The following is from Tim Nerenz about how one of the opposing teams is training. We are being ripped off:
Anyone who has actually been to China comes back with a fuller appreciation for the true nature of the economic threat posed by that rival nation. China is not a land of coulee labor chained to benches in dingy sweatshops hunched slaving over pennies for hours on end. China is mile after mile of gleaming new factories full of new high-technology equipment, clean as a clinic, efficient as all get-out, and full of energetic, smiling, young faces proud of their productivity and their rapid climb up the income scale.
Those factories were designed by Chinese industrial architects, and built by Chinese skilled tradesmen operating Chinese-made cranes and heavy equipment. The machines and assembly lines were designed by Chinese engineers and built by Chinese craftsmen. The skilled workers who operate and maintain the machinery are Chinese, the trainers are Chinese, the inspectors are Chinese, and the management is Chinese. The capital to invest in these productive factories is Chinese, the surplus product of a 50% savings rate; the banks that finance the development and working capital are Chinese.
All those smart, proficient Chinese people are the product of Chinese schools. Children start school at 7 years of age, and complete 9 years of compulsory education – 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, 10 months per year. 60% of curriculum is devoted to math and reading (Chinese). At the end of each school year, tests must be passed to advance to the next year. Teachers must have a 2-year certificate to teach, and local boards control local schools.
Students who do not grasp lessons stand in front of the class to be tutored by the teachers and other students until they learn. Parents are required to come to school and take notes when children are ill. The expectation is that every single child will learn to be fully proficient, and they are. A University of Michigan study reported that Chinese students perceive the classroom as competitive and teacher-controlled and they are happy about it. Proficient people are happy people.
If the private market controlled education we would see better and even more efficient results.
My homeschoolers worked on formal studies ( at the kitchen table) about **2** hours a day, 5 days a week, for about 11 months of the year. The rest of the time they **played** and worked on their hobbies.
By age 13, 12, and 13, they were in college. Two finished B.S. degrees in math by the age of 18. One earned a masters in math by 20. The oldest was equally successful in his full-time work and in a few months will finish a masters in accounting at an age typical for students in the U.S.
My children are NOT unusual for homeschoolers.