The strict and rigid Asian system of education has been around for hundreds of years. In fact, people since the oldest ages have been adopting it. It gives children a sense of "hard" really early on in life. Some may be as young as pre-kindergarten when they experience it. I have once heard many parents talk about how they want their children to have good grades, then get into university, get a good paying job, and expectations are tremendously high. There is a Chinese idiom, how young children cannot "lose on the starting call", which could explain why the system has been introduced to children at such a young age. However, is this really what children need for their future?
Now, education is so highly valued that every kilometer a person walks on the street, you can see the signs of tutoring classes being advertised. You can hear the sound of children reading. You can sense the tenseness of the atmosphere as names are being called out loud in the order they scored for the latest test.
But-the prices are raising for everything to do with it. You can see the worried yet determined faces of both parents and children, you can hear the arguments arising from each household because of one's grades, you can "smell the smoke" and burning of the exhaustion fans of kids' fingers as they copy things out time after time. Getting stuck in a situation like that is like being in jail, with the strong lock secured tightly, as if it would stand a thousand bulls attacking it.
Though all this happens, it does not mean there is no fruit from it. Even the worst performing child would get a result, far better than expected; well at least better than sitting there not doing anything. This is the happier side of the system, when gay, cheerful shouts and screams echo through the hallways when the parents find their child has received full marks on the exam.
Then we think about childhood-is grades the key? For all kids, the answer is no. When these kids mentioned turn into an adult, all they will have to remember is studying, studying, and still studying. In comparison, the kids whom may not have performed as well but had fun and was happy in childhood would have much more to remember. Let us just say that the kids who have studied well got into a prestigious university, with the supposed glow on their face, they face so many overwhelming new challenges that it all comes up to them and hits them with a fierce blow. Then, many of them could be lost, and childhood memories is something that I'm sure would be comforting, making them feel "at home", and could therefore regain composure and bravely face the challenges. Even after they graduate, and let us imagine they are looking for a good job on the market, but they will not pass the interview because they would have been studying so hard that their social skills may not be as strong as compared to the active ones. I am sure that everyone is clear that social skills are one of the much required assets to join a company.
In conclusion, I believe that likewise Queen Elizabeth I, Asia, in particular China, should take the "middle way". They should keep their traditions of strict learning and hard work but also balance it with the western style one of happiness and creativity.