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[00:00.38] Todd: Rufei, you said that your education system is very strict and you study like 15 hours a day.

[00:09.88] Rufei: Yes.

[00:10.38] Todd: Okay so, if you were in charge would you keep the system the same way?

[00:17.38] Rufei: It depends on the person. I think there should be a place that's as strict as my high school.

[00:29.88] You can choose to send your children to go there or if the students themselves, they want to go to that school, they can go.

[00:42.88] I think that's really, really motivative to student's to study hard because everybody do the same and they are trying their best to be the best.

[00:55.39] Todd: Wow. Yeah we have a phrase in English like, "A rising tide lifts all boats", and I think it's kind of the same.

[01:01.38] So if it's really rigorous for most people, it's gonna pull everybody up.

[01:05.63] Rufei: Yes.

[01:06.13] Todd: Okay. There's nothing you would change? Like if you were in charge would you give maybe a little more vacation time? Would you start the day later? Would you make classes smaller?

[01:19.63] Rufei: If I can choose I will definitely don't choose my school because that was horrible for me because I need a lot of sleep than normal people, but I cannot have that much time to sleep.

[01:34.14] So I always sleep on the class, and when somebody found out that I am sleeping on the class they will decrease the score of my class.

[01:49.88] Todd: Oh, that's serious.

[01:51.63] Rufei: Yes, very serious. Yeah, your teacher would punish you to write a paper like, "I am sorry I decreased the score of our class, I shouldn't sleep on the class", and I have to write it for like an hour to write that stuff.

[02:15.14] Todd: That is very harsh.

[02:16.14] Rufei: Yeah.

[02:17.38] Todd: I think though a lot of people, when they hear stories like that they actually are a little bit envious, especially parents or teachers. Because in the rest of the world it's not that, students don't try that hard.

[02:31.39] Rufei: Yeah.

[02:32.14] Todd: So that's kind of special, actually.

[02:34.14] Rufei: Yeah, I think that's the special point of China.

[02:38.39] Todd: Wow. So, what time did you have to get up every day to get to school at 6:45?

[02:45.89] Rufei: I have to get up at 6:00.

[02:47.38] Todd: Oh, well that was not too bad. That's pretty fast, you wake up at 6:00, you get to school by 6:45.

[02:52.89] Rufei: Yeah, I can wear my clothes pretty fast and directly get on my father's car and eat on my father's car and put my socks on, on my father's car.

[03:08.38] Todd: Wow! Talk about streamlined, very mobile. That's great. What about the tests? It's really controversial in the US about standardized tests.

[03:23.63] Rather than just learning, the students often have to prepare for tests.

[03:29.13] In your country is there also a big movement just to have a lot of testing?

[03:34.13] Rufei: We have a test each month, and we only do paper tests.

[03:40.63] The questions can be really difficult, yeah always very, very difficult. In my case, I'm in the middle ...

[03:58.88] Todd: Middle of the pack, as we say.

[04:00.13] Rufei: Yeah, the middle of the pack. For mathematics, we have totally 150 scores and probably I can get 60 to 70.

[04:14.13] Todd: Wow, that's a big range. Do some students get 100%?

[04:19.63] Rufei: No.

[04:20.38] Todd: No?

[04:21.13] Rufei: If you get more than 120, you are really brilliant. So the question's always really, really difficult.

[04:29.38] Todd: Can the teacher get 150?

[04:30.38] Rufei: I'm not sure.