Thought I’d write a few things about the Chinese education system that we have learned to this point. China has nine years of compulsory education, grades 1-9. Many parents send their kids to preschool and kindergarten if they can afford it. It seems that the Chinese people are very conscious of the need for education. After they complete the ninth grade, they have two choices: High School or Vocational School. A few do not go on, but it sounds like the vast majority select one of these options, which parents do have to pay for. Our guide said that there is a problem with the compulsory education system in that there are many things that are not paid for some families find the expenses a real burden and can’t always send their children. Parents are very concerned about how their child ranks in the classes. If they are ranked lower on a continuous basis, they often take them out of school. They feel it is “losing face”. The special needs stduents go to separate schools and they do not have gifted programs. Those who are considered gifted go right on to the university. They seem to find it odd that we do this differently. 
In the urban areas, the elementary teachers teach only one subject in the elementary grades. They feel the teacher can better prepare with the single focus. In rural areas, teachers maay teach multiple subjects. The required subjects in all Chinese schools are Chinese, English, and Mathematics. They do not have as much time devoted to science as these subjects. From the teachers we have been able to ask it sounds like science is taught anywhere from 3-5 times per week depending on the school. They do have a strong emphasis on science starting in middle school. Middle school students have 1 years of physical science, one of chemistry and 2 of biology before high school. In high school all students have 3 years of physics, 2 of biology and 1 of chemistry before graduation. I have include a couple photos from our visit yesterday to a rural school in Tanxia Town Center School. That visit was a highlight of my trip to date. There were 48 4th grade students in this class!! I will write more about that in another post.
We left Guilin this morning for Shanghai. This is a city of 20 million and is not the largest city in China! The largest city is Chongqing with a population of 30 million. Those numbers are just staggering to me! I discovered there are two airports here. We flew into the old airport, but will fly out of the new airport, Pudon International Airport on Saturday. It took us 30 minutes to get to our hotel which is amaxingly elegant, by the way. Our local guide said that the same trip would have taken 4 hours 15 years ago when their were few bridges and no superhighways. Actually I was sorry to leave Guilin. Needed more time to explore this area. We flew South China airlines. One new experience for me was right before landing they switched the broadcast system to a set of Tai Chi exercises to re-energize our bodies after the flight experience. Very cool. Tonight we sampled the Shanghai cuisine which is sweeter than what we have been accustomed to in our other locations. After dinner we attended a Chinese acrobat show which was pretty amazing. Then back to the Jinjiang Hotel which is rather European in décor. I guess many dignitaries have stayed here over the years. Presidents Carter, Nixon, and Reagan were among the famous people listed.
