As IF Times

link In PISA Test, Top Scores From Shanghai Stun Experts – NYTimes.com.

As my good friend exclaimed when reading this piece, “who knew and how shocking!”  If nothing else, the logical conclusion would be to get new experts.  If the experts are genuinely shocked that Chinese students are good at math and science, they’d better peek out from their ivory towers and have a look at the constituency of college enrollment.

On sheer numbers alone, this article is thought provoking.  It states that the city of Shanghai has a population of 20 million.  That would be 2/3 of the entire population of the State of California, or the country of Canada.  The thought of kids excelling at math or science at a rate only comparable to that of those two places mentioned is daunting enough.  The fact that they excel is truly intimidating.  This has enormous implications for economic and military power going into the next 50 years, or longer.  This much has been documented many times over the past 10 years by scholarly papers.  The founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion, Mike Lazaridis, famously stated in 2008 that:

“…The number of PhDs the Chinese plan to graduate within the next 10 years is greater than the entire population of Canada…”

So the issue is, why and how do they do it?  Well for one thing, the attitude towards education in most Asian nations, but especially China, is much different than the West’s.  There is a cultural respect for eduation that borders on reverential.  Great sacrifices are made by traditional Chinese families in order to secure good education for their children.  In turn, the kids are hardwired to succeed and diligently pursue studies, competing for academic recognition as kids here in the West compete for spots on the Varsity football team.

Here in the West, at least at the pre college level, we observe anecdotal evidence of failures of the education system, of the low test scores relative to comparable nations. It’s hard to imagine why that would be given that the West probably has the most money to spend on education.  Something’s amiss. It may be a good idea for the ‘experts’ to import some of the ideas and techniques from China and implement them here.

Without knowing firsthand exactly how their system works, I can say that their academic system is a competitive meritocracy.  It’s unlikely little Pan Pan would get passed onto the next grade if his marks were substandard.  Rather than chastise the teacher or school for failing their child, more likely the kid gets a stick on the butt from their own parent. It’s unlikely that kids are allowed to be disruptive in class.  Smart off to the teacher and they’ll be cleaning washrooms with toothbrushes and then do additional homework.  Of course, the worst punishment for the student would be facing their own parents.  They will not likely console him/her and then blame the school for picking on the innocent kid. 

Attitudes at the colleges are also different than here.  It’s unlikely that kids go to schools based on their rankings in the party index.  The possibility of going to a ‘girls gone wild’ school would be remote.  I suppose there may be courses offered such as “Appreciation of Modern Art In The Age Of Apple” but I would give that a big As IF.  It would be easy to concede that the Chinese are better students, but I would argue that they simply have a more conducive environment.  The West had better learn that.  If we think the Chinese dominance in the field of manufacturing is overwhelming, wait until they take over the inventing as well.

link  Wis. Postal Worker Delivers Mail In The Buff « CBS Minnesota – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and the Best of Minnesota.

I get asked all the time as to why I write about American experiences when I live up here in Canada.  The short anwer is, because of articles like this.  In the Excited States of America can be found the entire range of human behaviour, beliefs and experiences and a huge collection of nuts.  It is a nation full of extreme opposites, rich and poor, brilliant and vapid, selfless and selfish.  Opinions can be extreme and passions run high.  It is still a nation where individuality matters and is prized.   In the parlance of market statisticians, it is a nation tracing out a huge bell curve with very fat tails.  Canada, on the other hand, having a much smaller population, traces out a much narrower, taller bell curve with very thin tails. 

For other than the 3 of you who knows what that means, it only postulates that we in Canada don’t have the extremes of personalities up here as compared to the U.S.. Despite protestations to the contrary, pressure to conform is much greater here than in the far flung and diverse population of the U.S.  Because we are a smaller population, the influence of the media is much more influential in shaping opinions and values.   As Canadians should realize, if they paused at all to think about it, there really is no variance in the opinions of media outlets, one of which is the nationally owned one.  We don’t have anything similar to a Fox News in Canada.  They’re all variants of the same PC themed formats.  

