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Ever wondered what Dr. Deming really meant by "profound knowledge" — and how it can still transform your work today? In this conversation, Bill Scherkenbach shares with host Andrew Stotz lessons from Dr. W. Edwards Deming on profound knowledge, systems thinking, and why "knowledge without action is useless, and action without knowledge is dangerous." Tune in for wisdom, humor, and practical insights on learning, leadership, and finding joy in work. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussion with Bill Scherkenbach, a dedicated protege of Dr. Deming since 1972. Bill met with Dr. Deming more than a thousand times and later led statistical methods and process improvement at Ford and GM at Deming's recommendation. He authored the Deming Route to Quality and Productivity at Deming's behest, and at 79, still champions his mentor's message, learn, have fun, and make a difference. Bill, how are you doing?   0:00:36.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Doing great, Andrew. How about you?   0:00:38.6 Andrew Stotz: I'm good. It's been a while since we talked. I took a little holiday to Italy, which was. I was out for a bit, but I'm happy to be back in the saddle.   0:00:48.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Dove in Italia?   0:00:51.3 Andrew Stotz: Yes.   0:00:52.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Where in Italy?   0:00:53.6 Andrew Stotz: Well, I went to Milan for a trade show in the coffee industry, and then I went to Lake Como and relaxed and oh, what a paradise.   0:01:03.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Beautiful. Beautiful. Yep.   0:01:05.0 Andrew Stotz: And, of course, always great food.   0:01:09.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Yep, yep, yep. Well, you have a chance to use the PDSA on improving your mood there.   0:01:16.6 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, it was just... The resort I stayed at was a tiny little place on the side of a hill, and the food at this tiny little place was fantastic. We just didn't want to leave. Every single meal was great. So I love that. Who doesn't love that?   0:01:34.4 Bill Scherkenbach: They didn't have a food cart in the background.   0:01:38.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. In fact, they didn't really open for lunch.   0:01:39.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Like what they do over here.   0:01:41.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, they didn't open for lunch. They only served sandwiches at 2pm so we had to hold out. But we still, the sandwich was so good. We just thought yeah, just wait.   0:01:51.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Early lunch. Yep.   0:01:53.3 Andrew Stotz: Well, you've got some interesting stuff to talk about today, and I'm gonna share the screen, and then I think we can kick it off from there. So let me see if I can get that up straight here. One second in. All right, so hopefully, you see a white screen that says profound knowledge. You see that, Bill?   0:02:16.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yes, I do.   0:02:17.2 Andrew Stotz: All right, well, let's... Yeah, let's. Let's get into it.   0:02:23.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Oh, okay. I'll go from the bullets that I've got, and we'll hear from Dr. Deming and how he couched it in a little bit, in a few minutes, but he recognized that leaders would say they had the knowledge. Oh, yeah, we do SPC. We follow Deming's philosophy, we do that. But they really only knew the buzzwords. And to an extent, and I don't know how he came up with the word profound, but I do know in speaking with him that he intended it to be a degree of expertise that was beyond the buzzwords. Now, he said you didn't have to be an expert in it, but you had to know enough to be able to understand it and in fact, use it, as we'll talk about in a little bit. And knowledge obviously includes, as he said, an appreciation for a system and variation and knowledge and psychology. And as we'll hear in the audio, he also didn't really limited to that when he said there was there... His point, main point was that there are a whole bunch of interrelated subject matters that are very, very useful in managing your business or managing any organization.   0:04:17.1 Andrew Stotz: You know, I was thinking about that word profound. It's oftentimes wondering exactly what is meant by that. This is helpful to help us understand. It's, number one, about expertise. And I think the thing that I've always also felt is like, when you understand appreciation for a system, knowledge about variation, theory of knowledge and psychology, it, like things click, like it comes together, it's a whole. And that's the way I've thought about it. But that's interesting about the expertise aspect.   0:04:51.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. And that's something Don Peterson at Ford spoke about. He gave a very good talk to our leaders with Dr. Deming in attendance. And he said that a lot of you have said, "Oh, yeah, we already do this at Ford, " but you have to come to grips with a lot of you have been promoted for perhaps the wrong reason throughout your career, and you're gonna have to change. The change starts with us. So that was very impactful for Dr. Deming to listen to that.   0:05:32.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And I just thought about the idea of profound action. Like, once you get this knowledge, does that mean that you're going to also, you know, the way that you do things is going to change substantially.   0:05:47.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. I mean, that's been a philosophical question. In one of the slides, I quote Confucius. About 2500 years ago, essentially saying knowledge without action is useless and the action without knowledge is pretty dangerous. But that's been consistent with Eastern and Western. Aristotle did the same thing, and Mid Eastern folks did it as well. Philosophers dealing with, yeah, we've got knowledge, but everyone agrees, at least in the good thinker role, that, that you've got to take action, otherwise it's useless. Okay, so we've got, and the subject matters, as I said, are not new. And he coalesced on four, but the general thought was that. And you've got to remember Dr. Deming was a classically trained physicist in the 1920s. And because of that a lot of, although it had been a few years, but they were very aware that everything started in the both, the eastern philosophies and western philosophies. Everything started with philosophy. Science wasn't a separate subject matter. And so everything was connected on how people should live, on how the stars move, a whole bunch of stuff. It all was philosophy. And these various subject matters evolved over the years.   0:07:50.6 Bill Scherkenbach: So even though he stopped it for his general intent was that a whole bunch of things are interconnected. If you go study these various subject matters.   0:08:05.1 Andrew Stotz: It's interesting because I attended the seminars in 1990, 1992 and then I went to Thailand and then I did other things and I didn't really keep up with it because I was in the financial world and doing my thing. And then I got The New Economics years later and there was this discussion about System of Profound Knowledge. And then I think about also going back to your previous discussions of what it was like being in a classroom with Dr. Deming when you first met him and studied with him. You know, that these things were going on. Obviously he had a deep understanding of variation. He definitely understood about the theory of knowledge from his scientific background. But I'm just curious, as you... It's interesting what you said, these things are not new. It's the way he brought them together. I just find that, that fascinating. How do you see that journey for him going from when you first met him to a very full formed concept or theory of profound knowledge at his later years?   0:09:15.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah, I think things just solidified or codified. I mean, when I first met him in '72 at New York University Graduate School of Business, he didn't have 14 Points. He didn't have the Deadly Diseases. So none of the stuff that were codified as he progressed. I mean the one thing that I've mentioned it a number of times, the most important thing I learned from him is that you never stop learning. And he epitomized that sense of continual learning in improving oneself. So he tried to learn from everyone. But, but yes, for instance, as I mentioned, he was a degreed physicist and ended up doing a whole bunch of. And that transitioned into statistics which was a relatively. Well, I'm going to say everything is relative. But new in operationalizing the use of statistics besides counting people and the experiments at Rothamstead for agriculture. I mean, that really was some of the... But the earlier stuff, yeah. Was helping their patrons gamble better.   0:11:02.0 Andrew Stotz: And so I often take comfort in your descriptions in the first episodes about how he hadn't put all of these things in place at the age of 72. And I think there's still hope for me, Bill, to figure it out and put together my grand thinking.   0:11:22.7 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Oh, no, I understand. I mean, I'll be 80 in less than six months. But he really, he started out getting his foot in the water here anyway when he was 79 also. So there's a chance. There's a chance.   0:11:46.4 Andrew Stotz: There's a chance. All right, well, the next slide, you're talking about the connections.   0:11:51.6 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Again, all the subject matters are, again, evolve from philosophy and they all are interconnected in many, many ways. So, yeah, if you could play what Dr. Deming's introducing, that might set the stage.   0:12:14.0 Andrew Stotz: Okay, let me play this audio. Hopefully it comes across. Okay.   [video playback] Dr. Deming: Let us begin our study of Profound Knowledge. Profound Knowledge. Provides a roadmap to transformation, not just change, but a roadmap to transformation. Nothing else will satisfy our needs. Not just change, a roadmap to transformation into a new state. The System of Profound Knowledge, appears here in four parts, all related to each other: first, Appreciation for a System. Which we shall study, we shall study a system, and soon, I won't keep you waiting. And Theory of variation and theory of knowledge and knowledge of psychology and add anything you please, sociology, anthropology, whatever you please. I present these four parts to Profound Knowledge. They are interdependent, they cannot be separated. One need not be imminent in any part of Profound Knowledge in order to make it, in order to understand it and apply it.   0:13:30.9 Andrew Stotz: That's quite a mouthful.   0:13:33.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Yes, it is. Yes, it is. What I've got to do is go back to the tapes and get the lead in and follow on to that. But yeah, that's how he introduced profound knowledge in his later seminars.   0:13:56.2 Andrew Stotz: So what would this have been? What, 1990, 1991, 1992?   0:14:03.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, probably, I would say, yeah, maybe '89.   0:14:10.6 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:14:11.9 Bill Scherkenbach: In there. Yeah.   0:14:13.8 Andrew Stotz: So I took out a little transcript of that and I want to just go through a couple quick points, if you don't mind. He starts off by talking about it's a roadmap to transformation, not just change. Why would he say transformation rather than just change?   0:14:38.6 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, he changed really, transformation. And he thought a metamorphosis would be better. There's a butterfly in there somewhere, but it needs change. And it's not just, I know he mentioned the western style of management, but in my travels, Eastern style of management is just as bad. And again, knowledge is, is literally encompasses space and time. Looking at the past, projecting or predicting the future, little space, great space. And when you look at Western philosophies or western style management, we have emphasized the individual. So restricted space and short term. And the eastern philosophy of management took a longer term viewpoint of things. And they said it's not the individual, it's the team, the family. In my opinion, you have to, everyone, no matter where you live in the world has to balance those two, being able to take joy in your work as an individual. To be able to take joy in your work as a member of the team. And, I mean, I've been asked years ago, how long would it take? And I would say, "Well, Deming says it'll take 30 years." So over here in the US it's going to take a long time, but it's not going to take a long time in Asia, it's only going to take them 30 years. So time is relative, so is space.   0:16:53.2 Andrew Stotz: And there's something else he said in here that if you could try to help me understand and help the listener understand it. He talks about, you know, he gives a summary, theory of variation, theory of knowledge, knowledge of psychology. And then he adds in this line, "add anything you please, sociology, anthropology, whatever you please." What does he mean by that?   0:17:16.6 Bill Scherkenbach: That's what I said before he came from the the school that everything started with philosophy and things broke off science and all of these various disciplines. What he's saying is he's gone to, his theory of profound knowledge is included these four. But the general message is any discipline is interconnected with each other. So you don't have to be restricted to these four. And you're going back to how knowledge was developed in the first place. And perhaps it could be full circle, although I'm not going to get bogged down with the potential of AI contributions. But you need to, you need to recognize that many, many subject matter are interrelated because they were spawned from the original Eastern philosophy and Western philosophy.   0:18:37.5 Andrew Stotz: And one last thing on this, he wraps it up with this statement that also, you know, particularly given his depth of knowledge of the subject, he said, "One need not be imminent in any part of profound knowledge in order to make it, nor to understand it and to apply it." Why do you think he had this need to explain that you don't really have to know this in super deep detail?   0:19:02.7 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, I think he was being off a little bit. The word profound scares a lot of people. And so there's again a balance. You need to go far beyond the buzzwords, but you don't need to be an expert in any of those fields in order to grasp and be able to in some cases, I think, contribute to them. So he's saying that he's trying to better explain or define the word profound.   0:19:48.8 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Okay, now the next slide is incredible. A lot of different things on here that you're showing. Maybe you can explain what you're getting across in this one.   0:19:57.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah, this is a MEGO chart. My Eyes Glaze Over. What I tried and I'm. I'm continually updating it. The different colors are from the fields of statistics, the fields of epistemology, psychology and systems thinking. And I'm linking a whole bunch of them together to show that there are similar thoughts in all four of these fields that contribute to a better understanding and use of all of them. Now the next slide, hopefully is more visible. It should be. I'm focusing on a stable process, which is statistical concept. Stable process means you've got by definition of Shewhart. There's a... Deming would call them common causes. When common causes are... When a process is stable, you're able to do design of experiments. Some of the enumerative methods work very, very well or with some degree of belief with a stable process. The red bead experiment was stable. Rule one and two of The Funnel. Stable process. Common causes in theory of knowledge. There's comment, well, I've seen that before or no, jeepers, I've never seen that that hooks up to some other special causes and statistics. There's a concept in theory of knowledge where you're talking about general providence or specific providence that the storm just, it hit everyone and pick out anyone in systems thinking you can only have a stable process if you have negative feedback loops and negative feedback.   0:22:40.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Again, I think I had mentioned in a previous discussion with you, negative doesn't mean it's bad. It just means it closes the loop and it seeks a stasis so, and that's the only way you're going to get. I'll simplify just about the only way you're going to get a stable process. There's a negative feedback loop in there somewhere. Stable process leads to long term thinking versus short term thinking, the theory of knowledge, empirical knowledge is never complete. Knowledge is theory applied over time. Stable process over and over and over again. The theory matches the data or what you predict, you then have knowledge. So the point is that, that there are a number of specific learnings. Well, for instance, let me see here, what's on. I have to adjust this. Okay. From psychology you've got what the psychologists call a fundamental attribution error. And that is mistaking who, as Dr. Deming says, who, who did it, who did it, did the people do it? Or did the system do it? Did the process do it? And in psychology, although it's in a different place, you've got following Rule 3 of The Funnel is a psychological term called complementary schismogenesis.   0:24:42.3 Bill Scherkenbach: And that's easy for me to say, going back to the Greek schism of split in genesis of a birth of a split. What that means is in psychology it's two people trying to one-up another. I've got this example. Well, I can do it. I mean, who, yeah, and the move or the musical Annie Oakley. Anything you can do, I can do better. So, psychology has observations and subject matters that they didn't have a clue. That was rule 3 of The Funnel. So my point in looking at all of these is that as you dig into things, they are interrelated. Now I haven't dug through anthropology or started. I've just restricted it to the four things Dr. Deming spoke about. But that would be a challenge to our listeners. If you really know some of these sciences, some of these bodies of knowledge, how are they connected? Okay. The aim of profound knowledge, he says, has to have an aim. Confucius in the East, Aristotle in the West, and in the Mid east, someone essentially said knowledge without action is useless and action without knowledge is dangerous.   