user: Input: In China the gaokao -- the highly competitive college entrance exams -- dictates the course of a lifetime. A good score in the gaokao will open the doors to the country's most prestigious universities. The number of Chinese studying in the US is up from about 60,000 in 2004 to more than 274,000 in 2014. The majority of students are privately funded and education is now part of a billion dollar industry.
Output: In China it's known as gaokao -- the college entrance exams -- and for most young people it dictates the course of a life. A good score in the gaokao will open the doors to the country's most prestigious universities, granting access not only to the best education and the chance to work overseas but  also to an elite Rolodex of upper-echelon contacts. Chinese society, more than any other, is predicated on its networks, or guanxi, and grooming them is a lifetime's work. For those that miss out on their gaokao, the years of tutoring and months of cramming could mean relegation to a provincial university and the oblivion of a major city "ant colony" -- the shared dormitory accommodation that awaits graduates trying to find work in China's urban centers. For others hoping to escape the ineluctable cycle of the gaokao, overseas study is only possible through a limited number of scholarships or rich parents. Increasingly, however, Chinese private schools -- with British A-level exams and the International Baccalaureate -- are geared towards giving the children of the middle  class the edge when it comes to gaining a place at a foreign university. "What we are talking about here really are the upper middle class and above -- people who are aware of what education systems are like in other parts of the world," said  Michel Hockx, Professor of Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Heading abroad. It'd be hard to find another country over the past 10 years that has spent as much, and as furiously, as China on giving its next generation the kind of head start that an expensive international education provides. The number of Chinese studying in the United States has increased more than fourfold from about 60,000 in 2004 to more than 274,000 in 2014, according to figures from the Institution for International Education. China now accounts for almost a third of international students in the U.S., marking an historic high. While the Chinese government assists students that want to study abroad, the majority of students are privately funded and education, in particular recently online education, is now part of a billion dollar industry. Many education companies are publicly-listed companies and a new boom in online education is expected over the next three years, according to a report by Deloitte. For the move towards private education in China not only reflects the aspirations of China's growing middle class but also a growing dissatisfaction with China's often tradition-bound curriculum. "People who are aware of what education systems are like in other parts of the world are becoming increasingly impatient with the Chinese education system," Hockx said. "It has an enormous emphasis on rote learning, classes can spend ludicrous amounts of time repeating the same things again and again, it often doesn't value creativity. "The elite are looking at other options and that includes sending their children to private schools in China and also sending them to English-speaking schools, in particular boarding schools in Britain which have a very good reputation in China." He said Chinese teenagers who must sit the gaokao are required to put in very long hours of study. "I personally know 13 and 14-year-olds in China who do not get more than four or five hours of sleep a day because of all the work that they need to do. I think many parents are worried because they're not seeing it as a way of moving up in the world," Hockx said. English skills. While the Chinese system, with its emphasis on rote-learning, is good for certain subjects such as maths and the sciences, Hockx said that the weighting on English in the gaokao -- and a shot at working and studying internationally -- still remained strong. Last year, an attempt by the government to level the playing field by reducing the English-language section of the gaokao (seen as a way of favoring students in provincial areas with fewer opportunities of gaining exposure to English) has done little to dent China's RMB30 billion ($5 billion) English language industry. English language sections of the gaokao were reduced from 150 to 100 points while Chinese sections were increased from 150 points to 180. Even with some leading teaching companies charging as much as RMB16,000 a year for extra-curricular tuition, in a country where the average wage can be as low RMB13,000 a year,  the English-teaching industry has only grown stronger, especially since the Beijing Olympics in 2008. New Oriental, China's largest English-language tuition company, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of $4.4 billion. Chinese traditionally have a deep respect for education but increasingly the option of dropping out of the Chinese education system altogether is becoming attractive to some. Han Han, the rebel voice of China's post-1980s generation, is China's most famous high school drop out and has gone on to parlay fame as a blogger and social commentator. "He became famous because when he was 18 he won a writing competition and won a free place at one of the best universities and he said no I'm not interested, I don't like this system and I just want to become an independent writer," Hockx said."He became a celebrity overnight almost." Read this: Asia's love affair with cosmetics. More from Virtual Think Tank.

