I refered Guest's comment on Taiwanese education to a friend in Shanghai and he said the following:
Hey,
It sounds about right. You are talking about Taiwan ESL education though. The arbitrariness of it is probably from a lack of respect for education theory. And because they kids are not passionate about studying the language. I studied Spanish for like 4 years and my Spanish is non-existant.
I think probably the single worst thing about Chinese culture is their education system, which emphasizes wrote memorization, with very little critical reasoning or problem solving skills. This is generally called "Confucian Education". Actually, most Chinese people realize their education system sucks. They think it sucks hardcore and they hate it. They see the education system as something that holds them back. Yet, they always feel unable to change it, and in fact, Chinese parents perpetuate the system they hate by pushing and pushing their kids to study and memorize.
Sometimes I feel guilty complaining about the US education system. When I tell people about problems in the US education system, they are shocked and don't believe me...they think US education must be the best. I tell them that the issue with US education are about societies values and economic issues; the US government(s) don't invest enough in the system and don't tax enough to support it. Chinese system, on the other hand, has problems with basic education theory.
Japan has some of the same problems, but Japanese society and government has been working on changing the system. Also, probably like European nations (in my imagination anyway), Japan lavishes resources on schools, teachers, and children.
What I know about Taiwan is that their Confucian Education system is more intense than on mainland. Now, about the other comments in your friends letter... 1) People who work at internet cafes are probably less educated. Its like complaining about Americans based on the intelligence level of the average McDonalds workers. 2) Predicting the content of an exam is a learning skill and is good. Usually though the content is known...it just a massive amount of memorization 3) I suspect your friend is working at an after-school school for retards. After-school school is something that most Chinese parents waste their money on... they have their kids study an extra four hours after they get out of school, so that the kids pass their exams. Again...this is the fucked up Confucian Education mentality. And they know it fucked up and they still do it. Anyway, tell your friend to quit his job. He is not helping anyone. He is just being a babysitter. Tell him that if he wants to do ESL teaching, then he should move to Japan, where he can make $30/hour. Or at least teach at an ESL school for stupid bored housewives.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com