Coming from the U.S. and working with quite a few Chinese students here in China I have come to this conclusion.  First, most of the students I had know English grammar very well, in fact, I would say many know English grammar better than a lot of Americans that I know.  However, I believe that is because Chinese education places the emphasis on grammar for taking tests but most lack the skills to effectively use the language.  in other words, there's no emphasis on oral skills and understanding what they learned, so most Chinese students then become too shy and feel they can't express themsleves correctly and then feel they need to know more vocabulary. I had many students that could read and write English very well and also many that knew many English vocabulary but yet, could not order a cup of coffee correctly or have trouble explaining what they read in a book.  I feel they need to focus more on oral skills so students can express themselves and be more fluent. This causes them to constantly fall back and just use their Chinese to communicate instead because it's easier.  So the solution, to me, is learning and developing your oral skills, because much Like Chinese, the way people talk is different than the way they write.  Read out loud to hear your own voice and don't worry about your accent, find another person and pratice speaking English everyday and be ready to know that you will make mistakes but that's how we learn what works and what doesn't work, have patience and commitment and listen to native speakers, watch their mouth to see how words and phrases are formed.  These few tips will help you. It's easy to get dissappointed but don't quit, just use what you know and begin to build on that.  Trust me, it works!

@ Anna : Many students discover too late that they have been studying the wrong subject.  That's not the fault of the education system in most cases; it's a consequence of personal decisions.

Sometimes it helps to take the view that education is always worthwhile regardless of the subject. An understanding of art is valuable to the scientist, just as some knowledge of the process of science is important to students of the humanities.

@Adrian:l agree with u,most of us haven't taken that they should be more suitable for other jobs until it finally occurs to them after long time discovering what do they really desire to.

"An understanding of art is valuable to the scientist".just like Einstein also a big fan of violin.

:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_WSJUNxPZc

this is a better compaison about education than BBC's.

european teacher + european student + european education

vs

chinese teacher + chinese student + chinese education

韩国和日本的学生都要比中国学生辛苦。

西方大学也很辛苦。由于国家的发达程度不同，中国教育侧重中学阶段，国外大学侧重大学阶段。觉得不爽请移民。找个爽的地方生活。

Graduated from college as an art student,l gradually aware that l'm actually interested in science.How pathetic!!!!

(ㄒoㄒ)