Visitors to China are always astonished by the new highways and skyscrapers, and by the endless construction projects that make China's national bird the crane.
But the investments in China's modernization that are most impressive of all are in human capital. The blunt fact is that many young Chinese in cities like Shanghai or Beijing get a better elementary and high school education than Americans do. That's a reality that should embarrass us and stir us to seek lessons from China.
On this trip I brought with me a specialist on American third-grade education — my third-grade daughter. Together we sat in on third-grade classes in urban Shanghai and in a rural village near the Great Wall. In math, science and foreign languages, the Chinese students were far ahead.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/opinion/27Kristof.html?pagewanted=print-----------------------
For about a decade I've been concerned about the rising tiger/dragon in the East. My first inkling that the Chinese were going to become a formidable competitor (with India coming in a close second) was when I saw that their "steering committee" was comprised of eight engineers. As soon as we toss the know-nothings out of power, our first initiative should be the absolute right to a first class education with a first class set of standards.