American vs. Chinese Education

Is the Chinese education system more or less successful than the American education system?

The link below is to a book review of Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World by Yong Zhao. I haven't read the book, but I've read the review. As presented in the review, the argument is that although the Chinese perform better than Americans on standardized tests, the US should be trying to avoid, not duplicate China's education system.

The Myth of Chinese Super Schools

This certainly rings true to me. Is testing an important skill? Yes. Even simply being able to follow directions is something we should be cultivating. But students shouldn't just be able to follow test directions because they've taken one hundred identical tests before. They should be able to follow directions because they can think about them and know what behaviors do and don't fulfill those directions.

That being said, it's extremely difficult to measure success at teaching/fostering skills like critical thinking and creativity. Sometimes when you want students to think critically, they just guess without thinking at all. Sometimes when you want students to draw creatively they draw the same birds and trees as the person next to them.

On the one hand, maybe we should be less worried about measuring success. Maybe some things aren't measurable. We can still foster those skills. On the other hand, how do we keep teachers accountable? How do we admit students to college? What is fair?