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Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve

Lenora Chu (Goodreads Author)

4.15 · Rating details · 1,468 ratings · 216 reviews

In the spirit of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Bringing up Bébé, and The Smartest Kids in the World, a hard-hitting exploration of Chinas widely acclaimed yet insular education systemheld up as a model of excellencethat raises important questions for the future of American parenting and education.

When American mom Lenora Chu moved to China with her little boy, she faced In the spirit of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Bringing up Bébé, and The Smartest Kids in the World, a hard-hitting exploration of China’s widely acclaimed yet insular education system—held up as a model of excellence—that raises important questions for the future of American parenting and education.

When American mom Lenora Chu moved to China with her little boy, she faced a tough decision. China produced some of the world’s top academic achievers, and just down the street from her home in Shanghai was THE school, as far as elite Chinese were concerned. Should Lenora entrust her rambunctious young son to the system?

So began Rainey’s immersion in one of the most extreme school systems on the planet. Almost immediately, the three-year-old began to develop surprising powers of concentration, became proficient in early math, and learned to obey his teachers’ every command. Yet Lenora also noticed disturbing new behaviors: Where he used to scribble and explore, Rainey grew obsessed with staying inside the lines. He became fearful of authority figures, and also developed a habit of obeisance outside of school. “If you want me to do it, I’ll do it,” he told a stranger who’d asked whether he liked to sing.

What was happening behind closed classroom doors? Driven by parental anxiety, Lenora embarked on a journalistic mission to discover: What price do the Chinese pay to produce their “smart” kids? How hard should the rest of us work to stay ahead of the global curve? And, ultimately, is China’s school system one the West should emulate?

She pulls the curtain back on a military-like education system, in which even the youngest kids submit to high-stakes tests, and parents are crippled by the pressure to compete (and sometimes to pay bribes). Yet, as mother-and-son reach new milestones, Lenora uncovers surprising nuggets of wisdom, such as the upside of student shame, how competition can motivate achievement, and why a cultural belief in hard work over innate talent gives the Chinese an advantage.

Lively and intimate, beautifully written and reported, Little Soldiers challenges our assumptions and asks us to reconsider the true value and purpose of education. ...more

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ebook, 368 pages

Published September 19th 2017 by Harper

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Sep 06, 2017 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I am struggling with writing this review because I have so many thoughts about the ideas presented in this book.

First of all, I found the first hand account of the author's experience to be fascinating and well written. The author is first generation American of Chinese descent, educated in Texas public schools, carrying the burden of high academic standards while balancing her own American dream. She subsequently graduates from college, marries a midwesterner, and moves to China for his career ...more

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Oct 09, 2017 Jean rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book, autobiography, education, memoir, non-fiction, sociology

The author is born in Philadelphia and raised in Houston. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism. Her grandparents fled China during the Cultural Revolution and immigrated to the United States. Chu notes the irony that 50 years ago Mao conducted his anti-intellectual purge and now Shanghai schools top the world in math, reading, and science and the USA is only in the middle of the pack.

Chu and her husband live in Shanghai for his work at a news agency. They have a The author is born in Philadelphia and raised in Houston. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism. Her grandparents fled China during the Cultural Revolution and immigrated to the United States. Chu notes the irony that 50 years ago Mao conducted his anti-intellectual purge and now Shanghai schools top the world in math, reading, and science and the USA is only in the middle of the pack.

Chu and her husband live in Shanghai for his work at a news agency. They have a young son who goes to the local school. His skills in math and Chinese language excelled but Chu noted behavioral changes that lead her to examine the educational system in China and the USA.

The book is well written and researched. It is written in the journalistic style. The author noted that the Chinese schools give less attention to the poor students and spend time and resources on the high achievers. She stated the U.S. system is “No Child Left Behind”. She noted the Chinese schools are rote memorization then they allow them to explore more complex applications after they have achieved a certain level of understanding. The Chinese schools also taught obedience and self-discipline and squelched individualism and creativity from the beginning of school. I found the differences in educational techniques interesting and was wondering if there was a way to combine the best of the two systems to create a better school system. The conformity and lack of individualism and creativity really bothers me about the Chinese system. According to the author, China is in the process of changing its methods to allow for more creativity in the students.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is eleven and a half hours long. Emily Woo Zeller does an excellent job narrating the book. Zeller is a voice over artist and an Audie nominated audiobook narrator. She has also won numerous Earphone and SOVAS awards plus was voted Best Voice in 2013 and 2015 by Audiobook Magazine.
...more

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Feb 26, 2018 Kressel Housman rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: east-asian-culture, education, non-fiction, memoir, sociology

Comparisons between this book and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother are inevitable, so here goes. Both books are written by American-born women whose parents were Chinese immigrants. Both married white American men. And both have respect for the Chinese aspects of their upbringing and try to implement it with their own kids, but they go about it differently. The author of this book is not a fierce tiger mother. Instead of staying in the States, she and her family move to China where she enrolls Comparisons between this book and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother are inevitable, so here goes. Both books are written by American-born women whose parents were Chinese immigrants. Both married white American men. And both have respect for the Chinese aspects of their upbringing and try to implement it with their own kids, but they go about it differently. The author of this book is not a fierce tiger mother. Instead of staying in the States, she and her family move to China where she enrolls her four-year-old in a traditional Chinese school where she faces a whole staff of tiger teachers. Since she’s the soft-hearted American, she’s a more sympathetic narrator than Amy Chua. But had this book been merely a parenting and educational memoir, I would only have given it 4 stars. It earned its fifth when the author branched out from her own child’s experience and told the stories of other Chinese students. At that point, it became sociological reportage about a world I know little about, and it was absolutely fascinating.