0:26:51.0 Bill Scherkenbach: And Deming said the aim of a system, of his System of Profound Knowledge is action. And as we discussed previously, it's a transformation of Western, I think it's a transformation of Eastern and Western style of management. And he, the way he pronounced it was metamorphosis. And I will have to check the OED, Oxford English Dictionary. I haven't done that yet. But he has been 100% right in his pronunciation and usage of the English language. So as I said, there's got to be a butterfly in there somewhere. But he's talking about a major, major shift, major rebirth if you will, management. Systems theory. A lot of this is obvious and these are what he mentioned in his, not Out of the Crisis, but The New Economics. A network of interdependent components that work together to try and accomplish its aim. And, and he, and this I had mentioned earlier, I think that in his work. Well, I've got... Going back to some things, this is a 1954 speech he gave in Rome and this is a 1940 speech he gave. And because he was a Renaissance scholar, they were talking about a Systems View before it was popular.   0:29:06.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Everyone knows that he introduced the improvement on the old: design it or spec it, make it, try to sell it. And he introduced his expertise, sampling theory to be able to check on the customers and see what they think about stuff and be able to create a system of production instead of just one way through. Now. And I'm sure anyone who has read any of his books knows he spoke about the interdependence. He said in the example he gave was bowling. You just add up the scores. In the orchestra, you don't use a bunch of soloists, but they have to work together to be able to make sure that the result is what the composer, well, we don't know, I don't think what modes are intended.   0:30:28.9 Andrew Stotz: One of the things that's interesting about that orchestra concept is even, you know, it's a relatively complex system, but there's a score, there's a rule book, there's a play guide, here's what we're going to play. But sometimes with business there is no guide particularly, you know, you're running your own business relative, you know, you're focused on your own development of your own business. And it's not like you wake up every morning and there's a manual that says, "Here's what you do, here's what you play today." Which makes it that interdependence even more difficult and the need for communication and cooperation even more challenging. I have a client of mine that they've struggled to get the team to work together. But what I've also found is that they never sat down as a team and really had honest discussions consistently to try to break down the barriers and figure out how we're going to work together for this aim. So I'm curious about how do you look at business compared to, let's say, that orchestra example?   0:31:36.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, yeah, and Deming made that exact same point, at the far end of complexity or just about is business. They are far more complex and require far more interaction than the orchestra. Now, in trying to operationalize Dr. Deming's philosophy, I've tried to emphasize. And we've got a process to be able to create a vision and it obviously is followed by mission, values and question. We covered the physical, logical, emotional a few talks ago. But, but you have to... Top management has to have that vision that will include everyone in its and all sorts of voices in its creation. And then you have to have a way to be able to master that vision or make sure that that vision is operationalized. And that requires a whole bunch of feedback loops, if you will, systems thinking, a whole bunch of being able to work with people. And so it literally needs the application of profound knowledge from the management's perspective. You need to be able to operationalize your vision, not just come up with the vision and put it on the bookshelf.   0:33:34.5 Andrew Stotz: And the final bullet, says "the obligation of any component is to contribute its best to the system, not to maximize its own production, profit or sales, nor any other competitive measure." Oftentimes in the world of finance where I teach and I work, a lot of stuff, people think that the objective is to maximize profit, but the reality is the objective is to maximize value. And so when we look at, for instance, the value of a business, it's two components. Number one, the profit, which you could consider is kind of in the numerator. And then we reduce the profit by the denominator, which is risk. So think about it. If you were to invest money in two projects. One, you invest $100 in two projects, and one is very proven and you're very confident that this is going to work, and the other one is brand new, very possible it doesn't work. We would reduce the second cash flow and say, "Well, yeah, the amount we're investing is $100, but the reality is the cash flows may or may not hit." So we would reduce the value by the risk. And I try to help my young students particularly understand that it's an intricate balance of profit and risk. And if you overemphasize profit, you could be increasing the risk, which actually doesn't increase the value of the company.   0:35:07.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. And Dr. Deming had a similar statement saying that the cost of something doesn't mean anything. It's the value of what you get for the cost and value is determined by the quality. My look at systems theory, especially the obligation this last one is to contribute its best to the system. What many people forget is as I mentioned in the beginning, everything is defined as in space and time. And Bill Ouchi who wrote the book Theory Z stated that... And this is an eastern management concept that you have to have, I guess, corporate knowledge because in order for someone to say, "Okay, this department, I'm going to..." Well, for instance, lunches, the corporate lunch room will lose money so that the corporation can make. So the people would stay on site and be able to contribute more work. But that's in the longer term. And so if someone steps aside today to let someone else get the kudos or the credit, the corporation needs to remember that. He called it societal knowledge or memory. And if you ended up being saying, "Screw you, I'm taking what's owed to me, " that also will be remembered. So you have to introduce the dimension of time to any systems theory view. Time and space.   0:37:36.3 Andrew Stotz: You mentioned about... Oh, go ahead.   0:37:40.5 Bill Scherkenbach: No, it's a statistician's attempt at humor before Einstein. Yeah.   0:37:49.6 Andrew Stotz: You mentioned about metamorphosis and you mentioned about transformation and I was just looking it up and let me maybe if I'll read out what I found. "Metamorphosis is a biological stage based change. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It implies a natural structured process. Transformation is a broad change in form, character or condition. It can be physical, emotional or organizational. In short, every metamorphosis is a transformation. But not every transformation is a metamorphosis."   0:38:26.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Good point. Understand.   0:38:30.7 Andrew Stotz: So let's continue.   0:38:35.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay. Variation. I think the first noble truth of Buddhism is "life is suffering." And Deming equated variation with suffering. So when I presented similar slides to my friends in Asia, I... Life is variation.   0:39:02.2 Andrew Stotz: That's great.   0:39:03.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Now there are two extremes in taking action on variation. Well, in taking action, I know this is in front of us, but Dr. Deming spoke about Shewhart's contribution. And that is the two mistakes that people can make with variation, while in taking appropriate action on variation. And one is mistaking common cause for special causes or special causes for common causes. And that's really the primary view. But Deming seminars showed that if you're going to take action, there also are two extremes in taking action. And one was every action taken tends to make things worse, which he used The Funnel experiment. And the other extreme is every action taken has no effect on the variation. And that's obviously the red bead experiment. And so he, those were the two extremes that he wanted to show and demonstrate to people in order to solidify the folks learning. Theory of knowledge. Okay, Management is prediction, temporal spread, space and time absolutely required, knowledge is built on theory.   0:40:50.5 Bill Scherkenbach: He got that from Shewhart and indirectly through C.I. Lewis and on knowledge being built on theory. And with that, that jogged my mind as far as coming up with my theory-question-data-action cycle, which is a bit different than the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. But in knowledge development knowledge is built on theory. So anytime any data that you see you and he asked, he told people, by what method did these data get to me? If you see data you have to ask that. If you see data you have to say what was the question that was asked? If you're a question asker, questions come from theory. They're connections of concepts in your mind. And so theory could be a guess or it could be as proven as scientific law, but everything, and that scares people away, but everything really starts with theory. Given a theory you can ask a question. You can tell people when you ask the question what I'm going to do with the data so they have a better idea of how to collect the data and what data to collect. And then you take the action and go back and revisit the theory. So theory, question, data, action over time generates knowledge. And with some other emotional and physical constraints and consistencies, you're going to gain wisdom.   0:42:58.8 Andrew Stotz: There's something...   0:43:00.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Go ahead.   0:43:01.5 Andrew Stotz: There's something that I always, I've questioned, I think you can probably clear it up in this part of our discussion is that Dr. Deming used to say something along the lines of without prediction or without theory there is no knowledge. Something along that line as I recall. And sometimes I understood that clearly and other times I question that. What would you say about that? How should I understand that?   0:43:33.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, it's something that he and Shewhart spoke about a lot. And let's see, in his 1939 book The Statistical Methods from the Viewpoint of Quality Control by Shewhart and edited and commented on by Dr. Deming, they speak about that, as far as. And again Shewhart was influenced by C.I. Lewis. And as an aside, when, when I was at Ford and we had a speaker who had studied under CI Lewis. I had to get Dr. Deming to speak with them. And I've put part of a video of their conversation on LinkedIn, YouTube, I guess. But knowledge is built on theory. Now can you explain it again? I might be able to...   0:45:03.0 Andrew Stotz: So let me get a quote from New Economics. He said "experience by itself teaches nothing. Without theory, experience has no meaning. Without theory, one has no question to ask. Hence without theory there is no learning."   0:45:19.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Yeah, okay. He was getting to, and he had all sorts of examples on the, on the first statement that experience teaches nothing. If you're, you might have an experience that perhaps you were, you, you were picked on. And what are you going to do about it? Well, your theory could have been: well, they don't like me. It could have been that: well, that person was a bully. Could be a whole bunch of things. But without the theory, what are you going to do in the future to make that experience more to your liking? And so you have to go beyond the experience and look at what is the thoughts and motivations behind that, which is theory. And now I don't know why I mentioned that, but I mean a number of the way... Well, I'll leave it at that.   0:47:02.8 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:47:04.3 Bill Scherkenbach: As the left and right dukes it out based on their own theories. Okay. Psychology, it's incomplete without knowledge of variation. You mention that if you know the red beads, you won't make the fundamental attribution error. I had mentioned schismagenesis earlier, which is rule three of The Funnel. It invites, it says helps us understand people as different individuals. In, again, my take on this part of psychology. And again Dr. Deming saying everyone is entitled to take joy in their work. And he spoke about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Well, I have looked at it for many years as each one of us has an internal voice of the customer. We are the customer. And what makes me take joy would make another person perhaps take despair. And so it's management's responsibility who manages the people, materials, methods, equipment, environment to know me as a customer and be able to, if this works for me, then the management would try to arrange things that would help me take joy because it's more congruent with my internal voice of the customer. Deming used a number of examples that I gather some psychologists call it overjustification. But it in fact says the description was he tried to tip someone and it was an insult.   0:49:30.8 Bill Scherkenbach: And so instead of a thank you. He talked, he talked about the letter he sent to a surgeon of his, meant more than adding $500 to the bill. And the surgeon would carry the letter from Dr. Deming because he was, Deming was thankful for it. But it takes an astute manager to be able to understand all of the individual voices of the customers, their employees, and be able to construct a system that is going to be more congruent with each of them. And if you know that money doesn't influence or isn't congruent with someone, maybe it's retirement point, maybe it's a day off, maybe it's a variety of things managers would know that works for one person pisses off another. So that's where I stand on that, on the overjustification. And the obvious: fear invites wrong figures. Yeah. Although I think I had mentioned that in my work over in Asia, in China. So we don't have fear. It's called respect. So.   0:51:09.0 Andrew Stotz: I've just been reading a book about the Gaokao, the exam that students have to take in China to get into the elite university system. And it really makes you, it definitely gives you all kinds of both sides of the thinking on that. It really has got me thinking about this, one measure, everybody's ranked and they go through the pros and cons of it, which is challenging, it's good to go through that and think about that. So, fascinating. Well, that's been a great discussion for me, the idea of transformation, the concept of metamorphosis was interesting to me also the stuff related to having, you know, that how do we acquire knowledge? I think sometimes when in research, let's say in financial research that I've done all my life, I come up with a vague hypothesis and then I just start playing with numbers to see what I find. And so I'm kind of fiddling around. I wouldn't say that I have...   0:52:18.7 Bill Scherkenbach: What's the vague hypothesis? Give an example of...   0:52:22.7 Andrew Stotz: So, one observation that I've been able to make is that a particular ratio has fallen consistently across the world for the last 30 years, and that is the amount of revenue that assets generate out of companies. And I looked at 10,000 companies across the world. So the first thing I thought, okay, well, maybe it's a particular sector that's causing this. And I broke down that those 10,000 companies into 10 different sectors, and I saw they all had almost the same pattern. So that kind of showed me yeah, it's probably not that. And then I went through. I came up with kind of five different ideas of what it could be. And I could test that because I had a lot of data to be able to test it, but I couldn't find an answer to it. Now, I guess what you could say is that my fiddling around was based on some type of theory or guess or prediction. It wasn't until I came up to one final one, which was, could interest rates have a relationship with this? We have been through a period of time of very, very low interest rates.   0:53:39.7 Andrew Stotz: So could that decline have been caused by or related to interest rates? So I looked at the average interest rate that these 10,000 companies were paying over the past 30 years, and I saw it was going down, down, down, down, down, down very low. And I would say that that was the most plausible explanation I could find was that low interest rates incentivize companies to invest in projects that generated less revenue than previous projects.   0:54:13.2 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay. Yeah. I would think that the system. Well, you have to take into account the lag in response to lower and lower. Okay, am I going to wait for the next one? Whatever. And what's the lag in decision-making on the thing? But you need to codify, what's your theory? Okay, if X, then Y, then collect, ask the questions, make sure you understand how you got the data. And then try to take action there. But, yeah, everything starts with theory. Yeah. So it'll be good to be specific about it. What do you think it is?   0:55:09.8 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, that's, that's helpful. Well, let's wrap this up. How would you, if you were to, to bring this into a very condensed takeaway of what you want people to get from this discussion, what would you say is the core takeaway you want them to remember.   0:55:25.7 Bill Scherkenbach: Space and time. And I have done my best. Dr. Deming ended all of his lectures.   0:55:38.9 Andrew Stotz: I have done my best. Well, I love that. And let me wrap it up, Bill, by saying, on behalf of everybody at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you again for this discussion, another one that I've enjoyed immensely and for listeners remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. And of course, you can find bill on LinkedIn in particular, where he's posting a lot of these cool discussions and thoughts and all of that. So this is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, and it relates to what we were just talking about. And that is "people are entitled to joy in work."

