China's education system looks pretty impressive these days, espeically if you believe the stunning scores its students got on a recent international test.
-The Programme for International Student Assessment tests students from 65 countries in reading, math and science. Shanghai-China was number one in the world for all three categories. In comparison, the U.S. ranked 23rd in science, 25th in reading and 28th in math
-School days are 8.6 hours long
-According to the Financial Times, Chinese parents spent $12.9 billion USD on after-school tutoring for their children in 2008.This number is expected to increase to $19.9 billion by 2013
-Most children also attend additional Saturday classes
56.7 percent of Chinese students study two or more hours after school
-Only 35 percent of Chinese students watch more than 2 hours of TV. By contrast, 84 percent of students in the U.S. watch more than two hours of TV.
-The Chinese curriculum is the most rigorous in the world
Shanghai-China has the greatest student performance in reading in the world. The US comes in 18th. Behind both Hungary and Estonia.
--Hong Kong and Singapore recruit teachers from the top 30% of the graduate school cohort. While a new OECD report points out that the US recruits from the bottom 30%.
--Most parents spend over 14 percent of their income on a child's education. Chinese parents were much more involved than schools during the early year