As bad as the wealth and achievement gaps are in this country, the effects of the urban/rural divide in China are far worse. Because of the vast population, places in the best schools are scarce, and students are made to compete for them at a young age. If someone has the misfortune to have been born to a rural farm family, the picture is grim. For those whose parents leave the farm for factory jobs, it’s even worse. And amidst the middle and upper classes, there’s a whole lot of cheating and bribery going on to secure those coveted spots in the best schools.

Yet for all the faults of the Chinese educational system, the book will show you its advantages. The comparison between a Chinese math class and an American math class is especially illustrative. The Americans emphasize self-esteem whereas the Chinese emphasize acquisition of skills. They learn more, and in spite of it all, I don’t think we feel any better about ourselves. When a Chinese student makes a mistake in class, he seems less likely to berate himself or be made fun of than American kid, at least compared to my own experience. And if there’s one thing this book does, it makes you reflect on your own educational experience. If you like that sort of thing, which I most certainly do, then like me, you’ll find this an enormously absorbing book.
...more

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Apr 06, 2018 Maynard Handley rated it did not like it

There's a famous parody, In the New Canada, Living is a Way of Life, where Bruce McCall mocks the style of writing that insists on claiming differences between cultures rather than trying to see how very similar they are.
I constantly felt like this while reading this book. The author wants to insist on how different China is from America, but all I saw was an unwillingness to face how crazy America is, and how much what you saw in China is the same thing or an attenuated version.
For example There's a famous parody, In the New Canada, Living is a Way of Life, where Bruce McCall mocks the style of writing that insists on claiming differences between cultures rather than trying to see how very similar they are.
I constantly felt like this while reading this book. The author wants to insist on how different China is from America, but all I saw was an unwillingness to face how crazy America is, and how much what you saw in China is the same thing or an attenuated version.
For example she complains about how the teachers wouldn't take responsibility for her son's medication at his school. Just like the Zero Tolerance US schools that refuse to allow any drugs, even medicine, on campus.

She talks about Chinese going crazy (supposedly because of specifically Chinese pressures) and killing random people, or co-workers, or fellow students. Hello? Does she not know about America's epidemic of gun violence?

She talks about kids not being allowed to talk at meals in school. MY school didn't allow us to talk at meals...
She talks about kids singing songs about being soldiers in school. MY primary school constantly had us sing a song about being "In the Lord's Army, yes sir!" and how we were soldiers for god...

It never ends. Lots of discussion about "Chinese indoctrination" in schools, with zero consciousness of how propaganda-like US schools appear to outsiders, with things like daily loyalty oaths ("I pledge allegiance"), pictures of the flag everywhere, large pictures of the current leader (president). These are not normal behavior!

This could have been an extremely interesting investigation (with actual numbers, with deep research, with anthropological and sociological insight into how American and Chinese cultures really differ). But it's none of that. It's an extremely shallow, self-centered account of her experiences in China, nothing more than "mommy-and-me go to China".

Amy Chua's Tiger Mom book is superficially much the same, but at least that gives you explanation and justification from the Chinese side. It's not a great read, but it's a vastly more useful way to spend your time if this subject interests you. ...more

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Oct 14, 2017 Sherine rated it it was amazing

Loved every minute of this deep dive into the Chinese education system. Chock full of compelling stories, expert research, honesty and humor. Every parent should read this book - wherever they are in the world and on the parenting timeline. Incredibly thought provoking.

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Apr 19, 2018 Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, memoirs, china, sociology, 4-stars, best-10-books-read-in-2018

This is a really interesting book that offers a firsthand view of the Chinese school system from a mostly-American perspective. Lenora Chu is a daughter of Chinese immigrants who was raised in the U.S., her husband a white American who volunteered in China with the Peace Corps. After moving to Shanghai for work, they enroll their son in a prestigious Chinese preschool. Concerning incidents at the school spark the authors journey to learn more about the Chinese school system: she observes This is a really interesting book that offers a firsthand view of the Chinese school system from a mostly-American perspective. Lenora Chu is a daughter of Chinese immigrants who was raised in the U.S., her husband a white American who volunteered in China with the Peace Corps. After moving to Shanghai for work, they enroll their son in a prestigious Chinese preschool. Concerning incidents at the school spark the author’s journey to learn more about the Chinese school system: she observes classrooms in China and the U.S., talks to experts, and gets to know Chinese high schoolers and parents.

So the book is part memoir, part nonfiction. From an American perspective it’s a fascinating comparison; so much of what I tend to view as going wrong in current American ideas of education and child-rearing seems to be heightened in China, from overscheduled kids (in China it’s usually tutoring or extracurricular classes rather than swimming, gymnastics etc.), to an unwillingness to let kids play freely and explore because they might hurt themselves (other parents judge Chu for letting her son run around the living room jumping off chairs, etc., and the school states that kids aren’t allowed to talk during lunch because they might choke), to a heavy emphasis on testing. Regarding that last one, pressure for the high school and college entrance exams in China is so intense that in one town a crackdown on cheating resulted in parents and students rioting.

Which actually leads to one of the positive features of the Chinese system: Chinese families tend to treat academics the way American families treat sports, to the point of huge crowds of people gathering outside exam sites to see their kids off and shout well-wishes. While Americans face a social penalty for being “nerds” and tend to view academic success as a matter of inborn talent (so if you don’t have it, why bother to try), the Chinese have valued brains – and judged people by their test scores – for centuries, and believe that success is largely a matter of effort. They aren’t afraid to demand work from kids or to ask them to memorize. This is especially noticeable in math: while American schools tend to wrap up simple math in verbally complicated “word problems” in an attempt to make the work “relevant” to kids who won’t have a professional job for a decade or more anyway, Chinese schools forge ahead and have young kids doing more advanced problems. This is helped by the fact that Chinese teachers specialize in their subject matter from the first grade, while American elementary school teachers are generalists (who by and large don’t like math and weren’t good at it themselves). Of course it’s also helped by Chinese schools’ making no attempt to integrate kids with special needs into regular classrooms, which American schools must do.