In this episode of China Decode, hosts Alice Han and James Kynge unpack how the global auto industry is facing a new chip crisis. Dutch chipmaker Nexperia has halted shipments to China after a payment and ownership dispute, forcing carmakers like Honda and Volkswagen to scramble for crucial semiconductor parts. They explain how a fight over factory control became the latest flashpoint in the U.S.–China tech rivalry — and why Europe is caught in the middle. Then, they turn to China's most pressure-packed test: the Gaokao. With more than 10 million students vying for spots at top universities, the exam has long promised meritocracy but increasingly reflects inequality. Alice and James explore how this high-stakes system shapes opportunity, status, and ambition in modern China — and why reform remains so elusive. Finally, Trump and Xi agree to a one-year trade truce, pledging to ease tariffs, restart soybean purchases, and cool tensions over rare earths and fentanyl. But can either side really trust the other to follow through? The hosts break down what's at stake — and whether this pause is a real breakthrough or just a political timeout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chiunque sia stato in Cina per un po' l'ha sentito citare. Ne ha sentito parlare. Ne ha discusso con gli amici. O si è ritrovato in una città in quei giorni in cui viene richiesto il massimo silenzio e rispetto per gli studenti che devono prepararsi. Per il momento più importante, probabilmente, della loro vita: il Gaokao. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the World of Higher Education Podcast, host Alex Usher is joined by Dr. Ruixue Jia, a professor of economics at UC San Diego and co-author of 'The Highest Exam: How The Gaokao Shapes China.' They discuss the historical and contemporary significance of the Gaokao, China's university entrance exam, and its profound impact on Chinese society. Topics include the exam's origins in the Tang Dynasty, how it influences social mobility, and its role in governance. They also compare the Chinese and American systems of university admissions and explore the future of the Gaokao given China's economic and demographic changes.

