On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:31:53 -0800, Edward Pollak wrote: >I wish I could send TIPS some of the blog entries written by a >young cousin of mine who was teaching English in China at some >private schools for the children of fairly wealthy families. The poor >work ethic, sense of entitlement, & lack of respect for authority >that she described (for the majority of her students) was appalling >even by modern American standards. Of course she also describes >some outstanding students but these were a decided minority. If you >consider that only the cream of the Chinese crop get to come to >the USA for study, the comparison made in the original article is >not a fair one. > >I don't mean to defend the lack of work ethic in the bulk of our >modern student body you can't compare what are likely elite Chinese >students with run-of-the-mill American students. Another factor: the >Chinese students are likely from the privileged classes and don't have >to hold down part or full time jobs while studying here. Many of our >students do.
The issue of biased sampling in U.S. account of students should also be kept in mind. Consider the following article which talks about U.S. students who are likely to be "elite" as well though the point of the article is that trying to be elite may take a significant toll; see: http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/faculty/displayFacultyNews.php?tablename=notify1&id=401 In NYC, the financial and social elite often reckon the trajectory of their children's educational and social life course at an early age. This is what make stories about not getting one's child into the "right" pre-school program so hilarious and so sad. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