That’s not to say that we take ourselves too seriously, in fact, it’s the opposite.  The trademark Canadian humor is portrayal of our own dufusness.  Think Bob and Doug Mackenzie of days gone by.  Think Jim Carrey.  Think Dana Carvey.  Think John Candy.  They’re funny, but it’s all the same shtick.

What some may refer to as ‘da Canadian values’ can more realistically be characterized as group think.  Certain behaviours are programmed into people so that they become  a natural reflex.  Recycling for example.   Deference to ‘green’ initiatives, no matter how inane, are universally accepted as inviolable social mandates.  Throw a plastic water bottle into the trash at a party and you become an instant pariah.  Mention that seals are good eats and notice the horrified stares.  Mention that multiculturalism leads to balkanization and watch people moving to distance themselves from you like you had 3 heads. 

Canadians are programmed to fit into the mainstream.  Americans on the other hand seem to have a much larger number of eccentric nuts in their population, people more willing to march to their own drummer,  more willing to do their own thing and express themselves.  Canadians are individualists too some may say.  True, but in a me too kind of way.   Perhaps that in a small way explains the success of so many Canadian entertainers who make their fortune and fame in the U.S..  Someone else can write a PhD thesis on this, my only take is that the American experience is a much richer one when it comes to culture, despite conventional opinion to the contrary.  As much as Canadians smugly claim the banner of tolerance, I think that the Americans by far have a more tolerant population.  As a politician up here, try to address any issue of universal entitlement and you will get  the standard knee jerk charge of  insulting  ‘da Canadian values’ of tolerance, compassion, yada yada yada. 

In the U.S., you can exhibit all kinds of anti mainstream behaviour and not be accused of  insulting American values, unless of course, you are.  Up here, the worst thing you can accuse someone of is not being a recycler.  Americans have no problem criticizing something,  deserved or not.  In Canada, it is considered impolite to criticize anyone.  In the U.S., they call a spade a spade.  In Canada, it’s possibly a shovel, but maybe a rake or can be a small wheelbarrow, whatever the owner thinks it is, is fine.  Canadians are too polite eh.  We hate to rock the boat.

Or are we?  As I referenced earlier on, there are very few media groups controlling all of the product that we see from news to entertainment.  The view that Canadians have of themselves is shaped not so subtly by the values imparted by the influential media.  It’s an homogenized vision of niceness and tolerance.  It’s my opinion, that most people don’t subscribe to the idealized version of  ‘da Canadian values’.  It’s my contention that people collectively groan at the exhortations of media and politicians who purport to reflect ‘da Canadian values’.  It’s just that most people would rather live their lives than be bothered with the chest thumping posturing of the usual publicity gluttons.  I mean really, Michael Ignatieff represents Canadians?  Does everyone agree with David Suzuki?

Case in point.  Only recently, after an extended run as Premier of BC, the leader of the Liberal Party, Gordon Campbell was forced to step down due to sinking popularity.  How could that be?  By most measures, he had managed the Province well and the recent Winter Olympics was his crowning achievement.  The answer is that over the years, numerous contentious policies were enacted into law which satisfied his own ideological bent but which did not have the support of the public.  The public meekly went along and did not voice enough protest.  The final straw was an outright 180 degree turn on a tax policy which was imposed despite explicitly denying it during an election.  On top of all the green taxes, land giveaways and scandals over the years, people finally had enough.  Contrary to what the media says, it wasn’t just the tax that sealed his fate, it was resentment over years of unpopular  ideologically driven policy decisions.  It wasn’t fickleness. If there was popular support for all that he had done in the past, he would have survived the single issue of the tax mis-step.  Obviously there was not.

Canadians will lose their milquetoast reputation when they stop believing the media’s representation of who we are.  We can take a page from the U.S. experience and turf those from office who pretend to know our values and perhaps consider  those with differing voices from the supposed mainstream.  Strong voices and strong opinions.  Then I’ll have some fun things to write about.