Education

In China, education is divided into three important parts: basic education, higher education and adult education. I used to be a high school teacher in China. So I'm familiar with the basic education but not the higher education and the adult education.

Similar to Canada, basic education in China also includes pre-school education, primary education and secondary education. In contrast, in China, each child must have nine years of compulsory education from primary school (six years) to junior secondary education (three years), from 6 years old to 15 years old. After that, students will have the senior high school entrance examination. The higher scores you get the better senior high school you can go. About 30% students do not have the chance to go to the senior high school.

They will choose technical secondary education. Unfortunately, some students who come from poor countryside will go to work after two to four years of training. Senior high school graduates who wish to go to universities must take National Higher Education Entrance Exam. It's the most important exam during the basic education. On that day, vehicles have to lower the speed and keep quiet as much as possible for students to finish the exam better. All the people attach great importance to this exam. According to the Chinese Ministry of Education, in June 2019, 1.03 million students took the exam.

In China, the academic year is divided into two terms: September to January (about four week’s winter vacation) and February to July (about six week’s summer vacation). At the end of each term, there will be a test. So, students have to do their homework after school every day. Most parents will send their children to expensive cramming school or one-on-one private classes over the weekend.

Most schools start from 7:30am to 5:30pm. There won't be school buses to take students to school. Comparing with China, I think students in Canada are more relaxed and happier.