The city of Shanghai tops the PISA ranking, an international program that compares the results of schoolchildren around the world. To understand the reasons behind this success, the teams from Envoyé Spécial pushed open the doors of the schools of excellence set up in China's economic capital.
In classrooms equipped with the latest technology, students are subjected to an intensive rhythm and iron discipline. Teaching focuses almost exclusively on the sciences and foreign languages. Leaders, teachers and students all have one thing in mind: to become their country's elite and make it known throughout the world.
Public schools select and rank students from the earliest grades. Private schools, on the other hand, offer tailor-made, very expensive education: from tutoring to specialized programs for those who want to study abroad: Harvard, Yale, Polytechnique or MIT. Increasingly, these prestigious establishments are seeing an influx of students from Shanghai, whose level in science and mathematics far exceeds that of their Western counterparts.
Directed and written by Renaud Mischi
Released on 15/10/2015