Having had too many jobs

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
41

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]Feiren: Yes, I was indulging myself with some hyperbole, as I always do.

Those admission rates don’t seem to bad then. I certainly don’t intend to send my kids through buxibans here. I’d probably prefer to either homeschool them or perhaps send them to an international school, though that would require us to move and/or spend a considerable amount of money. The two things that I really dislike about the high school education system here are 1) it has a really heavy workload (I see my junior high school students struggling by the ninth grade), 2) it’s ROTE based and test driven. Is it necessary to go through that in order to get into universities here? How would doing something such as the I.B. compare or be accepted? I say that because I think the I.B. is a vastly superior system to what I have encountered here, and also in Australia and would prefer my kids to do something like that.
[/quote]

Your kids will never be able to pass the entrance exams if they don’t go to high school here. My understanding is that your grades don’t really matter that much, so as long as you pass, you don’t have to get caught up in all the pressure. That can be difficult though in urban areas where the parents and students create a coercive system that hard to opt out of for most people.

If you home school your kids and then send them to international schools, you will then need to send them to school overseas. If you can afford it and that’s what you want to do, go for it. But you are making a choice.

[quote]
As for employability, go and ask someone in most industries which country they’d prefer their employees to have degrees from. Maybe in engineering, Taiwan might even edge out the West. In virtually any other faculty though, they wouldn’t. Again, people line up around the block to get into a business school or dental school in the West, but people don’t come from all over the world in massive numbers to attend universities here.[/quote]

Go ask whom? In Taiwan and China they want people educated at top local institutions who have gone on to graduate schools in the west (although increasingly a branch campus in Singapore will do just fine). A non-Chinese speaking graduate of Harvard who turns up in Taiwan is not going to find many opportunities outside teaching English. If he had a few years of experience on Wall Street or in London and could speak Chinese, the world would be his oyster.

You can’t predict the future. As Scott says, the US appears to be in inexorable decline and China’s rise looks inevitable. I think both views are a bit premature. But a good, affordable education is always useful, and it is available in Taiwan. You have many choices and options for your future multicultural family. You may just need to choose which world you want to live in primarily.

42

Taiwan has been muddling through all of the problems you describe for the 20 plus years I have been here. When I arrived back in 1988, foreigners said the same things you do. Taiwan is now a far wealthier, nicer, and open-minded place than it was back then. I suspect it will continue to improve despite its many problems. The Taiwanese are resilient and resourceful. I really don’t know how they did it, but they did.

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]Feiren: I have no doubt that there are bright and motivated people here in Taiwan. I’ve met some. I think we can talk about motivation in a very specific sense though. Are the kids who have to grind through massive amounts of information for tests motivated? Probably not in the usual sense of the word, yet would I call them unmotivated? I don’t think so. It must be really hard getting through the education system here. Perhaps the best way to describe them is having a high pain tolerance, but even then, everyone has a burnout point. The point I was originally making way back whenever in this thread is that I think this path is unsustainable (demographically, economically and politically). The average adult in this country is running flat out on a treadmill and we’re seeing the results of that certainly in terms of fertility rates and child rearing practices.

Prior to coming to Taiwan, I would say I was pretty right wing in my economic/employment views, but the longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve moved away from that. As much as I may regularly engage in hyperbole about lazy, stupid Taiwanese, I actually feel really sorry for most of them because I think the middle class is really getting a hard time here and people here grow up in a system that actively discourages free thought and speaking out. It will be very interesting to see what happens when the current crop of teens and twenty-somethings are in their late thirties and forties though.[/quote]

43

[quote=“Whole Lotta Lotta”]A friend noted that I have been through a lot of jobs in the past few years. As I will be looking for a new job soon, I know this is a strike against me. It makes me look unstable. I will be getting my APRC in Taiwan soon, which should help out with this a bit, but it won’t totally solve the problem. Does anybody have any suggestions for me when it comes to answering this question at job interviews.
I know there are things that I need to look at. Perhaps I am part of the problem. I need to look at ways to get along with management and do things the way they want me too. But I don’t think I am always wrong. Perhaps I am not the type of person who is designed to be working for somebody else and should be striking out on my own a bit more :ponder: .[/quote]

To address the original question, though it has probably been answered elsewhere: A certain amount of transcience is normal in TEFLing in Taiwan. You can explain away any questions by saying you’ve worked numerous short-term jobs which sometimes have overlapped. You can leave out the jobs you left the soonest and talk more generally about your years of experience.

