A recent BBC documentary, Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School which filmed an experiment in which five Chinese teachers taught 50 students according to Chinese-style education norms at a school in the United Kingdom, has sparked a heated online debate on whether Chinese or Western methods are better. But such a debate is not new, notwithstanding the talk of a cultural clash.

The West has for long promoted small classes which focus on students' individuality and differences, emphasize student-teacher interactions and attach great importance to cultivating students' independence, creativity and ability to communicate. In contrast, classes in China are big (that is, they have many students), in which teachers are the center, and emphasize uniformity, discipline and teachers' authority. Chinese teaching methods focus on students' diligence, obedience and (for want of a better term) ability to imitate.

The latest online debate has again raised the question: Which teaching method is better, the Chinese or the Western? For long, most Chinese people and foreigners have taken it for granted that the Western education model is superior to the Chinese.