I recently took a ride in a Beijing taxi and the driver, typical of taxi drivers the world over, was eager to strike up a conversation. Of course, one of the first questions he asked me was: "Where are you from?" When I told him I was from the UK, he asked what was the population there. I told him it was around 60 million to which he then asked: "How big is the UK's land area?" I told him I didn't have a clue, to which he responded by asking, "What kind of education system have you got that doesn't teach this?" I asked him: "What possible use could this information have unless I was going to carpet Britain?" Floundering for a suitable answer, he once again began questioning the education system of the UK.

As the day progressed, however, I realized that this seemingly trivial conversation ran a lot deeper, opening up questions about the differences in educational systems, and therefore paradigms, between China and the West.

In Chinese classrooms, the necessity of learning so many characters means that learning by rote is a necessity and not a choice. This has spilled over into other areas of education where long lists of dates and data are the daily staple of most school children.

In the West, the emphasis has moved away from rote, as children are encouraged to develop a more enquiring mind, often with an emphasis on the ethical, in an endeavour to better understand the world.

In short, in a Chinese classroom the most important word is "yes" while for a Western schoolchild it is "why."

Certainly for many Chinese students, the shift to a more ethics-based education would ease the pressure from parents eager for them to make big bucks when they are older. However, not all children are budding millionaires and perhaps an increased emphasis on the value of life lived as opposed to the price of it, would lead to a happier future for many. But the total adoption of Western educational principles would not be a good move.

In my native UK, children from ethnic minorities, particularly South Asian and Chinese students, are the biggest achievers in Britain's schools. Meanwhile, juvenile crime is increasingly a problem while the lack of response to discipline in many classrooms has lead to an almost complete breakdown of education in some areas. In this sense the "why" ethos has gone too far as schoolchildren ask: "Why should I listen?" "Why should I study?" and eventually "Why should I work?" In light of this, a shift towards the rigidity of the Chinese classroom would only fillip the UK's schools. So Western ways of doing things aren't always necessarily better.

I am reminded of the story of the arrogant young Meno, who in trying to instruct Socrates on the meaning of virtue, discovered that only by comprehending the extent of his own lack of knowledge could he truly attain wisdom. What I'm getting at here is that there is no universal truth for anything and that only by cogitating on the pros and cons of other ways of thinking can we fill the gaps that exist in our own. Such a process can only serve to further foster understanding between races, nations and paradigms, thereby improving ourselves while making us no better than our fellow man. On this thought I shall close with some often quoted words from poet TS Elliot, a man who had a good grasp of both Western and Eastern thought:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

(China Daily 11/15/2005 page4)