44

[quote=“Feiren”]Oh, I think we can give GIT the benefit of the doubt. He’s just indulging in a bit of hyperbole.

But GIT, you should heed what Scott is saying. The national universities are far better than ‘fifth rate’. NTU is co-ranked with the University of Hawaii and utranks UC Riverside and Indiana University. Those are are all very good American state universities.

As for getting into them, they are selective. Nonetheless, that selectivity is greatly skewed by the unfortunate competition to get into medical school and electrical enginerring programs. Other departments are also very good and much less competitive. There are about 70,000 undergraduatess at Taiwan’s top five national universities, so there are about 17,500 seats. 140,000 students take the college entrance exams. So 12.5% get in. That’s pretty competitive, but by no means impossible. There are also another six top national unis out there.

Every year I read in the paper about students who got perfect scores on the admissions test say that they did NOT got to Buxibans. Instead, they read a lot outside of class and generally had supportive parents. Just because most Taiwanese parents act like idiots, doesn’t mean you have to.

Finally, Taiwan has several affirmative action programs for kids from ‘remote’ areas like Taidong county. No, you don’t have to be an aborigine. You just have to attend an local public high school. So if you stay in Taidong, your kids have a pretty decent chance of going to a national Taiwanese uni if you can’t afford to send them to the school of your choice in Australia.

Taiwan’s educational system has many, many problems. But if I have ever learned anything, it is that education is what you put into it, not the name brand. If your kids are interested, they can get a quality education in Taiwan.[/quote]

This is the real key. Unless you are working in academia, it really doesn’t matter whether you went to a third tier university or not. Through your working years you will have plenty of opportunities to prove your worth. Not to mention, is four years or study or a lifetime after graduation more valuable?

45

Feiren: That really does my head in. In order for my kids to go to a good university here, they have to basically spend six years of junior and senior high school rote learning for exams? We’ve all seen the English exams kids do in junior and senior high school and they’re a complete nonsense. In many cases, the answers are actually wrong, but the kids memorise them anyway to pass the tests. In theory, there’s the possibility that a native speaker could actually do worse on the English exams here than a local who can’t utter or write an intelligible sentence.

There’s also the situation where for many, or perhaps even most, high school kids here, it’s six years of ten or more hours per day at school (or buxibans) and studying. That’s really unhealthy in all sorts of other ways. If not that though, then one might as well resign oneself to being pretty mediocre and grinding out that 30,000NTD/month. I can completely understand why plenty of kids these days are labelled by their teachers as lazy, and why plenty of people become lazy adults. It’s the rational choice. If they’ve figured out that they’re not in the top 10% of their class at school and unable/unwilling to spend an extra four or more hours per day hitting the books, then it really doesn’t matter, so why go through the anguish? Unless you’re a complete knucklehead, then you’re basically going to be doing the same crap everyone else does for the same crap money.

There is a whole Chinese orbit, and with well over one billion people, that’s nothing to be sneezed at. However, the thing that I like about the I.B., for instance, is that it allows a kid in Chile or South Africa or Malaysia to be judged somewhat on an even footing, and it’s essentially internationalist in perspective, plus it involves core subjects that provide a much broader perspective on what learning is and what living in a society is. A system that basically gives that the middle finger, or where a smart, well-educated person from wherever (not necessarily the U.S.A.) cannot, language issues aside, be accepted is far too narrowly focussed. I know that to get into most Australian universities, you do require a certain level of language proficiency, but beyond that, they assess applicants on their actual merits and high school scores. You don’t have to have been through an Australian high school to get into a university there. Maybe I’m wrong, but I suspect that American or German universities would have similar ways of figuring out if a foreign applicant should be admitted at undergraduate level.

I’m sure Taiwan is much better than it was twenty years ago, and maybe it will continue to go forwards, though not necessarily. Other countries are struggling with pressure on the middle class and seeing a greater emergence of an M-shaped society. Of course, we can’t predict how any of that will turn out, but we can try to shape a society that we think is a particular thing, and we can be wary of the fact that the disappearance or reduction of the middle class, if it happens, will have profound effects on politics (particularly political stability).

Also, twenty years ago, was Taiwan where it is at right now in terms of fertility rates? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. If this trend continues, it’s going to have really huge effects on this society.