How to stay safe from Chikungunya fever. / For years, artificial sweeteners promised a guilt-free way to indulge—sweetness without the calories. But what if they've been secretly sabotaging your appetite instead? We uncover the truth behind that seemingly "healthy" sip (07:11). / A brand new car, latest gadget, overseas trip—some Chinese parents are turning the survival of Gaokao into a high-stakes payout. The trend of expensive post-exam rewards is growing, blurring the line between celebration and excess. As the pressure mounts and the gifts get bigger, so does the backlash (16:03). On the show: Heyang, Steve Hatherly & Yushan

Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek Order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/SUBURBTALKS10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $25 discount EP 235: Whats up familia! This week we start off by talking about the viral videos of the military draft in Thailand & the insane Gaokao test in china. Later we go off the rails into the crazy conspiracy theories that we seem to have HOPE YOU ENJOY :D SEND YOUR PROBLEMS TO GET THEM READ AT THE END OF EVERY PODCAST HERE!!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPTAOhrSYAL-AlSFSz_gdi6f7wEH0uFnYfTjYFZNfCBopamg/viewform?usp=dialog BECOME PART OF THE SUBURB TALKS CREW ON OUR PATREON!!! https://patreon.com/SuburbTalks?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link CHECKOUT OUR GROUP CHALLENGE CHANNEL BURB N' FRENDZ!!! https://www.youtube.com/@BurbNFrendz-ht7yb/featured LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS "Suburb Talks" ON ALL PODCASTING PLATFORMS! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YLbUxILwRNN9e1UUCDV1D FOR ALL BUSINESS INQUIRIES PLEASE EMAIL US AT: suburbtalks@select.co FULL PODCAST EDITED BY SEBASTIAN RIZKALLA Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/sebastianytp/ KEEP UP WITH US ON OUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT!!! https://www.instagram.com/suburbtalks/ FOLLOW OUR SOCIALS!!!! Nick Grajeda Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/nickgrajeda18/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/nickgrajeda18 TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@nickgrajeda18?lang=en Twitch- https://www.twitch.tv/nikgstreams Snap: nick_grajeda Devin Paul Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/devin_paul04/ TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@devinpaul6?lang=en Sage Guillen Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/thesageguillen?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA== Twitter- https://twitter.com/sage_37 TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@sage_37?lang=en Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/@TheSageGuillen Maru Lee Insta- https://www.instagram.com/maru_lee/?hl=en TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@maru.lee?lang=en Youtube- https://youtube.com/channel/UCIQa1NnFM6uxBifhkSKnahA?sub_confirmation=1 Cynthia Choi Insta- https://www.instagram.com/cynxchoi/?hl=en Twitter-https://twitter.com/cynxchoi Sean Williams Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/sean._.williams/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/seanw949 TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@seanjw?lang=en Alex Johnson Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/johnscenee/ Tiktok- https://www.tiktok.com/@alex.johnscene Twitch- https://www.twitch.tv/streamzalex EXCLUSIVE CONTENT Get more from Suburb Talks on Patreon WELCOME OUR SUBURB STALKERS! https://patreon.com/SuburbTalks?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek Order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/SUBURBTALKS10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $25 discount EP 235: Whats up familia! This week we start off by talking about the viral videos of the military draft in Thailand & the insane Gaokao test in china. Later we go off the rails into the crazy conspiracy theories that we seem to have HOPE YOU ENJOY :D SEND YOUR PROBLEMS TO GET THEM READ AT THE END OF EVERY PODCAST HERE!!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPTAOhrSYAL-AlSFSz_gdi6f7wEH0uFnYfTjYFZNfCBopamg/viewform?usp=dialog BECOME PART OF THE SUBURB TALKS CREW ON OUR PATREON!!! https://patreon.com/SuburbTalks?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link CHECKOUT OUR GROUP CHALLENGE CHANNEL BURB N' FRENDZ!!! https://www.youtube.com/@BurbNFrendz-ht7yb/featured LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS "Suburb Talks" ON ALL PODCASTING PLATFORMS! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YLbUxILwRNN9e1UUCDV1D FOR ALL BUSINESS INQUIRIES PLEASE EMAIL US AT: suburbtalks@select.co FULL PODCAST EDITED BY SEBASTIAN RIZKALLA Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/sebastianytp/ KEEP UP WITH US ON OUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT!!! https://www.instagram.com/suburbtalks/ FOLLOW OUR SOCIALS!!!! Nick Grajeda Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/nickgrajeda18/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/nickgrajeda18 TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@nickgrajeda18?lang=en Twitch- https://www.twitch.tv/nikgstreams Snap: nick_grajeda Devin Paul Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/devin_paul04/ TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@devinpaul6?lang=en Sage Guillen Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/thesageguillen?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA== Twitter- https://twitter.com/sage_37 TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@sage_37?lang=en Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/@TheSageGuillen Maru Lee Insta- https://www.instagram.com/maru_lee/?hl=en TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@maru.lee?lang=en Youtube- https://youtube.com/channel/UCIQa1NnFM6uxBifhkSKnahA?sub_confirmation=1 Cynthia Choi Insta- https://www.instagram.com/cynxchoi/?hl=en Twitter-https://twitter.com/cynxchoi Sean Williams Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/sean._.williams/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/seanw949 TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@seanjw?lang=en Alex Johnson Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/johnscenee/ Tiktok- https://www.tiktok.com/@alex.johnscene Twitch- https://www.twitch.tv/streamzalex EXCLUSIVE CONTENT Get more from Suburb Talks on Patreon WELCOME OUR SUBURB STALKERS! https://patreon.com/SuburbTalks?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Millionen Schüler im Wettbewerb um ein Studium

