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

　　一位西方母親的東西方教育衝擊
　　一場令人大開眼界的中國教育探索之旅

　　當中裔美籍記者Lenora Chu一家人移居上海，那一年，上海代表中國首次參與國際學生能力評量(PISA)，初次登場便打敗了眾多對手，在數學、閱讀和科學科目排名世界第一。Chu也注意到，和自己吵鬧的兒子相比，中國孩童又乖又守規矩。

　　中國是如何創造出學術上的超級成就者？她自己的孩子是否能在中國教育體系裡受益？

　　對中國式教育感到好奇，並對中國學生的學術表現印象深刻，Chu和丈夫決定為他們的三歲兒子Rainey註冊進入中國的菁英幼兒園。但從他上學的第一天起，夫妻倆就開始有了疑慮。

　　Rainey短時間內便有了驚人的學習成效，他變得自律、守規矩，在數學和中文學習上都有很大的進步，也交了新朋友。但夫妻倆也注意到，一些意料之外的警訊伴隨而來：Rainey變得畏懼權威，他不經意間透露出了一些老師在課堂上灌輸他們服從和合群精神的方法。

　 　對於關上教室門後所發生的事感到憂心，她採訪了教師、學生和父母們，試圖在這團教育的迷霧中整理出更清晰的圖像──從中浮現的是一個透過高風險考試制度 建立的軍事化教育體制，老師們公開學生的成績排名，獎勵達到標準的學生，未達到目標的學生則被羞辱或孤立。同時，她也呈現了政府多年來試圖減輕學生課業壓 力，並提升自主學習動機的努力。

　　當她了解的越多，她開始思索：中國學童是否在學習順從和獲得學術實力上，付出了過高的代價？是否有更好的方法，能夠適當保留這個制度的優點，並移除它的缺點？

　　透過這本結合了親身經歷與調查報導的著作，Chu打開了一扇窗，深入探索這個有著儒家思想傳統，同時又深受共產主義教條影響的國家教育體制，讓我們得以一窺當代中國的複雜現況，並重新審視教育的價值和目的。(文/博客來編譯)

　　'I couldn't put this book down. Whip smart, hilariously funny and shocking. A must-read'－Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

　　In 2009, Lenora Chu, her husband Rob, and toddler Rainey, moved from LA to the Chinese megacity Shanghai. The US economy was spinning circles, while China seemed to be eating the planet's economic lunch. What's more, Shanghai teenagers were top in the world at maths, reading and science. China was not only muscling the rest of the world onto the sidelines, but it was also out-educating the West.

　　So when Rainey was given the opportunity to enroll in Shanghai's most elite public kindergarten, Lenora and Rob grabbed it. Noticing her rambunctious son's rapid transformation - increasingly disciplined and obedient but more anxious and fearful - Lenora begins to question the system. What the teachers were accomplishing was indisputable, but what to make of their methods? Are Chinese children paying a price for their obedience and the promise of future academic prowess? How much discipline is too much? And is the Chinese education system really what the West should measure itself against?

　　While Rainey was at school, Lenora embarked on a reporting mission to answer these questions in a larger context. Through a combination of the personal narratives and thoughts of teachers, parents, administrators and school children, Little Soldiers unpacks the story of education in China.

　　Review

　　I couldn't put this book down. Whip smart, hilariously funny and shocking. A must-read (Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother)

　　Riveting, provocative and unflinchingly candid, Little Soldiers is a must-read for parents, educators, and global citizens alike. (Gish Jen, Author of The Girl at the Baggage Claim)

　　Little Soldiers is the best book I've read about education in China. Lenora Chu's . . . tells this personal story with great insight and humor, and it's combined with first-rate research into the current state of education in China. (Peter Hessler, New Yorker staff writer and author of River Town and Country Driving)

　　I couldn't put this book down. It's a game changer that challenges our tendency to see education practices in black and white. (Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well)

　　Little Soldiers is a book that will endure. With honesty and a terrific sense of humor, Lenora Chu has produced not only an intimate portrait of raising a family far from home but also the most lucid and grounded account of modern Chinese education that I've ever seen. She brilliantly tests our notions of success and creativity, grit and talent, and never shrinks from her conclusions. (Evan Osnos, New Yorker staff writer, National Book Award-winning author of Age of Ambition)

　　Through this combination of personal stories and investigative reporting, Chu opens a window on to the complex world of communist China and its competitive methodology, which helps raise highly efficient, obedient, intelligent children but also squelches individualism and spontaneous creativity from the beginning. It's a sometimes-chilling portrait of how hundreds of millions of children are being taught to obey as well as an interesting glimpse into the mindset of one couple who let their child stay in the system despite their misgivings. An informative, personal view of the Chinese and their educational system that will have many American readers cringing at the techniques used by the Chinese to create perfect students (Kirkus)

　　Little Soldiers is written passion and an unparalleled commitment to telling stories... from inside the schooling juggernaut of the world. Little Soldiers also details the heartbreaking tales of junior high school dropouts and their subsequent life of desperation. A must read-a book you not be able to put down. (Scott Rozelle, Helen C. Farnsworth Professor at Standford University, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research)

　　"Do the ends justify the means?" "Is a child's life for a parent or government to dictate, or is it their own?" "Should education be a rigid, hierarchical zero-sum game?" These questions and more lie at the heart of Chu's important book, which is necessary reading for educators, parents, and anyone interested in shaping the character and capabilities of the next generation of Americans. (Julie Lythchott-Haims, author of the New York Times bestseller How to Raise an Adult, and Stanford's former dean of freshman)

　　Lenora Chu, a gifted journalist, has written a fascinating comparison of the US and Shanghai education systems. Little Soldiers offers important insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each. There is much to be learned here about the elements of a better education system for the 21st century (Tony Wagner, Expert in Residence, Harvard University Innovation Lab and author of The Global Achievement Gap and Creating Innovators)

　　This engaging narrative is personalized by Chu's often humorous recollections of attending American schools as the daughter of immigrants. Little Soldiers offers fascinating peeks inside the world's largest educational system and at the future intellectual "soldiers" American kids will be facing (Dan Kaplan Booklist)