While I completely agree on your argument, I don't see many people driven by the beauty fo the craft itself. My guess is that competition and shortcuts are simply much more effective in quickly reaching success.
The sad fact might be that it is perfectly possible to master a field or craft without a passion for the subject. Simply because passion is not competitively passable.
It's hard not to draw a line directly between exam-based curricula and these sorts of techniques.
from the comment to which this reply is attached: Chinese college students
I take it that both of these statements refer to an ethnic group specified as "they," that is to people who have a different ethnic identity from the person posting the statement. I too am not Chinese, but I am a speaker of the Chinese language and am married into an (ethnically) Chinese family and have lived in east Asia for six years and I think these statements are too superficial and based on insufficient acquaintance with Asian-American and Chinese people. There is plenty of pursuit of art for art's sake and desire for deep understanding of a subject among Chinese people. Perhaps this is not noticed by Westerners who have not had enough curiosity about Chinese language and culture to have had many deep encounters with the behavior of Chinese people.
Many of the Chinese students I have met over the last month have expressed this same concern (without and without provocation) that educational systems in China stress too heavily testing and rote memorization. Additionally, at least at PKU, there is an increasing motion toward "western" teaching and evaluation methods, especially in post-graduate studies, which are considered an improvement. The same critiques have been provided by American college students, of course, but comparatively the systems seem to suggest that American colleges produce more "real life" experiences which aid students especially in research settings.
I agree entirely that there is plenty "art for art's sake" practiced every day here. A simple example includes the man who teaches his child calligraphy several mornings each week outside painting it in water on the concrete. My Chinese isn't strong enough to have a deep conversation with this man, but it was plain that he's doing it just because he loves his art and wants to show that to his son.
Finally, I'd like to refute the pigeonholing: I've studied Chinese for two years and am here now both to do research and have those deep encounters you refer to. I can't say I have anything comparable to your experience, but I also feel I'm on the side of trying not to make superficial generalizations.
Acknowledged, based on your thoughtful further reply, for which you have my thanks and upvote.
Edit: I guess I should be more careful in putting this. I like frankness and don't believe in imposing ideological rules on discourse. But I also observe that discussions around this stuff tend to be of low quality. Your comment struck me as a nice example because the first sentence seemed nasty and jarring and the rest of the comment was just fine.
IQ article submissions have the potential to be more offensive for many people than any submission on religion/politics.
I'm very sorry if what I posted came out as racial slur. It was not my intention, since I certainly do not identify myself even remotely with that kind of arguments.