主播：Flora（中国）+ Erin（美国） 音乐：Dying For You“李华，你都奔五了还不会自己写信？”今天我们要聊的是高考英语作文的常驻主人公——李华。01. 李华：中国高考的“英语作文明星” China's Gaokao English Essay Star每年高考，英语作文里总有一个熟悉的名字——李华（Li Hua）。自（since）1995年首次亮相以来，今年是这位“英语作文明星”陪伴考生们走过的第30年（30th year）。在这期间，李华总是让学生们帮他（prompting students）给他的外国朋友们（foreign friends）写信。英语作文明星：English essay star外国朋友：foreign friend今年的高考英语作文题目中，李华是红星中学（middle school）的高三学生（senior）。他的外国朋友Jim准备向联合国的全球青年倡议（UN's global youth initiative）提交一份提案（submit a proposal），而李华需要写一封电子邮件，给Jim提建议。假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。联合国正面向全球青少年开展倡议征集活动。你的外国好友Jim打算参加，为此发来邮件，就倡议内容询问你的建议。请你用英文给他回复，内容包括：1.提出的建议；2.建议的理由。提示词：倡议 proposal毕业班学生：senior 联合国的全球青年倡议：UN's global youth initiative提交：submit提案：proposal02. 李华的“朋友圈”又扩大了！Li Hua's Circle of Friends Has Expanded今年不少外籍记者和编辑（foreign journalists and editors）也加入了“帮李华写信”的行列，这让他的朋友圈（the circle of friends）显得更加国际化（more international）。 外籍记者和编辑：foreign journalists and editors朋友圈：the circle of friends更加国际化：more international一位外籍记者在信中调侃道： “Dear Li Hua, It's that time of year again—Gaokao. This year, have you once again enlisted (邀请) a new batch of students (新一批学生) to help write letters for us, your foreign friends?”亲爱的李华，又到了一年一度的高考季。今年，你是否再次邀请了一批新学生来给我们这些外国朋友写信呢？邀请：enlist一批：a batch of“Tell me, my dear friend - after all these years, how is it that you still haven't learned to write a letter in English?” how is it : 在这里指带有一种惊讶、质疑的语气，通常是你对某个事特别不理解的时候。例如：How is it that I always end up cooking for you? 为什么每次都是我给你做饭？“Over the years (多年来), your life has grown increasingly (越来越) international, and your circle of foreign friends (外国朋友圈) has expanded (扩大).”例如：My circle of Chinese friends (中国朋友圈) has expanded.扩大：expand03. 美国考试也有“李华”吗？ Does the U.S. Have Test Characters Like Li Hua? In the US, standardized tests (标准化考试) like the SAT might use names like Alex, Taylor, or Jordan - names that are neutral (中性的) and work for any gender (性别). But they don't have a recurring (反复出现的) “hero” that shows up every year.标准化考试：standardized testsSAT (Scholastic Assessment Test)：美国学业能力评估测验,是高中生升入大学必须通过的测验。中性的：neutral性别：gender反复出现的：recurring 04. 中国网友对李华有话要说 Chinese Netizens Have Got Something to Say to Li Hua网友们对李华的吐槽可谓金句频出： “李华，你都快50岁的人了，以后自己写！”（Li Hua, you're almost 50 - write your own emails already）“李华不要认识那么多外国朋友！”（Li Hua, stop making so many foreign friends!） “最后一次帮你写了李华，你也是奔5的人了，独立点。”（This is the last time I'm writing for you, Li Hua. You're almost 50 - be independent already!） 当年李华第一次出现在高考试卷上，是邀请英国朋友Peter去野餐。网友犀利吐槽：“作为好朋友，你不应该亲自去公园门口接吗？还要写信？”（As a good friend, shouldn't you go to the park gate yourself to pick them up?）更有人玩梗：“Hey Peter, 到门口了call me，我去接你进来。”独立的：independentThat's such a silly reference (这个梗真的很好玩)! Silly here - It's not calling someone stupid. It's more like saying: “That's so funny and kind of ridiculous!”——就是我们说的“这个梗太搞笑了！”下次再遇到很好笑的梗，You could say: That's such a silly reference!欢迎在评论区分享你与李华的故事：Have you ever written a letter for Li Hua in an English essay? 你有没有在英语作文中帮李华写过信呢?

It's that time of year again—cities grow quieter, families hold their breath, and more than 13 million students pour their hearts into the gaokao, China's national college entrance exam. As one of the most pivotal milestones in a student's life, the gaokao shapes futures and opens doors. So, what's different this year? From key exam reforms to 29 brand-new college programs, there's plenty to keep an eye on. On the show: Heyang, Steve Hatherly & Yang Guang

Millions of students across China are sitting the national college entrance exam beginning Saturday.

