In 2009 , Shanghai participated for the first time in the OECD 's Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA ) , the tri-annual survey of the world 's school systems . And when Shanghai 's teenagers proved their math , science , and reading were much better than their peers in the United States , Germany , and Japan , the world was shocked and awed . Here , much more so than the 2008 Beijing Olympics or Shanghai 's skyscrapers or China 's double-digit growth , was proof positive that the future belonged to China . The latest PISA results released this week show that Shanghai schools are still number one , but , as I argued after Shanghai 's first placing in 2009 , the triumph comes at too great a cost . The dog-eat-dog and winner-take-all mentality of China 's school system is n't just making children unhappy and unhealthy -- it 's also causing cheating and bribery , leading to an unfair and unequal school system . The teachers . A tour of any Shanghai junior high school offers an easy explanation as to why Shanghai placed first on the PISA . They may be crammed and overcrowded , but the halls are clean and tidy , classrooms packed with attentive and focused students , and meeting rooms filled with university-educated and highly-motivated teachers trading notes on how to better design their 45-minute lesson . The incentives to succeed bind the school together , and guide it . Teachers are paid about 10,000 yuan a month ( $ 1,640 ) , which makes them solidly middle-class in Shanghai . In their PISA performance , Shanghai 's students show `` a high level of resilience , '' which is to say that poor students do better than expected . That 's in large part because the Shanghai government is committed to leaving no child behind : It funds all schools equally , partners high-performing schools with low-performing ones and offers fast-track promotions to administrators who can turn around bad schools . In one Shanghai junior high school I visited , teachers stayed after school to tutor failing students -- and the head teacher there honored those teachers in school assemblies . But these teachers can drive Audis if their students do well enough on tests : Yes , administrators can give teachers bonuses , but the real money is in grateful parents and moonlighting at for-profit cram schools ( after school tutoring programs ) . And the head that honored teachers who tutored failing kids told me that in her experience , the best indicator of a student 's school performance is his/her socio-economic background . She said the tutoring of poor kids is just a bandage , a way to get them through the system and not have them drag the school down . The parents . Because Shanghai 's schools are so good , Shanghai parents have to pay -- even if it 's not exorbitant tuition fees . Shanghai 's real estate market is notoriously expensive , but it 's downright unaffordable in the neighborhoods of Shanghai 's very best public elementary schools , and when families ca n't use real estate to buy into the best schools , they try to bribe their way in . This culture of bribing public school officials means I ca n't maintain friendships , make new ones , and date -- a girl I dated in 2010 told me she 'd give me 200,000 yuan ( $ 32,800 ) to get her sister into my school . And because Shanghai 's elementary school classrooms have 30 or 40 students , parents trip over each other in the mad rush to take teachers out to dinner and offer gifts in the hope that their only child gets a little more attention . The bribery is on top of every other advantage that Shanghai 's wealthy parents have bestowed upon their only child : Weekend piano , math , and English classes , private tutoring , summer camp in America , vacations in Europe and above all a born-to-succeed attitude . The students . For the students , the race is to see who can enter Shanghai 's best two universities -- Fudan University and Jiao Tong . But it 's just not the prospect of a good job that drives students on . Scoring highly on tests in Shanghai is like scoring a lot of touchdowns in Texas -- it 's what wins you social respect , and soon comes to define your identity and self-worth . There 's substantial social science research -- popularized in books such as Daniel Pink 's Drive -- that suggests performance-based incentives are bad for students and teachers . Incentives do not just make students stressed , lonely , and unhappy -- they also kill student 's innate curiosity , creativity , and love of learning . And high-stakes testing has led to a culture of cheating in China . Last year , when authorities tried to stop cheating , a riot broke out -- parents were angry that their children were being singled out when everyone was cheating . The best model ? In the excitement over Shanghai 's PISA victory we tend to forget the real lesson to be learned : How Finland can be the real model for education reform in the world . Finland , which ranked 12th in the 2012 math rankings , may not be number one , but , in my experience from visiting the country , it 's succeeded in equipping all Finnish students with the tools to succeed in the knowledge economy without sacrificing their childhood , curiosity and creativity . After Shanghai children leave school at 4 p.m. , they go on to cram school and do homework until bedtime . In stark contrast , when Finnish children leave school at noon , they just go play for the whole day . That Finnish students do almost as well as their Shanghai peers on PISA suggest that long school days , cram schools , and homework are not really about helping students learn -- it 's more about pleasing anxious , demanding , and hyper-competitive parents . Of course , there 's a rising tide of Chinese parents who care more about their child 's well-being than his or her test score . And these wealthy and well-educated parents who understand the costs and sacrifices of Shanghai 's PISA victory are emigrating abroad or opting for new private Western-style schools that have sprung up in major Chinese cities . That 's bad news for Chinese education reform because those who are in the best position to make a stand are instead voting with their feet .
Shanghai schools came top in the OECD 's internaional education rankings . Shanghai 's triumph comes at too greater cost , argues teacher Jiang Xueqin . The Chinese government has been trying to improve its international reputation for years and it is now reaping rewards. `` Dog-eat-dog '' mentality makes schoolchildren unhappy and unhealthy .