The great value that Chinese parents place on their children s education is well illustrated by the willingness of many to make significant financial sacrifices in order to send their child to school. One taxi driver reported to us that he and his wife contribute over half of their monthly salary to their children s high school tuition. In addition, parents demonstrate their commitment to their children s education by remaining closely involved in their progress. Such involvement may be as simple as reviewing and providing extra homework or as extensive as enrolling a student in private tutoring or extracurricular lessons. The dominant teaching method is lecture, with the chalkboard used to highlight principal ideas.
Students write a few notes, but, generally, they face the teacher with undistracted attention.
Another technique involves having the students simultaneously read the lesson aloud. When this method is used, all the students are each at different place in the lesson. Sometimes questions about the lesson are interspersed in the lecture. Individual students are called on to recite the important ideas. Despite eager enthusiasm, common to any student who knows the right answer, Chinese students do not wildly wave their raised hands or make verbal demands to attract attention from the teacher to call on them to give the answer.