Lmao
‘In China the scary commie government was involved in our kids lives. There were even police forces unarmed outside. So scary.’
‘When we got back to our lovely America, my daughters soon had their first live shooter drill!’
It’s funny the way people use the word “propaganda”. If we were to give it an honest definition, it just means “ideas I don’t like” but people use the term as if they’re saying something scathing.
Reminds me of the way people use the word “political”. Things I like? Not political. Things I don’t like? Political. It’s such a joke.
Right, like American schools aren’t stuffed to the brim with pledging allegiance to the flag, worshipping Founding Fathers and presidents, worshipping the infallibility of “free market capitalism” and America as a hero nation that made a few mistakes here and there but overall is a shining beacon of light in a sea of wolves. Like every second of a kid’s life in America isn’t stuffed to the brim with propaganda from capitalist corporations, from social media, and from our peers who rep them, all teaching us wonderful things like racism and eating disorders and doomerism and consumerism and toxic masculinity and maybe a dash of jingoism when appropriate.
I’ll admit, some things about China sound mildly uncomfortable to me, such as in the article talking about the immense pressure placed on young students or what seems like excessive obedience or adherence to a strict set of values and ideas. In context I have learned that much of what China does that I instinctively feel iffy about makes great sense considering both their history and the constant war America wages on it on so many fronts. But even in a vacuum, it comes out so far ahead of the cesspool of American culture. I’d be mildly uncomfortable about a few things if I had kids and sent them to Chinese school, but I would be severely uncomfortable if I had to send them to an American school–forget what they’re taught by teachers and the general culture, even just imagining them interacting with someone their own age brings up a nausea that is an effective birth control for me.
Exactly, the US education system “propagandizes” its students just as much, if not more, than the Chinese one. As does every education system by necessity. Literally what does it even mean to teach someone without propagandizing them? Because you can spin anything, even incontrovertible stuff like atomic theory, as propaganda if you really wanted to. “Lucretian propaganda” you could call it haha
It’s such a reductive way of looking at things that completely glosses over what the supposed propaganda actually is. Because like you said, the stuff that’s taught in the US is fucked up and deserves much more criticism than China. Though this article notably did not use the p word against the states.
And since the author didn’t specify what “propaganda” their kids were repeating or what the “Communist Party propaganda” they were being exposed to in school was, we can only imagine that those ideas were so objectionable that they couldn’t be shared with us in print (I’m guessing they were taught the metric system lol)
TLDR: the real CPC propaganda was the harmonious society we made along the way.
I kinda pity the girls, the culture shock must be terrifying.
People in China are still legally barred from determining the gender of their unborn babies unless medically necessary
The way she says this like it’s a bad thing. I think we’re sick y’all.
Well one of the “China bad” myths is precisely the one where girls are routinely aborted, while it is strictly forbidden exactly because this. But truth never once stand in the way of murican propganda and never will!
I laughed out loud at:
The prevailing student-centered American approach to education emphasizes the needs of the children and what engages them and promotes independent thought
This is so far off the mark I can’t even…
Surprisingly short op-ed where it’s clear from this author that she lacks critical thinking and comprehension skills. She just can’t avoid parroting the same vague anti-China tropes while simultaneously appreciating most of the material realities of the Chinese way.
Independent thought is when dumb yt can’t comprehend when there’s a conflict between material observation and ideology, reverting to previous dogma.
The fact the children themselves were lamenting that they weren’t tutored in maths earlier in life is a testament to the success of their social system. Meanwhile in America, the literacy rate is 79%, compared to the developed world standard of 99%. Something has gone terribly wrong.
*Literacy at 6th grade level
Every single “Chyna bad” point sounds heavenly and make me want to live there. People telling pregnant women they shouldn’t drink cold beverages, regardless of its lack of scientific basis is infinitely better than “The whole point of this country is if you want to eat garbage, balloon up to 600 pounds and die of a heart attack at 43, you can. You are free to do so.”
You’re also free to smoke, drink, and do drugs while pregnant if you want! Freedom!
Yeah but in the usians worldview all that, even if they would love to have that that themselves is an horror simply because it is not USA flag and anthem. Their chauvinism is unreal.
alternate link for anyone else having issues with archive.ph
