Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School and the Global Race to Achieve

by Lenora Chu

'I couldn't put this book down. Whip smart, hilariously funny and shocking. A must-read'
Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

In 2009, Lenora Chu, her husband Rob, and toddler Rainey, moved from LA to the Chinese megacity Shanghai. The US economy was spinning circles, while China seemed to be eating the planet's economic lunch. What's more, Shanghai teenagers were top in the world at maths, reading and science. China was not only muscling the rest of the world onto the sidelines, but it was also out-educating the West.

So when Rainey was given the opportunity to enroll in Shanghai's most elite public kindergarten, Lenora and Rob grabbed it. Noticing her rambunctious son's rapid transformation - increasingly disciplined and obedient but more anxious and fearful - Lenora begins to question the system. What the teachers were accomplishing was indisputable, but what to make of their methods? Are Chinese children paying a price for their obedience and the promise of future academic prowess? How much discipline is too much? And is the Chinese education system really what the West should measure itself against?

While Rainey was at school, Lenora embarked on a reporting mission to answer these questions in a larger context. Through a combination of the personal narratives and thoughts of teachers, parents, administrators and school children, Little Soldiers unpacks the story of education in China.

• ISBN10: 0349411778
• ISBN13: 9780349411774
• Publish Date: 19 September 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Heather]

The author is the first generation American daughter of Chinese immigrants.  She had a hard time reconciling her parents' attitude toward education with her American school experiences.  Now she and her American husband moved to Shanghai just in time for their oldest child to join the Chinese school system at age 3.  Should he go to the state school or should they send him to an international school?

The book follows the first few years of Rainey's Chinese education.  It both affirms and challenges what the author thought she knew about Chinese education.  From the first days when the children are continually threatened by the teachers with arrest or not being allowed to see their parents again if they don't sit still to the teenage years and the national obsession with the college entrance test, she examines the effect of authoritarian teaching.  The results surprised her.

I come from a family of teachers.  What I learned from this book is that being a teacher in China is way better than being a teacher in the U.S.

• Teachers are to be highly respected.  The proper response to a request by a teacher to a parent is, "Yes, teacher.  You work so hard, teacher."


• Bribery and gift gifting to teachers are both expected and illegal.  These aren't little gifts either.  Vacations, gift cards with a month's salary on it, and luxury goods are considered appropriate.

She talks about the other downsides of Chinese teaching, besides the threats.

• Force feeding children


• Public shaming


• No help for special needs kids


• Crushing amounts of homework and additional classes with tutors that start as young as age 3


• Indoctrination in Chinese nationalism and communism


• Rote rule following and stifling of creatively

On the plus side, there is:

• Well behaved children who respect their elders


• Fluency in written and spoken Mandarin and English before high school age


• Advanced math skills

She talks to migrant parents who have left children at home in the rural areas of China in order to be able to afford their education.  She talks to teenagers who are preparing for the college entrance exams and have differing takes on how to get ahead. 

Ultimately she decides to leave Rainey in Chinese school up until 6th grade if he is still doing well.  He will learn Mandarin almost fully by then and be strong in math.  He will escape the pressures of the high school and college entrance exams that can crush students.  They will continue to preach thinking for himself at home.

I did enjoy this look at education across China.  I'd recommend it for anyone interested in educational theory.  The narration was very well done in both Chinese and English. 

 

 This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story