern English county of Hampshire. Conflicts between Eastern and Western education systems shown by the documentary have caused a stir in China.

Huang Jiayao during a two-week trip in the UK. The trip was organized by Prestige Education Centre, a British private training school based in Beijing, to give Chinese students a taste of British culture. Provided to China Daily

Investment banker Huang Guobin says it shows that both systems have merits and weaknesses.

"Because of the cultural and country differences, the Chinese and British education systems do have huge differences. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages and can learn from each other," says Huang, whose daughter, Huang Jiayao, is in her second year of junior high at the school affiliated with Renmin University of China in Beijing.

"Generally speaking, the British education system attaches more importance to cultivating the students' thinking and self-expression abilities, while the Chinese system trains the students very well in memorizing, mastering a huge amount of knowledge and being self-disciplined, which are very important for a child.

"Though we can afford to send my daughter abroad now, we would prefer her to study in China first," says Huang, who went to the United Kingdom for university about 15 years ago. "I learned a lot from both systems."

His 12-year-old daughter recently left for a two-week visit to Britain. Prestige Education Centre, a British private training school based in Beijing, organized the trip to give Chinese students a taste of British culture. Huang is a shareholder.

"The BBC documentary reflects some limitations of the Chinese education system, such as attaching too much attention to memorizing while kind of ignoring cultivation of students' creativity. To offset the weaknesses, I founded the center with some friends about four years ago to provide an opportunity for Chinese students to get a sense of the British education system in China," says Huang.

Wang Xiaoning, an English teacher at Beijing No 4 High School, says the BBC documentary did not reflect the reality of education in China or the UK.

"Though the Chinese education system focuses too much on tests, it also attaches importance to teaching every student to tap their potential in various areas besides examinations. Yet the documentary didn't show this aspect," says Wang, who has been teaching for more than 20 years.

"Some Chinese teaching methods used in the documentary are also outdated. In the documentary, some Chinese teachers punish students by asking them to stand in front of the class. Many Chinese schools abandoned this practice a long time ago.

"Unlike the students, who are required to study long hours, some Chinese schools like mine also make efforts to let students have more leisure time to develop their own interests. For instance, there are more than 30 student clubs in our school, ranging from music to sports. Our teachers encourage students to discuss issues among themselves and to challenge the authorities, and to finish their work at school so they can have more time to relax."

Wang's 10-year-old son is in fifth grade at Beijing Huangchenggen Primary School, and ranked first in the final exams in his grade level last semester.

"I am proud of my son, not only because he is good at exams, but also because he has good study habits and always has questions," she says.

"This is also what current Chinese teachers promote. We promote the idea of helping students cultivate more self-confidence and good learning habits. This is a universal value shared by both Chinese and British education systems. The BBC documentary just shows that Chinese education systems attach great importance to exams."

Li Guijun, an artist in Beijing, says that because there are some cultural differences, it is natural that some conflicts will arise if Chinese teachers teach in Western schools.

"I doubt whether it is fair to compare the two education systems in such a way. If you get to know both you will find that the two are so different that it is unfair to say which is better," he says.

"China is a nation where some Confucian values such as obedience to elders are very popular. In China, it is rare to see Chinese teachers have to spend so much time and energy to simply keep the noisy children quiet as shown in the documentary. To be quiet and self-disciplined is the basic requirement of the students."

Li's son, Li Shangyan, finished high school in the United States after one year at Beijing No 4 High School. Li Shangyan is now a freshman at Harvard University.

"No matter where you are, self-discipline and hard work are essential qualities to lead you to success. My son was a very good traditional Chinese student at Beijing No 4 Middle School, good at exams and also in some arts and sports. After he went to the US to continue his studies, his self-discipline also led him to where he is now," says Li.

William Vanbergen, chief executive operator of BE Education, a Shanghai-based consultancy that helps prepare students for overseas study, says the best education comes from combining the merits of both systems.

There is no one better system, adds Oliver Kramer, former head of the Department of Oriental Languages at Eton College, a renowned boarding school for boys in England, and principal at Zhejiang Ivy Academy Hangzhou.

"The best way is to learn the essence of both systems, and that is why currently many rich Chinese families send their children to study overseas. I will let my kids study in China until junior high school, then consider sending them to international schools," he says.

"As China opens more to the outside world and the nation has more overseas returnees, the education system in China has improved a lot. It is no longer that test-oriented as before, yet more quality-based.

"I have asked some of my friends for feedback about this documentary. About 50 percent of them doubt the intentions of the documentary, and the rest think the Chinese education system is very good at helping the students improve their abilities.

"The BBC documentary would show a different result if cast at a private school such as Eton College. The teachers would face less pressure, too, because the students there are also very self-disciplined. It is true that British students are active in class, but they are far from uncontrollable," says Kramer.

At the end of the documentary, the students in the Chinese teachers' classes outscore the ones in British teachers' classes in mathematics, science and Chinese by more than 10 percent. But this doesn't mean that the Chinese education system is better than the British one, says Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of 21st Century Education Research.

"It is too one-sided to conclude that the Chinese education system wins over the English one just by saying that the students in the Chinese teachers' classes get higher marks. In China, the teachers tell the children what to learn, while the British system has more open questions. The teachers in the Western world guide the children's work, not only fill the children with knowledge," says Xiong.

"This is not a competition, but a very good opportunity for exchange. It is essential to learn from each other and offset each others' weaknesses."

huhaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn