You are so right in your assertions. Foreigners stand out so much that whatever they do is amplified. However, for a few that are arrogant the rest of us treat the Chinese with respect from the highest to the poorest. At the local KFC in town I clean up my own tray and everyone thinks I am strange. I say "excuse me, "thank you" and everyone is surprised. From my experiences the Chinese are the proud arrogant ones that treat the others Chinese like crap. Westerners are a little louder, but they are more tactful. Whenever I go to a restaurant with some Chinese they treat there servers badly. I do not undertstand all the Chinese used, but enough to know what mistreatment is.
As to education, China does not impress me. The methodologies we use in the West such as argumentation, asking question, debates, multi-sensual techniques leave the Chinese system of rote memorization in the dust. The teachers here and my students think I came from outerspace. In the USA I worked as Teacher's Assistant in an ESL program so I am not completely lost in the classroom. I prefer to spend time with the regular people out in town. After a few beers we are all speaking the same language.