46

That is faulty logic. There are many prestigious institutes of higher learning where internation students are not knocking down the doors. GuyInTaiwan, why do you think that is? Are native English speaks and Taiwanese beating down the door of the best non-English medium universities in Europe?

47

GuyInTaiwan, Taiwanese are entering fourth tier Australian universities over the Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, are they applying to those universities because they believe them to be better?

Some of the reason Taiwanese study in Australia is so they can qualify for permanent residency. It has absolutly nothing to do with the qualify of the universities in Australia.

48

steelersman: If they offer any courses with English as the language of instruction, then I suspect they are. Europeans themselves do this with their Erasmus system. Many have to learn the local language, but others don’t. I know a German guy who is doing his Masters in Sweden, and I had a friend at university who also went to Sweden for a semester. The German guy has learnt to speak a fair bit of Swedish, but I assume he couldn’t before he went there, so I suspect the programme is in English. Likewise, the Australian guy I knew didn’t speak Swedish. I also knew an American guy who studied in Prague. Presumably his course was in English since he didn’t speak Czech. I also knew an American girl who studied international relations or something like that at a university in Italy. She had previously learnt to speak Italian, but her course wasn’t in Italian.

So it does happen.

As you’ve mentioned, there are also other reasons people go to particular places, but then, what does that say about the desire of non-Taiwanese to live in Taiwan? I’ve seen African students at universities here. I’m quite sure Taiwan is vastly preferable to Ghana or Senegal, but it’s when you get people from a country on a par with, or better than, Taiwan and people want to move there that the comparison makes any sense.

49

The Erasmus program is largely an exchange program for one semester or one year. Maybe there is a part of the program that I don’t know about that leads to a degree.

I studied with many Erasmus students at the University of Bayreuth and Humbolt University in Berlin.

50

Sorry OP, perhaps this discussion should be split off.

I agree with the first part of this question, but not “rote learning for exams”

Yes, I think they do have to spend six years in a Taiwanese junior high school or senior high school. I’m not so sure that the “rote learning for exams” part is really necessary.

As I mentioned before, there are kids every year with perfect scores who say that they DID NOT memorize their textbooks. They say that all that is really necessary is to go to class, listen to what the teachers say, do your homework, and read the textbooks carefully (since the exams are based on them). They also mention that doing a lot of reading outside of class is important because you have to write an essay, which is a measure of your proficiency in Chinese. I hear from bright kids in Taipei all that time that it’s not really necesarry to ‘play the game’ if you don’t want to get into medical school.

Your kids will have a huge advantage because they will certainly score better than 98% of the students on English. Taiwanese schools do a great job of teaching math, which is the language of the modern world. This is no memorization. It is application and practice. Since you love learning and you are an educational professional, I think you should have no trouble supplementing their education at home and perhaps abroad during summer vacations. They will do just fine if you give them a chance.

The reason you need to go to Taiwanese schools is language, pure and simple. Without a good high school education, your kids will struggle because they will not have acquired the higher level literacy skills they need to function in Chinese at a national university. Incidentally, this is why Taiwanese kids struggle in undergrad programs in the US iof they go straight out of high school.

And there are decent universities with programs for international students. Min Chuan is one, although I don’t think it is as good as a national university.

[quote]
I’m sure Taiwan is much better than it was twenty years ago, and maybe it will continue to go forwards, though not necessarily. Other countries are struggling with pressure on the middle class and seeing a greater emergence of an M-shaped society. Of course, we can’t predict how any of that will turn out, but we can try to shape a society that we think is a particular thing, and we can be wary of the fact that the disappearance or reduction of the middle class, if it happens, will have profound effects on politics (particularly political stability).

Also, twenty years ago, was Taiwan where it is at right now in terms of fertility rates? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. If this trend continues, it’s going to have really huge effects on this society.[/quote]

No birth rate were probably at least double. Taiwan is in the process of figuring this all out. Expect to see massive state-run daycare systems soon. You are right that the middle class faces challenges–it’s one of the big issues in Taiwanese politics today. But that’s because Taiwan is a profoundly middle class society in which there is a broad-based consensus that it is wrong to have an M-shaped society. In the US (and the UK?) the elites think that an M-shaped society is fine as long as everyone has a shot at the better side of the M.

51

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]steelersman: If they offer any courses with English as the language of instruction, then I suspect they are. Europeans themselves do this with their Erasmus system. Many have to learn the local language, but others don’t. I know a German guy who is doing his Masters in Sweden, and I had a friend at university who also went to Sweden for a semester. The German guy has learnt to speak a fair bit of Swedish, but I assume he couldn’t before he went there, so I suspect the programme is in English. Likewise, the Australian guy I knew didn’t speak Swedish. I also knew an American guy who studied in Prague. Presumably his course was in English since he didn’t speak Czech. I also knew an American girl who studied international relations or something like that at a university in Italy. She had previously learnt to speak Italian, but her course wasn’t in Italian.

So it does happen.

As you’ve mentioned, there are also other reasons people go to particular places, but then, what does that say about the desire of non-Taiwanese to live in Taiwan? I’ve seen African students at universities here. I’m quite sure Taiwan is vastly preferable to Ghana or Senegal, but it’s when you get people from a country on a par with, or better than, Taiwan and people want to move there that the comparison makes any sense.[/quote]

Of topic but I have always dreamt about doing an M.A. in European Studies at Jagiellonian University.

52

Be economic with the truth.

Having, in a previous existence, worked in the land of make believe. ( mediaville) I soon realised that your CV is the best piece of creative writing that you will ever have to write!

53

steelersman: See my points about the people I have known who have studied in Europe.

Feiren: Well, that’s heartening to read. I’ll find out more about this. Thanks.

I actually think that if Taiwan can sort out its demographic issues, as well as become a bit more modern in other areas (which I am sure it will) that it could be quite a reasonable place to live in twenty years because of the commitment to the middle class that you mentioned (although haven’t many wages essentially stagnated for the past decade?), which is why now that we’ve found a place that we like, I am actually quite hesitant to leave. I certainly don’t like the direction Australia and some other English speaking countries are going in.

54

I know at least one teacher currently working at a university with a Master’s degree obtained through distance learning, and another who used to. As I remember, they ask for a copy of every page of your passport when you apply for your Lecturer’s Certificate, but I guess they don’t always study it that closely.

I doubt that the actual degree issued by Melbourne Uni would state that you studied by distance mode.

And even if you were found out, you could could always go somewhere else where it is recognised, and work for a better salary than you would get in Taiwan.

55

[quote=“saddletramp”]Sorry, GIT, but I can’t agree with you. I have know too many people here who have gone on and make a success out of their life here. And I am just talking about a small backwater, I’m sure there are much more in other parts of Taiwan.

Sorry if I left out anyone, but I will give a few examples.

Shanghai Bob, passed away last year doing what he loved, catching that perfect wave. Bob was the first Aussie I ever met, and what a great ambassador he was. A perfect gentleman, a commercial artist and ad copywriter, came to Asia about 30 years ago, 15 years ago started his own surfing accessory company in Shanghai, also lived in Taidong half of the year to do what he loved most, surfing, and to test his new products. Now has a surf spot named after him, and if you ever come down to Taidong, be sure to check out Bob’s Reef.

John, American from the west coast, went to Uni in Hawaii, caught the surfing bug, and moved to Taiwan to teach and study Chinese. Been here 25 years, runs a successful night club, and acts as a booking agent for a lot of resorts and big hotels to promote bands from the Philippines.

Mike, A Canadian from BC. Came to Taiwan 25 years ago, Masters in Linguistics, started a successful buxiban and later sold out at a nice profit. Still teaches and is raising his three sons in Taidong.

Pete, American from Tennessee, been in Taidong at least 10 years, got his Masters while in Taiwan, now owns a pizza shop and picks the banjo as often as he can.

Paul, American from Michigan, came to Taidong about 10 years ago, also runs a buxiban, and is raising 3 kids. His motto, teaching is a means to SURF.