In this episode of Gaokao: A Coming-of-Age Ceremony Focused on Growth, we take a deep dive into the ongoing reforms of China's national college entrance exam—the Gaokao—set for June 7 to 10, 2025. Based on detailed source materials, we examine how the exam is evolving in both structure and philosophy.We explore the nationwide rollout of the “3+1+2” subject selection model, which offers students more flexibility and autonomy in choosing subjects that match their strengths and interests. Alongside this, we discuss changes in assessment standards, with growing emphasis on higher-order thinking, critical problem-solving, and real-life application of knowledge—shifting away from rote learning.A major focus of the episode is also the increasing role of AI technology in exam supervision. From real-time facial recognition to behavioral monitoring and environmental control, AI is becoming central to how fairness, security, and efficiency are ensured in exam halls across China. The episode also considers concerns raised in the source material, including algorithmic bias, misjudgment risks, and data privacy. By bringing together structural reform and technological transformation, the 2025 Gaokao reflects a broader effort to modernize education while still grappling with questions of equity, student well-being, and the true purpose of assessment.Enjoy this episode, and take a moment to reflect on what it means to learn, and to be tested—not just on paper, but in life.

Can you imagine sitting all of the most important exams of your life on one day? That's the reality for Korean students, whose university-entrance exam, the Suneung, sees students sit an eight-hour marathon of exams, all on one day. Juna Moon, our reporter in Seoul, tells us why a record number of students are resitting the brutal exam this year. Plus Koh Ewe, a BBC journalist in Singapore, tells us which K-pop earworm students are trying to avoid to stop it from distracting them.Julie Yoonnyung Lee, a BBC reporter from Seoul now in London, joins us in the studio, to give us her own experience of the exam, and the years of late nights and ‘cram schools' preparing for it. We also discuss the mental health challenges that can come with such high academic pressure.Plus we hear from our China media analyst Kerry Allen, who explains the Gaokao, China's university entrance exam, which might be even harder.Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Emily Horler and Hayley Clarke Editor: Verity Wilde

这期播客介绍有简体中文和英语。由于空间限制，录音稿没有放在下面的描述栏。但您可以在我的播客网站上每一集的下面找到录音稿。下面是网址：https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868166如果找不到，请告诉我。如果您有任何问题，请随时通过电子邮件联系我，邮箱是TheLoneMandarinTeacher@outlook.com。祝您有美好的一天！This podcast introduction is in both Simplified Chinese and English. Due to space constraints, the transcript is not available in the description below. However, it's easily accessible on my podcast website, where you will find the transcript under each episode. The web address is https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868166. Let me know if you can't find it. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at TheLoneMandarinTeacher@outlook.com. Have a great day!本集简介大家好，欢迎收听新一期的《五分钟中文》！今天我们聊聊中国的高考和美国的 SAT 考试的差别。美国的 SAT 可以多次参加，而中国的高考只有一次机会，这带来了很大的压力。此外，美国的 SAT 只需一个上午三个小时就能完成，而中国的高考通常要三天，每科两个小时。最后，SAT 是全球统一的，而中国的高考是分区域的，录取标准也不同。Episode IntroductionHello everyone, welcome to a new episode of “5-Minute Chinese.” Today, we'll discuss the differences between the Gaokao in China and the SAT in the United States. American students can take the SAT multiple times, while Chinese students have only one chance at the Gaokao, which creates a lot of pressure. Additionally, the SAT can be completed in one morning in three hours, while the Gaokao usually lasts for three days, with two hours for each subject. Lastly, the SAT is standardized globally, whereas the Gaokao varies by region with different admission standards. 发短信给我！ Send me a text!Support the show如果您喜欢我的播客，您可以通过成为订阅者来支持我。您的支持对我来说是巨大的鼓励。但无论您是否选择捐款，我都很感激有您成为听众。能够每周与您分享几分钟的时间，对我来说是莫大的荣幸。❤️If you enjoy my podcast, you can support me by becoming a subscriber. Your support is a huge encouragement to me. But whether or not you choose to donate, I'm grateful to have you as a listener. It's an honor to share a few minutes with you each week. ❤️

这期播客介绍有简体中文和英语。由于空间限制，录音稿没有放在下面的描述栏。但您可以在我的播客网站上每一集的下面找到录音稿。网址是https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868166。如果找不到，请告诉我。如果您有任何问题，请随时通过电子邮件联系我，邮箱是TheLoneMandarinTeacher@outlook.com。祝您有美好的一天！This podcast introduction is in both Simplified Chinese and English. Due to space constraints, the transcript is not available in the description below. However, it's easily accessible on my podcast website, where you will find the transcript under each episode. The web address is https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868166. Let me know if you can't find it. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at TheLoneMandarinTeacher@outlook.com. Have a great day!中文简介欢迎收听新一期的《五分钟中文》！今天我想和大家分享一下我对中美高中生打工文化差异的观察。作为美国高中的老师，我经常听到学生们聊他们在健身房、商店或者超市打工的经历，这是很常见的。而相比之下，中国的高中生因为学业压力大，尤其是要准备高考，所以很少会打工。这种差异也反映了两国不同的教育理念。不过，打工对学生来说都是一种宝贵的生活经验，能帮助他们为未来独立生活做好准备。English SummaryWelcome to a new episode of "5 Minute Chinese!" In today's episode, I share my observations on the differences between American and Chinese high school students' part-time job culture. As a high school teacher in the U.S., I often hear about my students working at gyms, stores, or supermarkets, which is quite common. In contrast, Chinese high school students rarely work due to heavy academic pressure, especially with the college entrance exam, Gaokao, looming over them. This difference highlights the distinct educational philosophies of the two countries. Regardless, part-time jobs offer valuable life experience and help students develop important skills for their future.发短信给我！ Send me a text!Support the show如果您喜欢我的播客，您可以通过成为订阅者来支持我。您的支持对我来说是巨大的鼓励。但无论您是否选择捐款，我都很感激有您成为听众。能够每周与您分享几分钟的时间，对我来说是莫大的荣幸。❤️If you enjoy my podcast, you can support me by becoming a subscriber. Your support is a huge encouragement to me. But whether or not you choose to donate, I'm grateful to have you as a listener. It's an honor to share a few minutes with you each week. ❤️

Why are exams so stressful? Chinese journalists Wanqing Zhang and Eric Junzhe share personal memories about the infamous Gaokao exam in China, which this year reached a record of 13.42 million applicants; and India correspondent Soutik Biswas reports on the exam scandals threatening the future of millions of young people in India. Plus: why do we have recurring nightmares about exams? Caroline Steel from CrowdScience has the answer. If you also have questions about exams, email them to crowdscience@bbc.co.uk. Produced by Caroline Ferguson, Alice Gioia and Hannah Dean.(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Nuova puntata di "Focus China" la rubrica diretta da Plinio Innocenzi. Focus dell'incontro il sistema dell'istruzione cinese, con un particolare riguardo alla selezione della classe dirigente attraverso gli esami di stato.Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stroncature--4265827/support.

Ich erzähle etwas über GaoKao, Grippe, Ölpest, SNEC und über ein neues Podcastprojekt.

Muchos hablan del examen "Gaokao" chino, como la prueba de acceso a la universidad más difícil del mundo. En este contexto se ha hecho muy conocido en las redes sociales un millonario de 57 años llamado Liang Shi que en los últimos 40 años se ha presentado 27 veces al examen. La mayoría de intentos los has suspendido, y cuando ha conseguido aprobar, no ha sacado la suficiente nota como para poder acceder a la universidad de sus sueños. 

Miles explains the devious cultural significance of the Gaokao, which is China's two-day college entrance exam. He then explores why everyday homeowners in China are getting crushed by 20-50% increases on their utilities, and lastly he peels back the curtain on how the Chines Communist Party is using aggressive subsidies as a means to infiltrate and undermine global markets.