It’s evident from Chu’s writing that all of these issues are complicated: each school system has its advantages and disadvantages, but many of the advantages come with their own negatives or are bound up with the culture and therefore hard to replicate, while the disadvantages can also have silver linings. And of course no huge country has a uniform school system: just as the U.S. has both great and failing schools, China too has huge disparities, with many rural schools being shafted.

There's a lot in the book that I haven't even discussed here: politics in the classroom, the social position of teachers, the encouragement of creativity or lack thereof, and how all this affects students in the long run. But the book isn’t a treatise. Chu keeps it lively and interesting with accounts of her own family’s experiences, and with a clear, journalistic writing style. I imagine some readers might criticize her parenting decisions – at times it felt as if she were trying to claim a high-minded rationale for a choice of school that ultimately came down to cost, while she and her husband seemed willing to accept (if unhappily) a certain amount of what many Americans would consider abusive treatment of preschool kids (such as forcefeeding, or threatening to call the police on them when they misbehave) in the interests of having a disciplined and well-behaved child. But for the American reader it’s a fascinating window into a very different school system, and into Chinese culture as a whole. It is balanced and thoughtful, and the author comes across as open-minded, curious and willing to adapt rather than pushing an agenda. I do wish it had endnotes rather than a chapter-by-chapter bibliography, for readers to follow up and learn more. But I learned a lot from this book, enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it. ...more

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May 23, 2018 Anna Mussmann rated it really liked it

Ms. Chu, the child of Chinese immigrants but raised in Texas, placed her own son in a Chinese school when living abroad for work. The authoritarian culture within his classroom soon filled her with alarm. Her background, however, gave her a certain respect for Chinese methods; and so she did not yank her kid out when his preschool teachers did things like require him to sit with perfect discipline in his chair, force feed him egg, or claim his mommy would not come back to get him if he did not Ms. Chu, the child of Chinese immigrants but raised in Texas, placed her own son in a Chinese school when living abroad for work. The authoritarian culture within his classroom soon filled her with alarm. Her background, however, gave her a certain respect for Chinese methods; and so she did not yank her kid out when his preschool teachers did things like require him to sit with perfect discipline in his chair, force feed him egg, or claim his mommy would not come back to get him if he did not obey instructions. Instead she began a research project. Her book examines the culture and methods of Chinese education, particularly in mathematics, and compares it to what is offered in American schools.

*Little Soldiers* begins in a rather negative vein. The stories the author tells in the first section will curl the hair of any gently-educated American reader. The system is harsh, the pressure on students enormous, and corruption and cheating common. However, her research project seems to have changed her own philosophy of education, and she ends the book much more positively.

The strengths of the Chinese system are particularly fascinating to me because of my interest in classical education. The author quotes a primary teacher who told her that “a child’s ability to memorize is very good at this stage, and it should be tapped.” (The phrase is reminiscent of Dorothy Sayers’ comments in her speech on “The Lost Tools of Learning” that has so hugely impacted the neo-classical education movement). Later, Chu explains that in school, “The Chinese commit to memory the first twenty elements of the periodic table, mathematical formulas and theorems, and historical facts, among others. Passages from classical poetry and famous writings are also important; my father can still recount the poems he learned as a primary-schooler.”

Her research convinced her that rather than being robotic spouters of memorized information, Chinese students actually experience math lessons that go much deeper conceptually, at a much earlier age, than what is presented in the typical American classroom. This is because basics are memorized early (VERY early in a city like Shanghai, where toddlers are often sent to private math cram classes) and because strict discipline keeps classrooms focused and orderly.

Yet the Chinese students Chu interviewed and observed are not the joyful, life-long learners and virtue-loving individuals promised by American classical educators.

There seem to be two main reasons for this. The author recognizes one of the reasons and seems completely oblivious to the other. Both reasons should be noted by proponents of classical education.

The first overarching problem has to do with incredibly high-stakes testing. There are not enough seats for everyone in academic high schools and universities, and the country requires a way to sort their enormous population into the appropriate categories. Thus, the fate of individuals is determined by their scores on a series of standardized tests. Kids who test well can receive the education that leads directly to the ranks of China’s burgeoning middle class. Kids who test poorly will fare poorly. (Theoretically the system is a meritocracy. In reality, children from rural areas--often raised by illiterate grandparents in third-world conditions while their parents work as migrant laborers--have little chance of matching the scores of city kids.)

The immense pressure to test well in a highly-competitive world is further intensified by China’s one-child policy. When six adults (parents and two sets of grandparents) focus all of their hopes for glory and future financial support on a single student, it is no wonder that child has little time to play or relax. This leads to a kind of achievement inflation in which everyone must join the rat race of constant study in order to keep up with each other.

In this system, students do not learn for the joy of it. They cram because they must.

Unsurprisingly, the high stakes lead to endemic cheating. When a test site in Hubei unexpectedly installed metal detectors and outside proctors in an attempt to circumvent cheating, a mob of angry parents rioted outside, throwing rocks at the proctors and chanting about unfairness. They claimed that cheating is a “nationawide pastime,” and that it put their kids at an unfair disadvantage not to be allowed to cheat like everyone else!

