Chinese teachers say British welfare makes our kids lazy

[TiredOfPeople]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3183310/Rude-bone-idle-cosseted-welfare-state-Chinese-teachers-damning-verdict-schoolchildren.html

I went to this school and it was awful to be honest, but having lived in the far east I understand where they're coming from. China doesn't have the buffer of a welfare system to fall back on so the kids know they HAVE to study to get a good job, because if they don't they simply won't earn the money to survive. Which is why they have some of the hardest working, and smartest, students in the world (along with South Korea and Japan). When you KNOW you have a buffer to fall back on, you simply don't apply yourself in the same way (I was on benefits). If you KNOW you will not get any help, as "cruel" as many say that is of a Government and as much as most disagree with, there's no doubting the fact that it gives you that fire underneath you. You fight to survive. I feel though many people here don't want to have to do that, seemingly according to the comments sections on the daily fail and here on MN, because they feel like they "shouldn't have to" fight to survive. They shouldn't have to go off to another city to earn money to send back for their kids, or shouldn't have to go to a whole other country to do the same. Because that's "not fair" or whatever. Life in China is TOUGH, but, they sure do study hard no?

Just thinking, we have had points in this country when there was no welfare state, there was an idea that children should be educated and most of them were, and that school discipline was very tough, and that people would starve if they couldn't get work etc. My history isn't great so probably someone will correct me but this is Victorian England more or less isn't it?

Were things better then?

And YY to the DM being a horrible stirring hatemongering rag.

Clearly starving children to death isn't a positive way forward, is it Or indeed adults.

Hunger has been linked to poor behaviour and so forth in classrooms as well.

Whole thing is silly. Premise is based on dodgy stats, the links they make are pretty weak in terms of any evidence of causation, no mention of countries with excellent results and different welfare set-ups, no mention of massive cultural differences, or anything really.

Fish made some good points early on.

In 1880 school became compulsory to age 14 in England.
Welfare state was introduced 1945ish onwards.

Safe to say that there was plenty of discipline in schools in Victorian times, including physical punishment.
Safe to say that people could (and did) starve to death.

So OP and DM are keen to return to that, I think? Were things better then? I must admit I always thought the DM wanted a return to some non-existent 1950s fantasy, rather than Victorian times.

or Japan, they have minimal immigration, right? So does that mean the school caretakers can recite Shakespeare (Japanese equivalent) and the bin men do calculus for fun during their tea breaks?

neah, I don't believe it.

These Chinese kids don't appear to be academic high flyers.

About 20% of rural Chinese kids have stunted growth due to malnutrition.

And more info there about educational challenges for rural kids. Report says that rural kids make up 22.3% of the students at Chinese 'top universities' but rural residents make up 45.3% of the total population (says Wikip).

Whaddya wanna bet those rural kids don't get in the PISA tables?

*Safe to say that there was plenty of discipline in schools in Victorian times, including physical punishment.
Safe to say that people could (and did) starve to death.

So OP and DM are keen to return to that, I think?*

Lol, no. Again, having been on benefits myself, I can see that they have a point that without the support of welfare it would drive people to work harder, or indeed starve. I never said it was right or wrong.

Why does quoting what the Chinese teachers say, mean that the DM wants to implement what they say? They're just reporting it.

The program raised some very interesting questions for me, and I had fun watching it and discussing it with my teenage children.