Subscriber-only episodeWelcome to MaoMi Chinese+ ! Another bonus episode for members! ----About this series----In episode#166, we discussed Gaokao. A listener asked me 'since Gaokao is so important, can people cheat in Gaokao? ' This is a really interesting question, and we will explore it in this episode. ----3 steps to join the MaoMi Chinese+----1⃣️Please kindly finish subscription payment via Buzzsprout2⃣️Register on https://maomichinese.com/register/ On our website, You can hover mouse on characters to reveal Pinyin and English.3⃣️Your registration will be approved very shortly and after that, you can access all transcripts and translation on maomichinese.com(⚠️Please note that Spotify doesn't support the membership, however, it can still be accessed on maomichinese.com )Text me what you think :)

Almost every Chinese student has to face Gaokao at least once. This is an annual university-entrance exam. It's tightly connected to students' career and even future life.  How do Chinese people feel about Gaokao? Is it an impartial exam? Today let's find out more about GaoKao.This episode is sponsored by Maayot Chinese, an online Chinese school which offers you regular authentic input:https://www.maayot.comSupport MaoMi & Get exclusive   to premium content!https://www.buzzsprout.com/1426696/subscribe↗️Transcript and translation are available on https://maomichinese.comInterested in any topics? leave me a message on: https://maomichinese.com or https://www.instagram.com/maomichinese/?hl=enText me what you think :)Support the Show.

As the 2024 Gaokao kicks off on June 7th, millions of students are taking the national college entrance exam, which can greatly impact their futures. Amidst this, a new multidisciplinary major will be enrolling students for the first time. In our discussion, we'll explore practical and emotional strategies to navigate the Gaokao journey, while also considering how these new majors could potentially open up fresh pathways for students. On the show: Heyang, Yushan & Josh Cotterill

China's national college entrance exam, the Gaokao, begins for more than 13 million people(01:09). The UN chief has condemned an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school that killed at least 40 people(08:54). Chinese scientists are restoring the Yellow River's farmland(19:49).

Jahrelang hieß es in China: Seid fleißig in der Schule, dann bekommt ihr einen guten Job. Doch mittlerweile ist die Jugendarbeitslosigkeit überraschend hoch. Viele junge Menschen finden keine Anstellung mehr. In dieser Podcast-Folge fragt Moderatorin Joyce Lee, warum das so ist – und sie schaut sich das chinesische Bildungssystem genauer an: Ist es so brutal wie sein Ruf? Deutsche-Welle-Journalist Cui Mu berichtet von seiner persönlichen Erfahrung mit dem Gaokao, der gefürchteten nationalen Prüfung, die darüber entscheidet, ob man zur Universität gehen kann oder nicht. Er bringt Stimmen von chinesischen Soziologen und Pädagoginnen mit. ARD-China-Korrespondentin Eva Lamby-Schmitt erzählt Geschichten von jungen Chines:innen, die trotz Top-Bildung um den sozialen Aufstieg bangen müssen. Bei Kritik, Fragen und Anregungen: weltmachtchina@rbb-online.de

It's been two months since violence in Manipur broke out between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki communities. When a video emerged showing two women being sexually assaulted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it ‘shamed' India. BBC Delhi's Divya Arya has covered women's affairs for many years, and explains how in Manipur, as in many other inter-community conflicts, women's bodies have become the battlefield. Liang Shi - China's "No.1 Gaokao holdout" China's Gaokao university entrance exam is notoriously tough, but one man claims to have sat it, and failed, 27 times. Fan Wang of BBC Chinese shares Mr Liang's story. Nepalis joining the Russian army A growing number of young Nepalese men have enlisted with the Russian army, tempted by offers of good pay and a fast track to citizenship. BBC Nepali's Swechhya Raut spoke to some of those who have signed up about their experiences. Power cuts and water shortages in South Africa South Africa has been experiencing regular electricity blackouts which in turn have affected water supplies, with some South Africans drilling boreholes on their properties. Pumza Fihlani from BBC Johannesburg explains the long history behind the crisis. Syrian refugees in Turkey Turkey is home to more than 3.3 million Syrians who fled because of war and insecurity. But there's growing pressure on them to go back, with many in the Turkish press and social media arguing that Syria is now safe. Nihan Kalle of BBC Monitoring reports on a popular Turkish travel vlogger whose videos from Syria reinforce this narrative. (Photo: Women protest against sexual violence in India's north-eastern state of Manipur following inter-communal violence and sexual assault. Credit: AFP via Getty Images)

El Gaokao (Gāokǎo) El llamado examen más difícil del mundo es la prueba de acceso a la universidad en China. Es importante, ahora vamos a hablar de él, pero antes de nada, me gustaría desmitificarlo... Creo que tanto dentro como fuera de China lo hemos convertido en una herramienta más para idealizar o demonizar ese modelo distópico, horrible... que es la sociedad China.

Pass-rate policy and longstanding concerns about the quality of vocational schools are raising the stakes for students taking China's high school entrance exam.Click here to read the article by Li Xin.Narrated by Sylvia Franke.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

关注公众号【Albert英语研习社】，0元领取《3天英语思维风暴营》直播大课，Albert带你巧用英语思维，听说读写译轻松进阶！In China there are no illusions about the Gaokao system being perfect. For many students, the pressure heaped on them by parents, teachers and themselves, is overwhelming.But, ultimately, most people support Gaokao, or at least see no alternative. “China has too many people,” is a common refrain. Given the intense competition for finite higher education resources, the argument goes, there has to be some way to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to give hardworking students from poorer backgrounds a chance toward upward mobility.周邦琴Albert●没有名牌大学背景，没有英语专业背景●没有国外留学经历，没有英语生活环境●22岁成为500强公司英文讲师，录音素材全球员工使用●自学成为同声传译，25岁为瑞士总统翻译

This week, China Center Program Manager Shane Leary joins Miles Yu to discuss gaokao, the annual college entrance exams in China, which are reopening for the first time since the Zero-covid lockdowns. They then discuss the recent reports of a Chinese spy base operating out of Cuba, and how this development fits into the broader history of the relationship between Cuba and the PRC. Finally, they conclude with a preview of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's June 18 trip to Beijing, a visit which was rescheduled during the Spy Balloon controversy in February.Follow the China Center's work at: https://www.hudson.org/china-center

Supporting measures are in place for China's national college entrance exams (02:42). Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the destruction of the Kakhovka dam (12:15). And China's Snooker Association has vowed tough punishments after two players received lifetime bans (48:09).

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the destruction of a dam in the Kherson region. Millions in China take part in the annual college entrance exam, the Gaokao. Iran's embassy and consulate in Saudi Arabia reopen after a seven-year closure.

Nearly 13 million high school graduates will attend China's national college entrance examination this week. For the examinees, their performance in the next few days will determine where they will end up in the next four years and beyond. Today, we look past the clichés to see what is new with this year's Gaokao (03:05). / Why are people so obsessed with pandas (28:45)? / What kind of body odor on humans are mosquitoes most attracted to (47:49)? We now have the answers. On the show: Laiming, Niu Honglin & Pearl

China's embassy in Honduras is up and running (2:40). Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up a dam near Kherson (11:45). And this year, millions of Gaokao exam takers have 21 new majors to choose from (18:22).

Guanxi can be loosely understood as instrumental social relationships that form a network to be used by individuals for their personal benefit. Guanxi is a long-enduring part of Chinese society, but how is it used in a modern context. Is it still important for doing business? How should foreigners understand guanxi? And is guanxi now doing more harm than good in modern world?Chapters00:00: Intro2:18: Definitions  of Guanxi11:39: Origins of Guanxi19:03: Building Guanxi Relationships31:51: Guanxi in China's Business World40:58: Guanxi goes abroad?44:27: Negative Societal Effects of Guanxi49:Negative Societal Effects of Guanxi-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sources- Guanxi: How China Workds, Yanjie Bian, 2019- Chinese Guanxi: An Integrative Review and New Directions for Future Research, Chao C. Chen,  Xiao-Ping Chen, and Shengsheng Huang, 2013- Cultivating Guanxi as a Foreign Investor Strategy, John A. Pearce II and Richard B. Robinson, Jr., 2000- Cultural and Organizational Antecedents of Guanxi: The Chinese Cases, Liang-Hung Lin, 2011- Entering Guanxi: A Business Ethical Dilemma in Mainland China?, Chenting Su and James E. Littlefield, 2001- Guanxi Networks in China: Its Importance and Future Trends, Jin Ai, 2006- Guanxi's Consequences: Personal Gains at Social Cost, Ying Fan, 2002- The Culture of Guanxi in a North China Village, Yunxiang Yan, 1996- Whither guanxi and social networks in China? A review of theory and practice, Jane Nolan & Chris Rowley, 2020- What Happens When the ‘Gaokao' Rewards Who, Not What, You Know, Sixth Tone, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005924- Qinghai Official Died After Sharing Seven Bottles of Baijiu, Sixth Tone, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1012818- Bank Worker Slapped, Insulted for Not Drinking With Colleagues, Sixth Tone, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006093- Businesses benefiting from political connections harm China's economic growth, https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/businesses-benefitting-from-political-connections-could-harm-chinas-economic-growth/Support the showSign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod

This week's guest on the World of Higher Education Podcast is Yi-Lin Chiang, author of Study Gods: How the New Chinese Elite Prepare for Global Competition which was published in 2022 by Princeton University Press. It's a really extraordinary work of ethnography, following a group of students from a pair of elite Beijing secondary schools as they make their way towards China's extremely challenging Gaokao system and on to university in China and beyond.  Have a listen.Download PDF transcript

Бие нь жижиг ч бэлчээр нь аварга хоёр бүсгүй зочлов...

