Money is simply textbook answer to education woes

Immediately after the arrival of the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Education announced its "New Year's resolution" devoting as much as 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product to education in 2010.

In fact, the "resolution" is hardly new. The goal of 4 percent of GDP has been on the ministry's agenda since 1993. Originally, officials expected to reach the target by the end of 2000. Unfortunately, nine years later, the goal is just that: a goal.

For a long time, critics have debated the reasons for the failure to meet the target. Some people even suggest that 4 percent is definitely not enough to support a growing education system in a big developing country such as China. Countries all over the world have managed to invest 4.9 percent of their GDP, on average, in education. The record percentage of GDP was reached in 1998.