Education Differences

Huangzhong and I had a conversation on the way to dinner on Thursday evening about the structure of high school in China vs. the United States. In the United States we have districts set up for high schools and you usually go to a school that is nearby (private or charter high school's may be an exception). Often times, parents will move to an area with a good education system if they are planning to have children. The kids go to the local school by bus and stay at school for the day, including lunch which is eaten at school. After the day the kids head home for the night and catch the bus the following morning.

I learned that in China is it often common for kids to travel a fair distance from their hometown to attend high school. This is due to the large population of individuals who want to go to high school and the limited number of high quality schools. Thus, and individual may have to move a large distance to attend a quality institution. Because of the distance from home the students live on campus (much like our college setting) in dorms and stay there for the school year. Another difference from the United States is that students will leave school for the lunch period as they do not always have a school cafeteria in their high schools.