The second major flaw of Chinese education (at least as presented in this book) is one which Ms. Chu does not discuss. Her chief concern seems to be that her son will be cowed by school culture into an overly obedient, rule-following citizen. She rejoices when he disobeys her or when he points out that his teachers’ threats are lies. Like many Americans, she seems to assume that the key to health and happiness is the ability to exert one’s own will. Classical educators disagree. A classical educator would say that children need strength of will not simply to do as they please, but in order to do what is objectively right even in the face of opposition.

The education Ms. Chu observed is morally hollow. It is shaped by the uneasy marriage between a quest for material success and Community Party political values. She notes that students see the futility of the morals they are taught and do not believe the maxims they must publically espouse. Yet she does not seem to realize how dreadful this is. There is no heart in a purely utilitarian education. Such an education fails to help students answer any of the truly important questions in life. Because it has no real voice of its own--no voice for goodness, truth, or beauty--it is no wonder it cannot stem the tide of corrosive pressure to perform (nor the tide of ever-cleverer cheating methods). The schooling Ms. Chu observed bears some similarities to the modern classical education method, but it is not a "liberal education" in the old-fashioned sense, and that makes all the difference. Classical educators need to remember the difference as we build schools of our own.
...more

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Feb 10, 2020 Maddie rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

There were two parts to this book: (1) an American woman (whose parents immigrated from China) sends her child to a state-run Chinese school and experiences culture shock and (2) she does some journalistic investigation into how the Chinese educational systems functions. Part (1) should have been limited to perhaps the foreword and epilogue, and part (2) should have gotten much more of her attention. Probably a matter of taste, but I preferred Lenora Chu the objective journalist to Lenora Chu There were two parts to this book: (1) an American woman (whose parents immigrated from China) sends her child to a state-run Chinese school and experiences culture shock and (2) she does some journalistic investigation into how the Chinese educational systems functions. Part (1) should have been limited to perhaps the foreword and epilogue, and part (2) should have gotten much more of her attention. Probably a matter of taste, but I preferred Lenora Chu the objective journalist to Lenora Chu the mother/memoirist.

Starting with the good parts -- this book taught me a lot about the Chinese educational system. It is an extremely stressful system for all who participate, because there are limited higher-educational spots for the large number of children in China (18 million born every year). Expectations are set incredibly high for students, and standardized testing has outsize impacts on your life trajectory. There is a huge amount of bureaucracy in the system, but there are also a lot of ways to cheat, particularly for the wealthy. Chu does a great job setting the context for why the system ended up this way, how it serves students, and how it harms them. She interviews not just children of the elite, but also rural families who are stuck with worse educational opportunities. She sits in on some classrooms to get a sense of how Chinese teachers demand conformity and rigor from very young children in a way that Western observers would find stifling or cruel. She compares their methods to those of a highly-ranked Massachusetts school where the teacher states that she doesn't think math is important past the 4th grade level or so. She interviews educational experts about the benefits of increasing rote memorization in the way the Chinese educational system demands, and how American aversion to doing so may be failing our students. I could have done with more of her journalistic inquiry, and appreciated her balanced view as she presented the evidence from all sides.

Her family story of her child attending a prestigious Chinese primary school read more like a woman who refused to acclimate to a new culture. There was far too much discussion about "forced naps", and an obsession with teachers making her child eat eggs when he didn't like them. I think my perspective may be informed by the fact that I do not have children, but many of her complaints seemed so minor that I could not understand why she was upset. Ultimately, it sounds like her child ended up much better behaved and academically advanced, but still happy and confident.

Chu also purposely refused to be part of the culture in many ways, then complained when she didn't get her way. For instance, she knew that giving teachers gifts was part of the culture, so she bought her son's teacher a fancy purse. She then asked her friends how to best give her son's teacher a gift. She proceeded to ignore their advice and directly gave it to her in the classroom. The teacher politely refuses, Chu notes that she was familiar with the Chinese practice of needing to offer a gift a few times, but she decides she doesn't want to play that game, and walks away with the purse. "Why doesn't the teacher like me?!?!?" she complains for the rest of the book. She also complains that the school does not accept her second child because she did not sign up for a feeder class that everyone told her was necessary for the school to accept your child. She thought it was a waste of money and refused to attend on principle. She generally refuses to play by her new country's rules throughout the book, down to trying to micromanage a children's pinata game until her son tells her to leave them alone. I found this interesting since her reporting was much more nuanced, but I guess it's harder to be detached when it comes to how your children are treated. I think she should have recognized how out of touch she came off when she wrote about her son's experience and focused the book more on the overall Chinese educational system. ...more

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Jul 09, 2017 Angela rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, arcs

Many Westerners probably have a vague idea about the rigors of Chinese education, but this book sheds light on the system from a personal level, which makes the read that much more engaging. The author focuses on the system first by detailing her own (American) son's experiences in Chinese early education, and then provides a broader view through visits to other schools and interviews with other students, parents, teachers, and administrators of widely varying degrees of privilege. The result is ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Will Mego rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: those interested in education, east-west differences, China, future of world

Shelves: my-library-has, non-fiction, read-in-2017

In my usual (good/ok/bad = 5 stars/3 stars/1 star) rating this was a good book. I saw Ms. Chu speak on C-SPAN recently about the differences between Chinese and American education and was interested in learning more. Her book certainly doesn't disappoint the reader, moving gracefully between the reportage of herself as a mother of a child living in China dealing with the early education of her son, and more journalistic sections with interviews with experts, educators, and students. The writing ...more

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Sep 04, 2018 Ilib4kids rated it liked it

Shelves: w_china, w_nf_all, w_nf_education

370.951 CHU
eAUDIOBOOK 370.951 CHU

I guess the book title from 红小兵红卫兵 derived from The Cultural Revolution, formally the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until 1976 文革

Summary: It is very honest writing about Chinese culture and Chinese education system.

