School for thought

Primary students at class in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. Photos provided to China Daily

He is echoed by Li Jun, associate professor of education policy at the University of Hong Kong, who says: "It must be noted that China is a huge country that does not lack diversity.

"The Chinese style in the documentary may be partly true in some cram schools for the key exam in China, the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, but not in most others," Li says. "No doubt that it (the program) is biased, incomplete and of course misleading."

Many Chinese netizens commented on China's Twitter-like platform, Sina Weibo, saying that although China's education is criticized for lacking independent and creative thinking, actually its basic education system is strong and has improved in recent years.

"The Chinese approach to education is not confined to absolute obedience, because teachers also encourage students' potential," says Zhang Qi, a 22-year-old student who has studied in China and Britain.

Some viewers rejected the premise that British schools should be labeled "without discipline", and didn't think the behavior of some of the students in the documentary was typical.

Iona Fleming, a British student, says in an online debate on the subject, that Bohunt students' behavior was not typical of British teenagers. "I would just like to say that not all British teenagers would behave this badly."

Some netizens point out that careful scrutiny revealed that all the students that acted disruptively in front of the cameras wore small microphones on their collars, while most others did not.

That aroused suspicion among viewers that the series might be more of an entertainment show instead of a serious documentary.

Jo Morgan, an experienced math teacher in the UK, says: "Education is not entertainment, and the editors were very manipulative."

For Christopher King, chairman of the Headmasters' Conference and principal of Leicester Grammar School, it was not a good idea to do the experiment without providing ample description or training in advance. In the UK, teachers and students usually exchange views in order to find the best way of education, he says in an interview with Chinese news websiteSina.com, adding that any teacher coming from overseas needs be given details about the system to make his or her teaching efficient.

King also says that Chinese teachers have a lot to teach UK students, but with the prerequisite that the two sides have ample communication and understand each other.