Input: Bode Miller said the media created a far different narrative than what more than one judge determined after a series of hearings. Despite his experience dealing with the press, Miller said it's still difficult when it involves family - especially a defenseless child. Miller and the 11-month-old boy's mother, former Marine Sara McKenna, cemented the temporary pact in family court last month in New York City. Both parents agreed after court they were happy about the arrangement, which allows the skier to take the child to the Olympics in February. The pair had a brief relationship last year in California after meeting online but he has since married professional volleyball player Morgan Beck.
Output:

assistant: By. Meghan Keneally. and Helen Pow. and Associated Press. and Ryan Gorman. Olympic skier Bode Miller opened up Thursday morning about his despair at how a custody battle with a former flame was portrayed in the press. Miller told the 'Today Show' that it was difficult to see 11-month-old son Sam thrust into the spotlight while he and the boy's mother, former Marine Sara McKenna, 27, hammered out the details of a temporary custody agreement in place until at least a March 31 court date. Miller, 36, spoke from Germany, where he is preparing for a World Cup event, that despite being accustomed to dealing with the press, it's much more difficult when it involves family. Scroll down for video. It's difficult: Bode Miller claims the media spun his custody in a light that didn't reflect the facts of the case. 'The real difficult part is anytime it’s family or things that are really personal,' the five-time gold medalist told the 'Today Show.' 'Reading about them is one thing, reading about them when they’re not true [is another]. 'When they’re completely spun in one direction all the time and having to just accept that and not fight a public battle because that’s what the media really thrives on,' Miller continued, 'That was really difficult.' Miller griped that the media used 'a tiny amount of information' to come to far different conclusions than family court judges did, and that the press narrative put a defenseless child in an unfortunate position. 'When it’s about a small child who can’t really defend themselves or is going to have to deal with the repercussions of that in the future, that’s a really tough thing to deal with,' Miller said. Difficult: Miller said that despite his being used to dealing with the media, it's much harder when family matters are portrayed inaccurately. Defenseless: Miller also griped that his son was unfairly thrust into the spotlight and put into a position of having to deal with the ramifications of that in the future. The skier also spoke about looking forward to what will likely be his final Olympics, saying he feels his age and that he has to work harder to keep up with the younger skiers after knee surgery. He did add though, that going to the games with expectations lower than a medal is not why he's hitting the slopes. 'Anything outside of the medals is not why you’re going there,' Miller said. His comments came one month to the day after the details of a custody agreement between he and McKenna were made public. The temporary custody agreement in place until at least March 31 allows the skier to take the child to. the Winter Olympics next month in Russia. Miller. and McKenna had a brief relationship last year in California but he has. since married professional volleyball player Morgan Beck. Agreement: Olympic skier Bode Miller, center, exits family court, Monday, December 9, 2013, in New York. Shared custody: Miller and former flame Sara McKenna, pictured, agreed to share time with their infant son for four months. The case became a cause for women's rights advocates after a judge castigated McKenna for moving while pregnant to New York. She's studying at Columbia University. The boy, who Miller calls Nathaniel in honor of his late younger brother, will spend time with his mother while she pursues her studies. Case referee Fiordaliza Rodriguez of the Manhattan Family Court approved the agreement, issuing a temporary order after a short conference in her courtroom. 'I'm happy to see that both parties are working this out,' Rodriguez said, according to the New York Daily News. The child was not present at the courthouse. Happy: Miller, 36, and McKenna, 27, said, separately, after court they were happy about the arrangement, which allows the skier to take the child to the Olympics in February in Russia. McKenna has had temporary custody of Sam since November while Miller was away in Canada and Colorado seeking to qualify for his fifth Olympics. The child attended his father's season opener in Austria in October, when Miller had temporary custody. The former lovers met through an online dating service in California and went on several dates before McKenna discovered she was pregnant. By the time she informed him of the pregnancy, Miller was already seeing Beck, who is now his wife. Some have defended McKenna's New York move after Rodriquez dubbed it irresponsible because it moved the case to a different legal forum. The news comes after Beck said it was 'fate' that she had a miscarriage earlier this year because they wouldn't have been able to spend as much time with the 11-month-old toddler. McKenna was awarded temporary custody of her young son over the Thanksgiving holiday, before the bitter exes