Today’s Essential Eight: Tweaking dynamic zero-Covid - The reductions in quarantine periods for international travelers and close contacts, along with the standardizing across the country of the classification of risk zones, look quite positive. It is part of the refining of "dynamic zero-Covid" to better balance anti-epidemic work with economic development the leadership has repeatedly signaled, and plenty of people now hope that some sort of a bottom is in on lockdown-related economic shocks. One question is how the government will react when BA.5 eventually gets into China and starts spreading, as it is doing just about everywhere else in the world right now. Another question is whether or not people with low grade fevers will also be allowed to quarantine at home.

A former student recounts her grueling schedule and eventual withdrawal from Hengshui, a city notorious for exam-prep schools.Read the article by Renjian the Livings: https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2022/06/inside-chinas-gaokao-factory/Written by Shu, translated by Hatty Liu.Narrated by Cliff Larsen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s Essential Eight items: Third volume on Xi’s thoughts on strengthening the military - I see this and the books that came out yesterday as more data points showing that Xi is not under pressure. The “pen” (propaganda) and the “gun” (PLA) bureaucracies are pushing him to the next level, so to speak.

Another summer, another record number of students who are taking the annual National College Entrance Examination, commonly known as Gaokao, here in China. We take a look at the exam, which has been a watershed moment in every student's life in China, with pandemic precaution measures in place (00:54). / Say "no" to noise pollution. You have the law on your side (26:06). / Why do I wake up grumpy (47:48)? On the show: Heyang, Laiming & Fei Fei

China's college entrance exams --- known as the Gaokao --- kicked off nationwide in most areas, with pandemic precautions in place (01:16). China is urging the United States, the U.K. and Australia to heed the call of the international community and stop advancing their nuclear weapons material transfers involved in the AUKUS framework (08:52). Mexico's president decides to skip the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this week because of the U.S. decision to exclude Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua (15:04).

①Migrant caravan in Mexico heads for US border as Americas Summit starts. Can the summit find ways to solve the migration crisis on the southern border of the US? (00:58) ②Boris Johnson survives a damaging no-confidence vote, but does this mean his political troubles are over? (12:53) ③China's Covid-era students sit for Gaokao, the annual college entrance exam, in record numbers. 45 years after the resumption of the Gaokao system, what has changed and what has not? (24:32) ④Mexico's opposition loses ground to the ruling Morena in state governor elections. Why do Mexicans support President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his party? (34:14) ⑤We look at Apple's worldwide developer conference where the tech giant has unveiled its latest software for iPhone, its M2 silicon chips for the new MacBook Pro, and much more. (42:56)

Chinese capital reports almost 100 new infections on Sunday; a majority stake in a troubled lithium miner sells for almost 600 times the guide price; and Ant Group sets its sights on Southeast Asia. Are you a big fan of our shows? Then please give our podcast account, China Business Insider, a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to podcasts

China is on a mission to become the world's dominant industrial power. What does it mean for the US if China succeeds? And how would Chinese economic dominance impact individual investors? David Goldman is a columnist for Asia Times and principal of Asia Times Holdings. He is a regular contributor to the Claremont Review of Books, American Affairs Journal and Standpoint Magazine, writing under the pseudonym Spengler. David is also the author of You Will Be Assimilated: China's Plan to Sino-Form the World.  On this episode of The Wiggin Sessions, David joins me to discuss China's goal to dominate the Fourth Industrial Revolution and why it matters.  He shares his prediction of what the world looks like in 2031 should China become the dominant force in global manufacturing and trade, describing how that would affect our economic and military power. Listen in for David's insight what could happen to the USD's reserve currency status should China achieve its goals and find out what that means for you and me as individual investors. Key Takeaways   David's concerns around whether China's centralized system will fail in time for the US to avoid strategic disaster What would happen to the USD's reserve currency status if China achieves economic dominance  The potential for armed conflict between the US and China China's goal to dominate the Fourth Industrial Revolution (i.e.: artificial intelligence and big data) How China is producing 7X as many bachelor's degrees in STEM fields as the US How China's rise to economic dominance would impact individual investors in the US David's take the Evergrande drama as a managed deflation of China's real estate bubble and not a major crisis David's prediction of what the world looks like in 2031 should China become the dominant force in global manufacturing and trade The two big differences between our concerns about Japan in the late 1980's and our concerns about China today Why it's important that China has 70% of the world's installed 5G internet  How the US tax and regulatory environment's hostility to capital-intensive industries impacts our ability to adopt 5G technology Connect with David Goldman  David at Asia Times ‘Spengler' at Asia Times Books by David P. Goldman Connect with Addison Wiggin Consilience Financial Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on— Facebook @thewigginsessions Instagram @thewigginsessions Twitter @WigginSessions Resources  You Will Be Assimilated: China's Plan to Sino-Form the World by David P. Goldman  Sample Questions from China's Gaokao  Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis by Will Bonner and Addison Wiggin  The Evergrande Crisis  Houlihan Lokey  ‘US Is Chasing China's Tail on 5G' in Asia Times  Ericsson 5G Technology  Nokia 5G  Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

Jeżeli cenicie naszą pracę, możecie wesprzeć Mao Powiedziane na Patronite: https://patronite.pl/maopowiedzianeWyśrubowane wymagania, długie godziny spędzone nad zadaniem domowym, trudne egzaminy, niekończące się zajęcia pozalekcyjne. Nie ulega wątpliwości, że sektor edukacji w Chinach wymaga reform. W ostatnich miesiąc pojawiły się oczekiwane regulacje. Jednak czy naprawdę odpowiadają one na problemy z jakimi zmagają się chińscy uczniowie i ich rodzice? Na ich gruncie zdelegalizowano m.in. możliwość oferowania korepetycji w weekendy, dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym nie mogą już legalnie uczyć się angielskiego w ramach zajęć dodatkowych, a prywatne placówki oświatowe mają działać jako organizacje non-profit. Czemu zdecydowano się na takie ruchy? Z jakimi problemami zmaga się chińska edukacja? Jak nowe regulacje zostały odebrane przez rodziców? Czy sektor zajęć pozalekcyjnych w Chinach ma jeszcze rację bytu? Na te i inne tematy rozmawiamy w tym odcinku podcastu Mao Powiedziane. Spis treści odcinka: (3:00) Wprowadzenie do system edukacji w Chinach (6:35) Nierówności edukacyjne (11:08) Tempo reform (12:45) Reformy prywatnych podstawówek i gimnazjów (19:44) „Shuangjian” – podwójne cięcie w edukacji (29:50) Sektor zajęć pozalekcyjnych w Chinach (33:40) Reakcja Chińczyków na zmiany (40:07) Perspektywy dla sektora prywatnej edukacji w Chinach Napisz do nas: kontakt@maopowiedziane.pl  

00:00 - 04:44 Slow Speed Version 04:44 - 08:18 Normal speed version Description: Let's learn Chinese language and Chinese culture through Slow Chinese Podcast. If you ask a Chinese what is the hardest thing they've done in their life, the answer is probably Gaokao, or national college entrance examination. What is Gaokao and why it can be so important? Let‘s find out in today's episode! Full Script PDF Pinyin/Chinese/English/Thai script download here: