•October 4, 2017•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

I worry that much of the world is in the process of passing America by, and that most of us are either unaware of same or are resigned to our fate.

Over recent years, I have taught American government for six-week periods at Fudan University in Shanghai, one of their top schools. This past week I hosted one of my former students in Chicago and rural Stark County, prior to his resuming graduate studies at Stanford.

Xudong Yang, 22, is bright as a new penny, outgoing and has a great sense of humor. He has been working his tail off to succeed since grammar school. He told me he worked morning through evening and had no time for outside, extracurricular activities. Many, many Chinese young people are doing the same, strongly encouraged, even pushed, by their parents. They are hungry for success, and the things we take for granted.

Xudong told me he attended an elite high school for seven classroom hours a day, 230 days a year (half days on Saturday). In Illinois and most states, students are in school about six hours a day for 175 or so days. I figure my former student spent the equivalent of 1.6 more years in high school, based on classroom time, than does the typical American student.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.