I Just Lost My Mind Listening to the Cluelessness of the First Lady in China

[Warpy]

76. She's been well prepared by the State Dept. wonks who have been shown the same lies.

I have never been to China but I've had everything from colleagues to PR jobs shepherding visitors around and my Mandarin sucks but was adequate when I was a nurse to ask where it hurt and understand the answer, although it shocked the shoes off the poor patient to hear it out of my Irish face.

I've heard the same thing you're reporting, that there are elite schools built for Party big shots and now used by their upper 1% but the rest of them are falling apart. As for the teacher rooted in place in the front of the room, that seems to be cultural, as is the learning based on rote and reinforced by drilling. Thinking isn't part of the curriculum since it won't be all that necessary in an obedient worker.

In other words, they're the same schools we have here, minus the rote memorization and drilling, although NCLB tried to move us in that direction. Even schools in the suburbs are starting to get a little shabby around the edges as funding is cut and/or misallocated by corrupt management.

Visiting dignitaries always get sunshine blown up their asses and I know the Chinese official visitors get to see the fancy prep schools and public schools in rich districts in Virginia rather than public schools in DC when they visit.