China has a long tradition of respecting education. But its present education is not that respectable.

According to the Hurun Report, which conducted one-on-one interviews with 980 wealthy Chinese people with net assets of more than 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) in 18 mainland cities from May to September, about 14 percent of them said they had either already moved overseas or had applied to do so, and another 46 percent said they planned to emigrate within three years. All cited the higher-quality education available for their children overseas as the reason.

Such a mindset has resulted in a growing number of Chinese students studying abroad.

To be fair, our primary and high schools are a leader in content throughout the world. The Program for International Student Assessment last year offered a feather in the cap for our education. Participating in the program administered by the Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development, teenagers in Shanghai were far in advance of their peers from 64 countries, including the United States, in reading literacy, mathematics and science.

So why does education in this country leave so many wealthy parents cold?

Children in China have no say in what they learn. They normally learn by rote and are forced to study the subjects that help them in examinations for a school of a higher grade, especially the college entrance exams.

Studies conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Center show that more than half of Chinese secondary school students study overtime and they don't get enough sleep. And more than 70 percent of students in primary and middle schools take after-school tutoring classes, which is considered a heavy burden on children.

And this situation turns many parents into demons like "Wolf Father" Xiao Baiyou in Guangdong province, who supported his children's learning with verbal abuse and physical violence. Xiao doesn't pale in comparison to Tiger Mother Amy Chua in the United States. He is satisfied with his parenting skills, as he has sent three of his four children to Peking University, one of China's most prestigious higher learning institutions.

Such ways of stimulating children to learn are certainly scary enough to make those Chinese parents with deep pockets choose a foreign school for their kids.

As long as exams-oriented education continues, parents will look overseas for a better way to educate their children.