What author think Chinese education is good: early years is good, but not after.
--- "the ideal upper limit in the Chinese system is sixth grade, possibly earlier, depending on each child... ...more

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Jul 13, 2018 Megan rated it really liked it

This was an engaging and invaluable read in helping me understand Chinese education.

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Oct 16, 2017 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Im not a perfect parent. And Im not an expert in education. Years ago when I was first divorced and raising my toddler as a single a mother, I didnt speak Mandarin to him even though he spent his first two years hearing it from his grandparents (for the first year) and his father (until I left him a few months shy of Jakes second birthday).

I didnt speak Mandarin to Jake because I was worried he would pick up my American accent, often devoid of tones. As a result, Jake didnt really learn Mandarin I’m not a perfect parent. And I’m not an expert in education. Years ago when I was first divorced and raising my toddler as a single a mother, I didn’t speak Mandarin to him even though he spent his first two years hearing it from his grandparents (for the first year) and his father (until I left him a few months shy of Jake’s second birthday).

I didn’t speak Mandarin to Jake because I was worried he would pick up my American accent, often devoid of tones. As a result, Jake didn’t really learn Mandarin until he started college 16 years after he stopped hearing it on a daily basis.

But I did something else. Starting around the time Jake turned three, I would push him on the swings at a Chicago playground with the Sears Tower looming behind us. And as I pushed him, he would count out loud–in Mandarin. Yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba, jiu, shi, shi yi, shi er, and on and on until he got into the hundreds and then thousands. After reading this eye-opening book, I realized I hadn’t completely failed as a young mother years ago.

And it’s not that Jake’s ability to count in Mandarin contributed to his later language acquisition. It may have or it may have not. But according to Chu, the act of engaging in some kind of math exercises before children start kindergarten is huge. It may have contributed to what I thought was Jake’s natural ability in math. After reading Little Soldiers, I no longer believe in a natural ability; it was from learning numerical patterns and understanding how to count into the thousands and ten thousands and hundred thousands at an early age–and in another language.

Chu’s son Rainey enters a local kindergarten (which is what we’d call pre-school in the US) at a prestigious school in Shanghai. Chu and her husband are expats in China’s financial hub and do all they can to get Rainey into this sought-after school. But once he begins, Rainey is subjected to some pretty draconian practices like being force fed food he doesn’t eat (Jake cringed when I told him this part; he doesn’t eat eggs either) and being made to conform to the group and not shine as an individual.

But there are also some great advantages to the Chinese educational system and Chu dispels many myths. Chinese students aren’t naturally better in math than American students; they just start at an earlier age (per my example above). And students from the big cities don’t have a much easier time getting into the top universities in China compared to their compatriots in the countryside because the former are smarter and the latter less intelligent. It’s that the universities give more places to city kids than rural ones.

One of the most eye-opening parts of the book was the culture of graft. I feel like I’m pretty generous when it comes to giving teacher gifts in December. I’ve bought European throw blankets and pretty scarves for my kids’ teachers, but never the designer handbags or money envelopes that’s expected in China. I was upset when we had to pass out cigarettes to the police when my ex-husband needed some forms signed at a Hubei government office for his green card application 22 years ago. How in the world would I deal with handing out Tory Burch?

I could go on and on about what I learned in this book, but I don’t want to spoil it. I bought a copy for the principal of my kids’ school (here I go again with gifts to educators, but it’s not Prada!) and when I saw him last week and started to get excited about the book, he said he didn’t want any spoilers either. So please pick up this book if you’re at all interested in education, global affairs, China, or just love to read compelling stories. You’ll love it! ...more

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Dec 07, 2017 erforscherin rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-female, format-paper, nonfiction-sociology, rating-7-stars, read-in-2017, reviewed

Its hard to find a good book about the Chinese education system: most coverage of this topic quickly veers off into politics, fearmongering, and reductive which system is better comparisons to American education.

The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle... and thats where Little Soldiers shines. This is both the most comprehensive and levelheaded treatment Ive seen yet on this topic, and I love that its not afraid to examine shades of gray on both sides.

The main arc is the authors own ...more

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Dec 22, 2018 Aberdeen rated it it was ok

Shelves: audible, non-fiction, 2-stars

Fascinating topic, pretty good writing (it was much more casual than I expected), interesting and eye-opening real life experience, but beyond that, it didn't meet the high expectations I had for it. She didn't really come to a set conclusionnot just about which is better, which I'm fine with because I don't think you can really say one is categorically better in every way, but just the whole book in general felt unfinished like, okay, what was the point of that? I read it just a few months ago ...more

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Oct 27, 2017 Ted Chyn rated it it was amazing

