High school students eating Ramen in Tokyo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The school year in China typically runs from the beginning of September to mid-July. Ours in the United States usually goes from middle August to the first week of June.
Students in China also have great access to computer technology, with a computer to student ratio of 1:2. Chinese language and math skills are tested at the end of each year. Math is typically taught by drill, which means students are repeatedly taught the basics of math until they are able to demonstrate comprehension. We are deficient in math and science compared to most industrial countries and most public schools lack modern computing equipment, an essential tool for the work place.
Students in Japan go to school an average of 232+3x days, while students in the U.S. go to school an average of 184+4x days. We go to school an average of 50 fewer days and worse, most of our students are idle academically for almost 3 months.
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