As we know, when babies are born, they do not know anything. They are new to the world. As they grow up, they learn from outside. The key of learning is how to study independently, because they will live by themselves one day. Western countries realized this earlier, so they included this quality in their education system. Now many Chinese students come to Canada to study. As an international student, I think the life style in Canada is more suitable for students growing up.

During the process of children's growing up, I think the most importance is to teach them how to study by themselves and to develop their potentialities. People in Canada make a point of training children to think by themselves. For example, in Canada children usually say, "I think" or "In my opinion". Compared to children in China, they usually say, "my mother said" or "my father said". On the other hand, people in Canada also make a point of training children's creativity. There is a story about a painting class. A Canadian teacher taught Chinese students to paint a cat. As a result, all the students painted a cat the same as that on the board. The same to Canadian students, they painted a cat by their designs. In addition, compared to Chinese students, Canadian students have less homework, so they have more activities and free time. Since this reason, they can learn more out of school, but Chinese students have to follow the plan that their parents made. This is not good for children to develop their creativity.

In my opinion, it is more important for the parents to train their children's independence in Canada. During daily life in Canada, if children can do something by themselves, parents will not help them make them accomplish by themselves. However, the parents in China dote on their children and they want to do everything instead, so they depend on their parents very much. In Canada, when children grow up to adults, they will become independent and have to live a life by themselves, and their parents will not take care of them. For example, when Canadian students are in high school or in university, most of them have a part-time job. They pay the tuition fee and the maintenance by themselves, but in China parents will take care of their children until they get a job and go to work. As a result, the living ability of Canadian students is much stronger than that of Chinese students.

In conclusion, the western education system and the life style in Canada are very good for students growing up. People in western countries think that it is important to train students' creativity and independence, so they make the education system match the social development.

November 19, 2001