ozzie, that 7.5 in IELTS on mainland is a sarcastic one, isn't it? few score over 6. however, this proficiency test has undergone some changes and because the mainland authorities are running the BC show in their unis the british "not for profit" organization is bending over. to the locals it's like their RIGHT to get the IELTS scores/bands they want. they "study hard" and then they pay 1,450 yuan, don't they? the fact is that a couple years ago, mainland was a country where IELTS takers received the lowest scores from all the countries worldwide. actions have been taken before and from 3 months waiting period after failures students were allowed to retake the exams every month..great business decision too. contecting it to the topic and from my experience, locals do not understand well what the purpose of education really is and/or what the examinations are to be for and that might actually be the problem here.

still i believe many elders aren't to be blamed for it as much as some would like to. some of those peoples people have gone through so much. if you were a 70-80 year old chinese you'd remember mao taking all your hard earned assets away from you. if you were just a local 60 years old ailing retiree you'd see there's not so much to be offered out of the fine GDP growth and i've got to second the posters that've mentioned the current chinese wealth being hidden somewhere. it sucks that the chinese leaders seemingly want to compete with the developed countries rather than give it up to their own elders that need it so much. but it sucks local leaders close their eyes on the ones that've cheated their way into wealth and that've abused the system so much. how right can those older abusers be. it's not a secret that these leaders and the wealthy locals think it's good for the country to have about a 15-20 percent of peoples people run the system either from their government or business offices. it's also not a secret that these 15-20 percent rich locals have been carefully chosen. agreeably, the danger that the new generation will not respect such views and practices is there. then, it's really scarry to see some rich locals setting up their roots or getting into businesses abroad. just imagine these peoples values and what they stand for.

recently, i experienced a 25 years old manager, a local, whose values and business practices horrified me. i resigned although she wanted to make me feel sorry through out my last month with her. how could it be that she did not respect an older one (me)? i guess we're different older people than peoples people.

well, i am not interfering in the local affairs but i am living with them. then, i am worried the local affairs will spread and arrive into my own hometown where my previous generations worked hard and in a much more honest manner than peoples peoples wealthy ones.

cheers and beers to our effort in local educational system

Your post is brilliant, I could not have said it better! Everything you spoke about is correct.

Yep, time for the Chinese to wake up before it is too late!

I'll respectfully disagree elders deserve respect no matter what. Many folks here have kids for very selfish reasons and I'm frankly sick of the attitude that these kids who didn't ask to be born so their parents could have a safety net somehow owe everything to these same parents. Yes, it's a "tradition" and all that crap but foot-binding at one time was too. I wish these same parents who put so much pressure on their defenseless kids would direct some of that energy toward forcing the government to provide better for the elderly here. This is the "People's Republic" after all. It's not like the government doesn't have the money. It's sitting on huge reserves of cash it has built up by keeping the value of the yuan artificially low while "Communists" get rich and live in nice homes and drive expensive imported cars. It's time for China to take a look in the mirror. If it wants to be a part of the modern world, well, it needs to get more modern. I'm weary of walking into a class filled with 17, 18 year old kids who are too drained from constant memorizing of worthless information to engage in learning to speak English. If history is any guide these students will eventually explode in righteous anger and then we'll have a real mess on our hands.

Many of my younger Chinese friends and acquaintances often talk about how they "have to" do whatever their parents tell them to do. For a few of them it has meant even breaking up with someone they really like or staying in a hick city they really didn't want to stay in. This might seem like an incredibly stupid question but can I assume when they say "have to" they are referring only to societal and "cultural" pressure or is there actually something in Chinese law that compels people to obey their parents? For example, when a Chinese reaches "adult" age (which I guess is 18, right?) are they free to pack their things and leave like in most Western countries? Or is there a LEGAL reason they have to follow the whims of their parents? One of my friends, a 21 year old full-fledged adult person, absolutely hates her home city and wants to leave but her parents constantly deny her "permission" to do so. I tell her , "Hell, you don't need their permission, just go" to which she responds "You don't understand." I have long presumed she means, "As a Chinese I simply must follow convention and do what I'm told like a good girl." Is this correct? Or is there a LAW telling Chinese they must do what their parents say? Sorry if this is a dorky question but everything here is so "different" it wouldn't surprise me at all if such a law actually existed.