The list goes on and on. I have meet many more success stories here than failures.
Maybe find a better crowd to hang with.[/quote]
It is interesting to note that all these examples are self-made people. They did not become successful while working for somebody else (which is not how you become rich anyway). I am starting to lose faith in the employment system in Taiwan for you to work your way to the top. Of the wealthy people here in Taiwan, do you think they got that way by working at a job for somebody else, or by starting their own business?
I am a bit like GIT in some respects that I used to really believe in Teaching English in Taiwan when I first got here. There were many who even said I was a very good teacher and I know they were sincere, because it showed on my evaluations.
Alas events of late have made me doubt the ability of one to be successful here strictly by teaching English. It is a shame because teaching is a noble profession. In my opinion an English language teacher should earn enough to have a head of household type income. That is not the case at the moment.
So that leaves people with the option of striking out on their own (and by striking out I do not mean failing and I do not mean swinging the bat three times and missing). They have to start their own business and be the owner and the boss. With Taiwan’s declining birth rate, I do not think that means starting up a buxiban.
It may be that my skills need an upgrade or that I need to think about doing something else :neutral: .

56

[quote=“Whole Lotta Lotta”]I agree with what GuyInTaiwan said in his last post and it reminded me of something a local said to me not too long ago. That is the average Taiwanese makes something like 30,000 NT a month. If you are lucky you make 40,000 a month and a master’s degree will net you 50,000 before taxes.
Whenever I hear some Taiwanese say this when foreigners are complaining about not getting paid enough, part of me understands what they are saying and the other part of me thinks “Waah!”
First of all, not all Taiwanese are making 50,000 a month tops. Last week I saw a Lambourghini Gallardo going down Gong-yi road. Why do you think there are all these luxury shops here? It’s not like these people are suffering for money.
Second, like GuyInTaiwan said, many Taiwanese females are living with their parents well into their thirties waiting for some rich guy to marry them. I know of one woman in Taipei who makes 100,000 a month working for a Japanese company. How does she live? She blows a large percentage of what she makes each month partying and living large while staying at home with her parents until somebody comes along and marries her.
Meanwhile, most foreigners living over here are receiving little to no help from Mom and Dad back home. They had to pay their way over here. Rent, utilities, and food can add up. A Taiwanese friend from America visited me over here and said “This place is expensive.” If you have dependants, you can add another 20,000 per month per kid.
Third Japan and Korea on average pay more (in the case of Japan much more) than Taiwan does. What is there to attract a foreigner to teach in Taiwan from a financial perspective. Is it so wrong to want Taiwan to pay a comparable rate to what other countries in the region are paying. That Lambourghini the other day convinced me they have the power to do it.[/quote]
I’ll add a fourth thing here. That is if I were just here to save money, why would I do it abroad. Taiwan has many great cultural things about it and taking part in them requires getting out of my house and spending some money. Paying teachers extra will give them funds to have more cultural experiences and by that I do not mean going out to pubs and shagging locals. Want to go to Kenting for the weekend? That requires money. The surf shop that was mentioned required that people have money to spend there. If a teacher loves surfing here, he is going to need the time and money to do that. If you are teaching here and making some money, you should go out and enjoy what Taiwan has to offer. Otherwise why not just stay at home :idunno: ?

57

[quote=“Whole Lotta Lotta”][quote=“saddletramp”]Sorry, GIT, but I can’t agree with you. I have know too many people here who have gone on and make a success out of their life here. And I am just talking about a small backwater, I’m sure there are much more in other parts of Taiwan.

Sorry if I left out anyone, but I will give a few examples.

Shanghai Bob, passed away last year doing what he loved, catching that perfect wave. Bob was the first Aussie I ever met, and what a great ambassador he was. A perfect gentleman, a commercial artist and ad copywriter, came to Asia about 30 years ago, 15 years ago started his own surfing accessory company in Shanghai, also lived in Taidong half of the year to do what he loved most, surfing, and to test his new products. Now has a surf spot named after him, and if you ever come down to Taidong, be sure to check out Bob’s Reef.

John, American from the west coast, went to Uni in Hawaii, caught the surfing bug, and moved to Taiwan to teach and study Chinese. Been here 25 years, runs a successful night club, and acts as a booking agent for a lot of resorts and big hotels to promote bands from the Philippines.

Mike, A Canadian from BC. Came to Taiwan 25 years ago, Masters in Linguistics, started a successful buxiban and later sold out at a nice profit. Still teaches and is raising his three sons in Taidong.

Pete, American from Tennessee, been in Taidong at least 10 years, got his Masters while in Taiwan, now owns a pizza shop and picks the banjo as often as he can.

Paul, American from Michigan, came to Taidong about 10 years ago, also runs a buxiban, and is raising 3 kids. His motto, teaching is a means to SURF.