This book is a personal journey through the Chinese Education system from 2010 to 2017. The story begins with the experiment of sending the authors preschool son Rainey to a coveted preschool in Shanghai after her familys relocation. The motivations for sending Rainy to a Chinese public school were rooted in their own backgrounds her husbands Peace Corp experience in rural China, and her own Chinese American background by birth. As parents, they felt it was important for Rainey to learn another This book is a personal journey through the Chinese Education system from 2010 to 2017. The story begins with the experiment of sending the author’s preschool son Rainey to a coveted preschool in Shanghai after her family’s relocation. The motivations for sending Rainy to a Chinese public school were rooted in their own backgrounds– her husband’s Peace Corp experience in rural China, and her own Chinese American background by birth. As parents, they felt it was important for Rainey to learn another culture and they wanted a nimble child who could handle a rapidly changing world as a global citizen.
The author has mastered the Chinese language not only the written characters and 4 tones associated with each character but also the phrases and the associated stories behind those phrases which allow her to give additional insights in her comments from the perspective of an American. Given her exposure to Chinese culture as a daughter of immigrants who unwillingly attended America Chinese School before her coming of age, combined with her professional journalist background and first-hand experience in Chinese education of sending her precious toddler through the pipeline of the Chinese school system, Ms. Chu is in a unique position to write this riveting and revealing story about the current Chinese education.
Following the arduous steps of getting Rainy into school, Ms. Chu had entered a brave new world of Chinese Education system where she mastered the art of dealing with Chinese school including the knack of gifting, connecting to school with constant webchat, roaming Shanghai on her bicycle amid the congested traffic, reconciling education in Chinese style vs that of western style, and how to fit in with a Chinese parent group by attending birthday party, how to talk politely to the teacher getting her point across with respect for the teacher, how to walk around the established rules etc.
More interestingly, the author interviewed many Chinese friends and even ventured into the country side to observe a middle school examination in addition to her prior first-hand experience in accompanying one of her young friends in his college entrance examination. As an outsider Ms. Chu gained first-hand knowledge how these examinations are conducted and the associated deficiencies related to this high pressured events.
With the assistance of two older teenaged friends: Amanda- a rebellious exchange student who visited the US, and liked to read Camus and Proust; and Darcy- a more conventional bright student from rural China who is ready to climb the social ladder by joining the communist party; Ms. Chu discovered more interesting aspects of their lives growing up in China. Despite their divergent path, both these teens agree that hard work will eventually pay off for their respective future endeavors irrespective of what they may think (the central doctrine of Confucianism). Both kids realize democracy is a luxury whose inefficiency may impede the progression of China to be a developed country, keenly aware of the existence of the censorship and the power it wields over ordinary citizens and the vast gap in wealth and social inequality between the rural poor and nova rich city dwellers as the result of private enterprise. Despite the mandatory infusion of political ideas into public education, the state has overestimated the impact of state advertising on the youth as Darcy whispered to Chu that “China is growing a nation of patriots who worship the party in public but cultivate alternative thoughts in private”.

Ms. Chu also broached the difficult subject of social and economic inequality. For her research Ms. Chu ventured from prosperous Shanghai to the rural part of China thru a migrant domestic worker– Lauren as she explained the plight of a hundred million who are separated from their family and kids in the village because the antiquated household registration system and the disparity in economic and educational opportunity between urban and rural China- the very condition foment the rise of Mao and communism 70+ years ago.
In the book, Ms. Chu explained the difference in educational philosophy between China and the US results in the difference in altitudes of the public toward children’s education. These dissimilarities evolved into vast different teaching methods and school discipline in guiding students. Her comments relating to what she learned are worthwhile reading for many who are not familiar with Chinese culture.
I have enjoyed reading through the book as the story moving from Rainey’s registration and admission to Soong Ching Ling School to the successful graduation for both the author and Rainey in adapting to a new education system in spite of her initial misgivings about the cultural differences. Kudos to Ms. Chu for sharing one of the oldest ritual practiced in the Chinese family- the thought process in naming her sons. For Rainey, she chose the word comprised of three stones stacking on top each other（磊）. Stone symbolizes an upright person in Chinese literature and 3 uprights will last more than a lifetime. For her second son Landon, the word gold is repeated 3 times denoting lifetime prosperity（鑫）. For a family, there is nothing better than to have a child upright in character and another with three-fold prosperity.
In addition to other well-written education books such as “Grit” by Anglo Duckworth and “The Smartest Kids in the World” by Amanda Ripley, this book is a must-read for those interested in education in general and Chinese culture in particular as the world turns toward a new China century. ...more

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Oct 11, 2017 Lynn rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, owned, real-life, historial

I was given a copy of this book by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.

Today's post is on Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve by Lenora Chu. It is 368 pages long and is published by Harper Collins. The cover is white with sharpened pencils on it. The intended reader is someone who is interested education and the differences between China and other parts of the world. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There I was given a copy of this book by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.

Today's post is on Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve by Lenora Chu. It is 368 pages long and is published by Harper Collins. The cover is white with sharpened pencils on it. The intended reader is someone who is interested education and the differences between China and other parts of the world. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- In the spirit of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Bringing up Bébé, and The Smartest Kids in the World, a hard-hitting exploration of China’s widely acclaimed yet insular education system—held up as a model of academic and behavioral excellence—that raises important questions for the future of American parenting and education.
When American mom Lenora Chu moved to China with her little boy, she faced a tough decision. China produced some of the world’s top academic achievers, and just down the street from her home in Shanghai was THE school, as far as elite Chinese were concerned. Should Lenora entrust her rambunctious young son to the system?
So began Rainey’s immersion in one of the most radical school systems on the planet. Almost immediately, the three-year-old began to develop surprising powers of concentration, became proficient in early math, and learned to obey his teachers’ every command. Yet Lenora also noticed disturbing new behaviors: Where he used to scribble and explore, Rainey grew obsessed with staying inside the lines. He became fearful of authority figures, and also developed a habit of obeisance outside of school. “If you want me to do it, I’ll do it,” he told a stranger who’d asked whether he liked to sing.
What was happening behind closed classroom doors? Driven by parental anxiety, Lenora embarked on a journalistic mission to discover: What price do the Chinese pay to produce their “smart” kids? How hard should the rest of us work to stay ahead of the global curve? And, ultimately, is China’s school system one the West should emulate?
She pulls the curtain back on a military-like education system, in which even the youngest kids submit to high-stakes tests, and parents are crippled by the pressure to compete (and sometimes to pay bribes). Yet, as mother-and-son reach new milestones, Lenora uncovers surprising nuggets of wisdom, such as the upside of student shame, how competition can motivate achievement, and why a cultural belief in hard work over innate talent gives the Chinese an advantage.
Lively and intimate, beautifully written and reported, Little Soldiers challenges our assumptions and asks us to reconsider the true value and purpose of education.

