Reflective journal 2

China’s economy has been progressing very quickly, with its GDP increasing steadily over the years. However, it does not mean that the standard of living of its people is increasing. Despite’s its booming economy; I think that the society is facing the problem of unequal progress. In 2010, China’s Gini coefficient reached 0.47, indicating a huge gap between the rich and the poor. There are constant reports regarding exploitation of workers, food safety issues; corrupted governmental officials and etc. These are signs and evidences to prove that China’s moral education, living standard of the lower income group and other areas are not keeping up with the pace of China’s economic growth.

 In order for China’s society to progress even further, these problems need to be eradicated. First off, the education system needs to place more emphasis on inculcating moral values to the students. This is essential as many of these social problems arose due to the degradation of moral values of certain people, like the Waste oil incident (地沟油事件). From my experience in one of the schools in Peking, the educators do make attempts to promote values among students. However, perhaps due to the fierce competitions, the school and students still focus mainly on academic work and often neglect moral education. Furthermore, this school in Peking cannot be taken as a representative of the whole education system in China. I am unsure about the situation the many different schools spread all around China, whether they are better or much worse. 

The Chinese themselves are also doing their parts to minimise the effects of these problems. One of the methods they used was using the 微博or twitter to spread and raise awareness about the issue at hand. For example, the news of the overloaded school bus that resulted in huge casualties spread very fast through the use of 微博, which caused a public indignation. This pressurised the government to take actions to resolve the problem. Other than that, the Chinese are also beginning to question the legitimacy of the CCP after they have seen how successful the democracy in Taiwan is. This is a sign of China progressing towards a democratic society which makes me feel glad. Since China is one party state, the members of the party have numerous privileges and rights. This will lead to rampant corruption since there is no one to monitor the governmental officials. Quoting from Cai Ying Wen’s speech, “Taiwan must have the voice of opposition”. Likewise for China, it must have an opposition’s voice which can keep the power and privileges of CCP in check.  This can help to suppress the corruption among governmental officials.

On the other hand, the American society is quite different from China’s. Its education system for example, is not as academic oriented. It focuses on a holistic development of a student and areas like moral education. However, people are now sceptical as to they begin to realise that there are loopholes in the system, especially after they seen how the Chinese are doing better in math, science and reading as shown in the PISA results.

The shortcomings of America’s political system are becoming more and more obvious in recent years. During the economic crisis and Obama’s term, there are several examples to prove the incompetency and inefficiency of the current system. For example, many of Obama’s proposals could not be passed down, and the debate about debt ceiling caused the problem to be dragged and become more and more serious. I always thought that this kind of system was almost “perfect” in a way, but now it seems to me that one party state is better for this kind of cases. At least the country does not end up in a political deadlock where the leaders cannot come to a decision.

I think that America is now at a stage where it is starting to realise the shortcomings of its society. In previous century, it has made admirable progress and became a superpower. But, they might have been too complacent with the glories achievement they have had in various areas like math and science which resulted dragged down the pace of progress. Complacency is one of the greatest enemies of progress. However, with the rise of new powers like China and India, America will feel the need to do something in order to remain competitive in this globalised age where it is the survival of the fittest. Having its position threatened by these new powers, I believe that America will progress at a faster rate. However, that is under the condition that its economy recovers. Only before the citizens have their stomach fed before the whole society can progress.