Lenora Chu

China's widely acclaimed yet insular education system is held up as a model of academic and behavioral excellence. Chu, an American journalist of Chinese descent raising a young family in Shanghai, noticed how well-behaved Chinese children were compared to her boisterous toddler. Enrolling three-year-old Rainer in China's state-run public school system, the immediate results were positive. But Chu also noticed troubling new behaviors, and discovered...