and their legal teams got back in a Manhattan court last month. Airing their views: Bode Miller and his wife Morgan Beck, who he married shortly after ending his relationship with Sara McKenna, announced that she miscarried last January. Holding on tight: Just before Thanksgiving, a judge overturned the previous custody ruling that gave the Millers the rights to the child he had with Sara McKenna (pictured), allowing her to care for the child until December 9. Miller met McKenna through the high-end dating service after they both expressed interest in settling down. Their relationship didn't last long, however, but McKenna discovered she was pregnant with his child by the time he had already begun dating his now-wife Morgan Beck, a professional volleyball player. McKenna later released a text she sent to Miller after asking him to join her at an ultrasound appointment. He refused to go and wrote: 'U made this choice against my wish'. In October, McKenna warned Miller that there was a possibility that she would be moving across the country: 'Just a heads up, I met with an advisor from Columbia today and we will probably be moving there in the fall.' That same month, he married Beck after dating for just five months and in November he submitted a 'Petition to Establish Parental Relationship' in a California court, identifying himself as the father of a child who was not yet born. Miller and Beck announced that she was pregnant weeks later, only to reveal shortly after that she had a miscarriage. 'It was awful. Morgan and I hadn't planned on getting pregnant, but we were excited. In hindsight, now, we can see what an incredible challenge having two babies would have been. I don't believe in fate- that everything happens for a reason- but Morgan does,' Miller said in an interview with Us Weekly, a portion of which is online. That reason is the fact that they want to gain more legal access to Miller's son with McKenna, even though the relationship has grown so contentious that they refer to the boy using different names. McKenna calls him Sam after giving the boy Miller's legal name, Samuel Bode Miller-McKenna, when she gave birth to him in New York last February. Fighting for his son: Miller and his wife had custody of the boy, who they refer to as Nate while his mother calls him Sam, for months leading up to the reversal before Thanksgiving. Evolving: Morgan, a professional volleyball player, got pregnant expectantly but had a miscarriage shortly after announcing it. Virtual guilt trip: Bode, his wife and his daughter Dace (right) from another previous relationship celebrated an early Christmas last month in Colorado when McKenna had custody of 'Nate' and he posted this photo. Miller later petitioned a court in his home state of California to add Nathaniel as a middle name in honor of his brother who died in April. Now he and Beck refer to the boy as Nate. The couple argued that McKenna had been conducting a virtual smear campaign against them, and while they maintain that they have not fought back, they are changing their ways now because it will effect the skier's career as he trains for the Winter Olympics. Her strike back: McKenna posted multiple photos of she and 'Sam' over Thanksgiving, including this one of them at the Macy's parade. Miller told The Boston Globe earlier that McKenna is directly attacking his brand. '(McKenna has) been directly attacking that. It's so pointless in this case because it has no bearing on anything. It doesn't make any difference,' he told the paper. 'It's just, when you are in a position where things aren't going your way — my wife does it all the time if she's losing a fight or something, she just switches the fight to something else that she thinks she can win at. Just totally changes the argument to something else. It's not a bad tactic. It's just kind of pointless.' Other factors weighed in on the argument, however, turning the case into a question of women's rights as one New York judge initially ruled that McKenna was 'forum shopping' for more favorable courts by moving from California in her third trimester. He awarded custody to Miller. After that September 3 decision, McKenna told The New York Times that her ex and new wife wasted no time uprooting the boy as they came back to her apartment 'took the baby out of my arms, dropped it in a car seat and drove away.' A second judge then reversed that decision though the case is still ongoing with the next hearing due for March 31. The Millers arrived at the Manhattan court with 'Nate' in tow last week and McKenna took the child after the hearing as she was granted custody over the Thanksgiving holiday. Bi-coastal contention: After meeting Miller in San Diego, McKenna moved to New York when she was pregnant and gave birth to the boy there, but the Millers argue she moved to be in a more favorable state for the custody case. She posted photos of she and 'Sam' together in New York, including one of the pair attending the Thanksgiving Day parade. Even though he didn't have his son near him to post new photos, Miller didn't let the social media war stay put there: he posted an old photo of 'Nate' and Dace, his 5-year-old daughter from another previous relationship. He and Morgan had discussed online how they were celebrating an 'early' Christmas in Colorado, and the picture of 'Nate' and Dace read: 'She's super sad her brother isn't here to celebrate with us.'