When Chinese-style education system meets British teens

A file photo of British students doing homework in the classroom.

Welfare has produced 'feather-bedded' teenagers ?

According to the report by BBC, Chinese teachers believe the option of living on welfare handouts has produced 'feather-bedded' teenagers prone to rudeness and disrupting the classroom rather than concentrating on working and getting ahead.

Wei Zhao, who teaches Mandarin and spent 14 years working in Chinese schools, said that cuts in the welfare system will mean students to be more motivated to learn.

"Even if they don't work, they can get money, they don't worry about it. But in China, they can't get these things so they know 'I need to study hard, I need to work hard to get money to support my family'. If they (the British government) really cut benefits down to force people to go to work, students might see things in a different way," she said.

Neil Strowger, head teacher in Bohunt School, didn't agree with the Chinese teachers. "'I don't believe we are somehow causing our children to fail by having a welfare state," he said.

He also described the Chinese style of teaching as "mind-numbingly boring", and said usual standards of discipline at his school were not as loose as the Chinese teachers described.

"Chinese teaching methods were on a collision course with teenage British culture and values. Our pupils are used to being able to ask questions of the teacher - they expect their views to be considered with respect. Furthermore, British pupils expect to have variety in their learning. They are not used to being confined in a large group and in the same classroom studying a very narrow curriculum," he added.