I have tried to compare the Chinese political system under the CCP to the US system…but that approach did not fully engage students. Too “top down”, “too abstract”. OK, next I decided to teach about tangible policies under the CCP that were relevant to students and that showed differences between the Chinese and US situations.

The practical “bottom-up” examples I have used to compare China and the US are K-12 and STEM education, economic growth & development, covid-19 management, incarceration rates, and high-speed passenger rail (HSR).

In this approach I teach about important actions that China is making due in part to its political model and the political governance approach it has taken (in other words, under CCP leadership). See below an example of this teaching approach using HSR.

Why Is China Successful in High-Speed Rail?

1. China’s one-party political system promotes long-term planning
2. China seeks to be a global leader in rail technology. See “Made in China 2025” plan  
3. China’s top politicians are typically engineers, not lawyers
4. Politicians are rewarded for faster GDP growth, a top CCP priority
5. CCP understands that HSR is a “public good” (like education) that has benefits for users and non-users (less traffic, less urban space devoted to cars, cleaner air, better economy) 
6. The CCP understands how HSR helps economic development by promoting personal mobility and connectivity
7. China has always relied on trains for most inter-city travels because personal cars were rare before the 1990s, air travel was very limited, and buses were slow & uncomfortable. So, the conventional rail network was always preserved (US shut most passenger rail after WWII)
8. The HSR network is an example to China’s people and the world that the “China Model” of political governance and economic development can deliver superior results compared to the US model      

Why Is USA Not Successful in High-Speed Rail?

1. Many US politicians prioritize building prisons and border walls: Chinese politicians want to build domestic and international connections (see Belt and Road Initiative or BRI)
2. Republicans may oppose HSR because it benefits democratic cities in North-East & West Coast
3. Politicians are financially rewarded for favoring special interests, not the public good
4. The “special interests” are those that can make $$ contributions before the next election
5. The 4-year electoral cycle, with the last year often spent on fundraising and campaigning, promotes short-term fixes and actions rather than big infrastructure initiatives
6. USA’s political system promotes both short-term thinking & partisanship that increases social divisions, making agreement on big projects harder to achieve
7. USA’s top politicians are typically lawyers with little practical experience
8. Few US politicians understand that public transportation & HSR is a “public good” (like education) and think that it should be operated by the private sector or not-at-all
9. Most US politicians do not understand how HSR helps economic development.  Post WWII, US politicians closed many city streetcar systems, defunded inter-city rail, and then built highways so the affluent could escape the cities. (The LA example). Think about how this affected different social classes!
10. The lack of a HSR network is an example of the “USA Model” of political governance and economic development that favors short-term talk over long-term progress

Teaching Relevance & Questions

There are many reasons why HSR is successful in China and nonexistent in the USA. This should raise many questions.

Should HSR be supported by government or is that “communism”?    

Has the US relied too heavily on the private sector?  Or, has China relied too heavily on the public sector? 

Would HSR reduce US pollution and global warming by cutting automobile usage?

Can we learn something positive from the China model?

The attached PDF contains references and more background.

While I would like my students to see me as “divine with a certain holiness,” I find it disturbing that China, like United States, wants to depict teachers as saviors. The first story described, about a teacher who wants to reform a student, reminds me of Dangerous Minds or Lean on Me.  While good teachers certainly want to help all students, the ideals presented in these stories make the merely competent of us frustrated.  What other profession is supposed to solve all these problems? 

I was also curious about the gender stereotype described: “men are tolerant, respectful and encouraging towards children, whereas women are malicious and narrow-minded and frequently yell at children.” Does this stereotype come from the experiences of women as the primary care-giver, who can’t be patient all the time, vs the husband who spends a few hours with the child?  I just spent part of this weekend caring for a three-year-old boy, and while he has excellent parents, I was able to summon up more patience for his questions.  I, however, got to send him home this morning, while they are with him all the time. 

I am encouraged by the story of Hu Ruofan and his fight for the inclusion and education of disabled students.  This might be an interesting read for pre-service teachers.

We look at social and economic status throughout history, but we haven't really talked about documentation status except during our unit on the Holocaust. Reading about the home registry system and how China tries to control both recordkeeping and internal movements makes me want to look at this more, and relate it back to my own students' experiences. How many of my students have government ids? How many have passports? What is required to obtain these documents? Why does even a state ID card cost money?  Washington state has mail-in voting for everyone, so voter id isn't an issue, but how does the difficulty of providing id affect voting in other states?  

Todd,

I found this distinction between Mao the revolutionary and Deng Xiao Pong the economists as an interesting basis for an end-of-year class discussion. In my class we examine historic revolutions (French, American, Russian, Latin America, Iran), and the fictional revolution of Animal Farm.  With each revolution we look at both the ideals expressed by the revolutionaries and the difficulty of running a country (or farm) afterwards. Students are quick to pick up on how the skills of a revolutionary leader are often different than the skills of a political leader.  I also wonder if we could draw some parallels with Gandhi and his disagreements with Nehru about the best way to organize the Indian economy.

Thank you so much for your time to dicuss China's government changing their history taught in this lecture. As an educator, I know the value of perspective when looking at any event or topic. As a teacher, I will be giving the students information on a topic, and I am more of a currator because there is always some information that I will not include in my teaching. 

While some may move towards teaching multiple prespectives in order to give focus and information from multiple lenses, I know that sometimes schools will take a stance to either teacher something a certain way or not at all. One major issue for American school still is Sex Education where each state, and even each school, are in charge of what is taught in regards to this topic.

As an educator, I see China's government is being a bit more propoganda-based in its retelling of history as it provides a very positive portayal of China. This has some similairies to the debate in 2020 about how U.S. schools should teach about slavery and its influence on America formation and effects still felt today. Both the Chinese government and U.S. schools are figuring out what the purpose of their history is for. Is it to glorify the past, highlight heros, give voice to minorities, present multiple perspectives to highlight complexity of the events, or something else. Growing up in the early 2000s, I experienced a cookie-cutter telling of history with a few different perspectives. Being a teacher in 2020s, I see more perspectives and primary sources being used, which leads to what many educators believe is best practice to get critical thinking. This is why my gut reaction to the rose-colored-glasses rewrite China did as less ideal in the long run. 

What type of history do you highlight in your teaching?

Thank you so much for this overview Todd! After living in Japan and traveling everywhere by train, I was so sad to be forced to drive when I returned to America. I postulated that America was just too big for the same system. However, if I looked at China, I would see an example of a country that is very large and uses trains. The reasons that you listed are really easy to understand. I can see where articles can be used to get students to these points in a project of class lesson. 

I still really miss trains. Anyone else a fan of public transportation?

A reason I might add is the cultural perspectives. In America, we are very focused on the individual so personalized transporations like cars is hugely popluar, where the group and group benefits are highlighted in countried like Japan so a great public transportation system that can support the group is popular.

Kayla Kolean