What Israel can teach China

China needs to learn to become a laboratory if it is to survive the environmental pollution, financial mismanagement, and social inequity that derive from being the world’s sweatshop. So how can our Chinese students become the creative talent that China needs? And what makes Israel so innovative?

Israel’s answer is, as always, short and simple: Ask questions.

These two words in fact represent the cultural chasm that divides Israel and China. As Start-Up Nation mentions, Israel lacks hierarchy and formality so that when we visited a public high school in Tel Aviv, we saw teachers interrupt the principal, and learned that Israelis consider “shyness” a learning disability. When I asked an Israeli 14-year-old girl how much homework she does at night, she responded with “Why are you asking me this question?”

http://the-diplomat.com/china-power/2012/05/13/what-israel-can-teach-china/