Review- A very interesting read about education and what that means in different parts of the world. Chu is a second generation American and her parents raised her with a blend of American and Chinese style. But because Chu and her husband are living in China they wanted their son to have a once in a lifetime experience of Chinese education and hopefully he would get the famous Chinese discipline too. When Chu sees some changes in her son that make her uncomfortable, she decides that she wants to understand what is the Chinese education system. Chu travels all over China, interviews students at different ages and social classes, and she discovers some very interesting things. Everything from a young patriot who has great plans for himself in the party to a young man who has been lost in the system and it failed him. She interviews teachers and does her best to discuss the successes and the failures of the system but it was not easy. I think that Chu did a good job with her task and it was very eye opening about the disciple that the children learn to have and how they learn it. I would be very curious about her son is going to grow with this Chinese foundation.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars.
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Oct 25, 2017 Christine Irvin rated it it was amazing

Author Lenora Chu and her husband were living in China when this book was written. Her parents came to the US before she was born, so she was raised in a Chinese-American household. Her husband is an American. They were living in China because he got a job there.

Because she had heard good things about Chinese schools, they decided to enroll their eldest son in a Chinese preschool in Shanghai. What happened next formed the basis for a research project into the Chinese educational system, as well Author Lenora Chu and her husband were living in China when this book was written. Her parents came to the US before she was born, so she was raised in a Chinese-American household. Her husband is an American. They were living in China because he got a job there.

Because she had heard good things about Chinese schools, they decided to enroll their eldest son in a Chinese preschool in Shanghai. What happened next formed the basis for a research project into the Chinese educational system, as well as a personal reflection on how the school system has impacted their life.

The author gives a fascinating first-hand look inside of Chinese schools, from both a Chinese and an American perspective. The school system in China is much different than the one in America, but the two have their similarities.

I really enjoyed reading this book as my son recently married a China national. She was born in Yan Tai, China, and lived there until she came to the US to go to graduate school. Because I might someday be the grandmother (I hope) of a child with both American and Chinese heritage, I was drawn to a book such as this. The subject matter is very interesting and the writing is both factual and personal. I learned a lot more about Chinese culture than I knew before I read this book (although I was familiar with some of it). The text is sprinkled with Chinese words that are defined in the text and that help lend meaning to the story line.

Even though I really enjoyed reading this book, and I gave it 5 stars because of the topic and the writing, I have to say that the author could have used a good finishing editor before the story went to print. There were a few discrepancies in the story line that bothered me. One of them was when the author talked about the process of finding a Chinese nanny for her son to help around the house. The text says she interviewed 3 perspective employees, but for various reasons, chose none of them. However, prior to the mention of this interview process, and after this segment in the book, she talks about her son's nanny, but the reader is never told how she found a suitable person for the position since she rejected the only 3 she actually talks about in the book.
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Sep 06, 2017 Shana rated it liked it · review of another edition

***I received an ARC of this book through a GoodReads giveaway***

Approaching this book from the perspective of someone with some pre-existing understandings of the educational styles in East Asia, I found Little Soldiers to be both readable and relatable. Although the Japanese schooling system is not identical in all manners, there were certainly concepts that were familiar to me and that I could easily imagine. I would bet that those unfamiliar with the Chinese educational system would still ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 John Hill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: education

Lenora Chu's insights into the Chinese education system were fascinating. At once alarming, and insightful, I appreciated the way she navigated the line between American education philosophy and Chinese education philosophy.

From an educators point of view, I find the whole of Chinese education to be fascinating. The idea that a central form of education has sprung up in a couple of decades, compared with America's public education system that has existed for around 150 years, the Chinese are ...more

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Dec 06, 2018 Sngsweelian rated it it was amazing

Enjoyed reading about an American Chinese mother who enrolled her son in a top Shanghai kindergarten, albeit with some apprehension, and watched him struggle and also thrive in the grueling Chinese education system. The book throws into the spotlight the many so-called ills of the ultra cutthroat educational race in China,but the author managed to also discover and appreciate the merits of a tough disciplinary system, rote-learning and the focus on hard work. She also questioned the western ...more

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Oct 24, 2018 Ross rated it it was amazing

This book was amazing, it was heartbreaking, funny, eye-opening, reaffirming, and full of connections to teaching and learning. I enjoyed the book so much that I ordered a hardback copy before I finished listening to the audiobook.

Chu describes her son's experience as a Kindergartener attending an authentic Chinese school in Shanghai. Through Chu's experience as a parent, she and her husband Rob navigate the world of communicating with teachers, cultural expectations, and best wishes for their ...more

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Oct 04, 2017 Ingrid Mcconnell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Loved it! I started this book with a preconception what Chinese schools must be like: authoritarian, group focused, and a obsession with studying and memorization that produced automatons devoid of critical thinking skills. The author's personal experience (from an American perspective) at the coal front of the classroom with her young son, as well as her thoughtful research including observations in classes in urban and rural China as well as the US, greatly changed my perception. True, much of Loved it! I started this book with a preconception what Chinese schools must be like: authoritarian, group focused, and a obsession with studying and memorization that produced automatons devoid of critical thinking skills. The author's personal experience (from an American perspective) at the coal front of the classroom with her young son, as well as her thoughtful research including observations in classes in urban and rural China as well as the US, greatly changed my perception. True, much of the education is memorization and test focused, and teachers have no problem berating students for not knowing something or achieving below their peers, but the author explains some of the benefits of this system: hard work is valued over innate ability (research shows this motivates students more), and rote memorization is important for further learning.

