Is the West's education better than China's?

symondsez (India)

I come from India where students do not spend normal time at school (8 AM -2 PM) and the remaining time with family, sports, social activities or extra coaching depending upon the career he/she is planning to pursue. Usually it is medicine/engineering so most of the students are seen taking extensive extra classes, even on weekends. This coaching starts in middle school.

Which system is better, it is difficult to say. Because there are external factors involved here, which affect the way parents make decision for their children? China and India have big populations. The number of students competing for a single seat is too many. The only way to grab that seat is by studying hard and by sacrificing other social activities. I am not saying this education system is better but given the circumstances I think it will continue to be followed for sometime. We can surely say that the trend is changing now in China as well as India but in general the middle class families always push their children to concentrate more on studies with the single aim to get better grades.

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