The list goes on and on. I have meet many more success stories here than failures.
Maybe find a better crowd to hang with.[/quote]
It is interesting to note that all these examples are self-made people. They did not become successful while working for somebody else (which is not how you become rich anyway). I am starting to lose faith in the employment system in Taiwan for you to work your way to the top. Of the wealthy people here in Taiwan, do you think they got that way by working at a job for somebody else, or by starting their own business?
I am a bit like GIT in some respects that I used to really believe in Teaching English in Taiwan when I first got here. There were many who even said I was a very good teacher and I know they were sincere, because it showed on my evaluations.
Alas events of late have made me doubt the ability of one to be successful here strictly by teaching English. It is a shame because teaching is a noble profession. In my opinion an English language teacher should earn enough to have a head of household type income. That is not the case at the moment.
So that leaves people with the option of striking out on their own (and by striking out I do not mean failing and I do not mean swinging the bat three times and missing). They have to start their own business and be the owner and the boss. With Taiwan’s declining birth rate, I do not think that means starting up a buxiban.
It may be that my skills need an upgrade or that I need to think about doing something else :neutral: .[/quote]

Well that is why I plan to go back home and work in health care and buy some rental properties. The only way to get ahead is to do something other than working for other people.

58

I vowed to stay out of this. I am not sure why you said this because I can not bring myself to read the whole thread. Anyway, there are numbers on this matter and you are quite correct about what they say. The Research Center for Psychological and Educational Testing (RCPET) at National Taiwan Normal University currently directed by of Professor Sung Yao Ting plans the Basic Competence Test for Junior High School Student. For the test year 99 & 98, they asked students how often they study at a cram school. Approximately one-quarter of students who scored higher than the 95 percentile claim they do not attend a cram school. About one-fifth of students scoring between the 90 and 94 percentile make the same claim. Although in fact most students scoring in the top percentiles report attending cram school twice a week at a rate slightly higher than this.

On the other side, around 10% of students scoring under the 50 percentile claim they attend cram schools 4 or 5 days a week.

59

I vowed to stay out of this. I am not sure why you said this because I can not bring myself to read the whole thread. Anyway, there are numbers on this matter and you are quite correct about what they say. The Research Center for Psychological and Educational Testing (RCPET) at National Taiwan Normal University currently directed by of Professor Sung Yao Ting plans the Basic Competence Test for Junior High School Student. For the test year 99 & 98, they asked students how often they study at a cram school. Approximately one-quarter of students who scored higher than the 95 percentile claim they do not attend a cram school. About one-fifth of students scoring between the 90 and 94 percentile make the same claim. Although in fact most students scoring in the top percentiles report attending cram school twice a week at a rate slightly higher than this.

On the other side, around 10% of students scoring under the 50 percentile claim they attend cram schools 4 or 5 days a week.[/quote]

Professor Sung Yao Ting’s statistics would be even morning interesting if he measured the IQs of the students above the 90th percentile. He would not prove anything conclusively but would give people some indication whether buxibans are helping any students achieve above their natural aptitude or whether students who have top IQs score in the 90th percentile or above on the university entrance exam no matter whether they attend a cram school or not.

60

I vowed to stay out of this. I am not sure why you said this because I can not bring myself to read the whole thread. Anyway, there are numbers on this matter and you are quite correct about what they say. The Research Center for Psychological and Educational Testing (RCPET) at National Taiwan Normal University currently directed by of Professor Sung Yao Ting plans the Basic Competence Test for Junior High School Student. For the test year 99 & 98, they asked students how often they study at a cram school. Approximately one-quarter of students who scored higher than the 95 percentile claim they do not attend a cram school. About one-fifth of students scoring between the 90 and 94 percentile make the same claim. Although in fact most students scoring in the top percentiles report attending cram school twice a week at a rate slightly higher than this.

On the other side, around 10% of students scoring under the 50 percentile claim they attend cram schools 4 or 5 days a week.[/quote]

Professor Sung Yao Ting’s statistics would be even morning interesting if he measured the IQs of the students above the 90th percentile. He would not prove anything conclusively but would give people some indication whether buxibans are helping any students achieve about their natural aptitude or whether students who have top IQs score in the 90th percentile or above on the university entrance exam no matter whether they attend a cram school or not.[/quote]

Thanks. I’ll tell him that.

Actually, they’re not interested in the top performers. They study was conducted to estimate students who attend cram school but still under-perform.