Last semester, I studied in Xi'an, China. Xi'an, capital of Sha'anxi Province, in the north-central part of China, is the oldest city in China and was the first city in the world to reach a population of 1 million. Internationally, it is famed for the Terracotta Warriors that guarded the tomb of the "first emperor" of China, the founder of the Qin Dynasty, from which the English word "China" comes.

While the school I attended had a very small international section, I attended the local section, which was made up of more than 3,000 students in grades one to nine. I lived across the street from the school with a family who had a fifth-grade boy named Maomao. Being fully immersed in the language forced me to listen and concentrate intently, giving me a chance to explore and discover this ancient capital by talking to people around me, using Chinese in every aspect of daily life.

Many differences exist between Chinese and American culture, differences that can be seen by comparing the education systems of the two countries. In China, the group is emphasized, while in the U.S. the focus is on the individual. For example, if any students in a Chinese class learn at a slower pace or in a different way, they will simply have to get used to the way in which the material is already being taught, because the class must not be slowed down.

By contrast, in the U.S. these students would likely be given special attention and extra time by the teacher. Our public protection of the individual would be considered a luxury in China, where close to 1.4 billion people compete every day for everything from food, water and energy to education. The U.S., with its 300 million people, has many times more places in universities for students than does China, so the competition to get into college in China is fierce. The fact that the group is given precedence in China springs from cultural, historic and practical considerations.

Praise and censure

Students are very much encouraged to be competitive, and many measures are taken to keep everybody on task. All the students' grades are posted for the whole class to see, and information about individuals is considered public. In the United States, students may be aware of what student has been expelled, for example, but the administration will not name the student publicly. In China, such information is given in full detail, and is used as a warning of the consequences of wrongdoing.

I witnessed this use of public praise and punishment several times. One day, the entire grade, 300-plus students and teachers, was gathered together for a meeting. The teachers praised and gave awards to the top 10 students who had improved the most and to the students who had gotten the highest total grades. Then the tone of the meeting changed, and the head teacher began talking about those students who had performed badly or broken school rules. She also gave the names of two boarding students who were expelled for having gone off campus at night to an Internet cafe. In China, praise and humiliation work side by side to encourage excellence and discourage disobedience. Though we would say this system seems harsh and unfair, especially for students who already have a low level of self-confidence, the reality in China is that nobody has time for second chances.

While I was initially shocked by the "public-ness" and rigid structure of life at school, I came to appreciate and understand why privacy and flexibility as we know them are impossible. Imagine being in a class with 55 students. Imagine doing morning exercises out on the field with 3,000 students led by a single PE teacher with a microphone. Imagine those same 3,000 students waiting in over 10 different lines getting their food in an incredibly noisy cafeteria.

The Chinese live with levels of noise, pollution and smells that we would not bear. Without the strict level of order and obedience expected of the students, school life there would be complete chaos. Though we Americans may be put off by many things in the Chinese education system —- such as a more rote form of learning and a more rigorous and less interactive curriculum, as well as larger class sizes —- we must also realize that there are many things we can learn from the Chinese.

The midnight oil

Chinese students in general are extremely dedicated to their studies, knowing that only if they study hard now will they have a brighter future. Discipline and hard work are just two things that deserve our admiration. This is not to say that none of us are hardworking, but few of us work as hard as most of the Chinese students I saw. First of all, the school day ran from 7:40 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and most students in the grade in which I was placed —- eighth grade —- studied until midnight. The amount of time spent on homework by the fifth-grade boy whose family I lived with was three to four hours on average per night. The eighth-grade students were also expected to go to school on Saturdays for extra classes, to prepare for end-of-year exams.

Instead of the teachers assigning students extra work, the students would often give themselves extra exercises to do so that they could improve themselves for their own good, not just so that their teachers would be impressed. They also went as far as "punishing" themselves by doing a lot of extra work if they performed poorly on a test because they knew that what felt like punishment now would actually benefit them in the future.

During the semester, I came to see that while the class group came first, individual students got plenty of attention, but outside of class time. As virtually every single student was an only child, their parents and grandparents —- six adults, if the grandparents lived in the same city —- were focused on and determined to help their offspring succeed academically. Furthermore, the teachers demanded excellence at an almost perfect level, even from students who struggled.

Respect, responsibility

Central to the mission of many American schools is the idea of respect, but what we call respect is somewhat vague and often left up to the students to define. In China, formalities and rituals are imposed to make sure respect is observed, especially that of respect for teachers, an ancient Chinese value. In China, when the teacher enters the class to begin it, the students stand up to greet the teacher and bow. When a student is asked a question, he or she must stand up to answer it, and then sit back down once the teacher signals the student to do so. In China, there is also a teachers day, and although it's not a holiday from work or school, students often bring teachers gifts to honor them. Students are expected to greet teachers when they pass them in the hallway.

Chinese students have responsibilities to the group or class that they are in. Each week, four students are chosen to clean the classroom, something that is done four times every day. First they sweep, then they mop the classroom floors. In 16 weeks of school, I only had to serve on the clean-up team for one week, since there are 55 students in the class. Other students are responsible for erasing the board after every class.

Now that I am back at school in the U.S., I enjoy the individual attention of teachers, the chance to participate often in class discussion, more leisure time to explore my own interests, the encouragement to think differently. But I have a new respect and appreciation for what distinguishes Chinese education.

I understand how Chinese students applying to U.S. colleges often make perfect SAT scores in math. I admire the determination, drive and patriotic pride that have made the Chinese so successful economically. I am concerned about how Americans will continue to compete in world markets without valuing education and group success more than we do.

We can benefit from giving more attention to how the Chinese accomplish things. Americans certainly got a lot of things right in the 20th century that made our country powerful and wealthy. The Chinese stand to surpass us in the 21st century. The school that could combine the best of American and the best of Chinese education practices would surely be the best school of all.

> Dixon Adair is a 10th-grader at Atlanta International School.

New Attitudes is a weekly opinion column written by readers between the ages of 15-22. E-mail submissions or questions to dbeasley@ajc.com or call 404-526-7371.

 JOHN OVERMYER / newsart.com