Chinese high school students are most practical

A multi-national comparative study on high school students shows Chinese students have the strongest national consciousness and the most practical outlook on life. The six-year study, conducted by four institutes from China, Japan, South Korea and the United States, involved 2,232 Chinese, 1,029 American, 2,453 Japanese, and 2,292 South Korean high school students, China Youth Daily reported.

"Chinese high school students are generally confident, upward and positive-thinking, while they are also sometimes contradictory and feel confused," said Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of the China Youth & Children Research Center. "They are aware of the great changes in this age, and link their personal development to the country."

The study "shows us solid results, including Chinese high school students' high self-confidence and wide horizon, which are attributed to the rapid social and economic development. The study says 88.9 percent of Chinese high school students believe their country will maintain sustainable development, and 90.2 percent of students feel proud of being Chinese," Sun said.

However, they are psychologically full of contradictions, as "48.7 percent of Chinese high school student said that if they got to choose, they want to be born in another country, which is the second highest rate after their South Korean counterparts," he said.

"Students are dissatisfied with the domestic education mode. Their desire to be born in another country uncovers their desire to pursue another education mode. Most of them are now under huge competitive pressures, longing for innovative abilities," Sun added.

From another perspective, "it's evidence that China's reform is expanding, resulting in a mass awareness of the outside. Citizens hope to learn about advanced cultures. The percentage of Chinese high school students who prefer to watch American movies and Japanese cartoons is the highest among the four countries," Sun said. "But it's critically important to develop in them a self-identity of culture."

The study finds that Chinese high school students tend to be more practical, emphasizing household harmony. In addition, 79.4 percent of them think their developments are in line with the country's, and 80.7 percent are willing to do anything if the country is in trouble. "To a certain extent, it [the study results] is a success of China's education," Sun said.