The book is warm and funny. Chu's picky preschooler is force-fed an egg, the author unwittingly becomes a broker of U.S. sourced branded purses (when her husband is on a business trip), the we-chat conversations between parents and teacher are hilarious in their obsequiousness. There are a lot more of these hilarious gems in the book.

Chu doesn't shy from controversy. I appreciated the explanation of how for much of the 20th century the "party" used the educational curriculum to shape the minds of (and control) the masses. (They weren't the first and won't be the last). China's complicated gift and "red envelope" culture (socially accepted bribery), even extends into education; some students get more "status" based on the value of gifts given their teachers from parents, and one student found that a payment was required to produce an accurate transcript from the school registrar.

Do Americans need Chinese schools or vice versa? Reading this book made me think hard about this. A healthy dose of Chinese rigor (respect for teachers, high expectation of parents, more memorization, a little public shaming when deserved) would probably improve our outcomes. Conversely, I'd like to see these kids in China enjoying sports and other activities our kids get to do, and studying less.

The author refers to the "race to achieve" -- students in China must test into higher education where there are fewer and fewer spots the higher they go. This contrasts to our U.S. emphasis on "no child left behind" and an idea that all children are candidates for college (matched with an overly generous student loan program that burdens borrowers and taxpayers alike). In this, I think we both could learn something from, say, the Germany and Australia, where many students will pursue very satisfactory vocations without high test scores or a crushing debt.

This book challenged my assumptions about Chinese culture education and made me question aspects of American education I had assumed were "the right way". I enjoyed it immensely! ...more

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Jun 22, 2017 Melanie Haynes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

I loved this look in on the Chinese education system and the steps this family took to understand it better. The comparison to our education system in the US and the Chinese system is very informative. It helped me understand the Chinese customs better and their ways of educating their children. Along with what the outcome was for their child against all the doubts and fears when the initially enrolled him. I think it is a great read for anyone who is interested in the Chinese culture.

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Dec 09, 2017 Jeesun Hunting rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs, set-in-a-foreign-country, nonfiction

I appreciated that this was written from the viewpoint of a Chinese American living in China (as opposed to a typical American ex pat). I am a returned Peace Corps volunteer (the author's husband is also a China RPCV!) who taught and lived in China for two years and I am Korean American. The author goes beyond the tired generalization that is often repeated by westerners that Chinese education is all rote memorization, authoritarian teaching, and no creativity.

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Feb 07, 2019 Torrie rated it really liked it

Being a former educator and now a mom, I have always been a bit of a geek when it comes to anything about education (and anyone who's followed me for awhile knows that I'm a sucker for stuff that analyzes and compares different cultures, especially as it relates to parenting). This informational/research-based memoir about an American-raised woman who moves to Shanghai and enrolls her son in the school system there is at turns shocking (to my Western sense of what education usually should be ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Shari rated it it was ok

Lenora Chu endures a tug of war between the positives and negatives of a Chinese education for her preschool son. I found the parts that took place in the school fascinating. The research parts were tedious. If I were not reading this book for a book club, I probably wouldnt have finished it. ...more

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Oct 24, 2017 Leslie rated it it was amazing

As a kid who experienced Chinese school and American school, this book is required reading to bring insight into the dichotomy of educational systems. I always bristled against memorization, conformity and student rankings. However, I have better understanding on the roots of this and why it works in China. There are 4-5 times the students as in the US and school is a filtering mechanism. Testing and ranking comes out of a desire for meritocracy. However, there are a lot of "losers" in this ...more

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Nov 05, 2017 Yasmina Walker rated it really liked it

"Little Soldiers" offers a unique perspective on China. Lenora Chu, an Asian American journalist, living in Shanghai puts her three year old son in a Chinese private preschool. She precedes to chronicle her son's experiences with the Chinese school system. This is a wonderful insight into the Chinese educational system, as well as the cultural mindset of the Chinese. The United States should pursue some of the Chinese methodology highlighted in the book. A great area to start would be with the ...more

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Jun 01, 2017 Amy Morgan rated it really liked it

Thank you Edelweiss for my review copy of this book. This was an intriguing look into the Chinese educational system and the differences between the chinese and American cultures. Lenora Chu was raised in America by parents who came from China and so instillee in her many Chinese ways in addition to her American upbringing.

Upon finding herself and her husband in China with their small son they must decide what type of education they will choose for Rainey. Ultimately deciding to enroll her son ...more

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Jun 14, 2017 SibylM rated it really liked it

Shelves: asia, education, parenting, nonfiction, giveaways, diversity

I won a free copy of this book from the publisher in a Goodreads giveaway and an honest review was requested. This book is truly fascinating and I think a must-read for anyone interested in education. The author, an American woman of Chinese descent living in China, does a terrific job of interweaving the story of her own young son's integration into the Shanghai school system with her observations and insights about educational systems from all over the world. Lenora Chu is a beautiful, ...more

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About Lenora Chu

Lenora Chu

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Lenora Chu is a mom first, journalist second. She's author of Little Soldiers, the story of her parenting journey inside China's school system, one of the highest-performingand most extremesystems in the world. Since moving from Los Angeles to Shanghai in 2010, she has worked as a print and television journalist, and a media consultant to universities and the private sector. Her articles and ...more

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