Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently praised China's educational system, attributing the country's rapid advancement in artificial intelligence to its rigorous and competitive approach.

Durov's statement came in light of the recent rise of Chinese AI company DeepSeek. Durov praised China for its ability to so quickly catch up with U.S companies like OpenAI in terms of technological innovation.

He pointed out that China's AI progress is not a sudden phenomenon but a result of long-term educational practices.

A soviet style education system

This competitive and cut-throat educational system has allowed China to nurture students that has consistently outperformed children from other countries in the fields of math, science, and programming.

Durov cited China's success in mathematics and programming at international Olympiads, noting that China leads the U.S in gold medals in both the international Mathematics Olympiad and the international Olympiad in Informatics.

Durov gave an example of how Western schools tend to discourage competition and even shy away from sharing students grades publicly to protect students from pressure.

He argued that while such a move is understandable to protect your students from pressure, these measures can demotivate high-achieving students. Durov strongly believes that victory and defeat are intrinsic parts of a child's personal growth...

"Victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin. Elimate the losers-and you eliminate the winners."

He further explained that telling all your students they are champions regardless of performance may seem kind at first, but it doesn't reflect the reality of the real world, where achievements are measured through performance and rankings in fields like science, business, and technology.

Netizens reacts to Durov's statement

While many netizens have agreed with Durov to some degree, stating the famous saying "no pain,no gain."

Others are stating that only through competition can we really fuel innovation.

But there are also many others who disagreed with Durov as well. For example, one users called China's communist model of education an abject failure and claimed that China will never be able to surpass the U.S in innovation.

Another netizen expressed that the situation is more nuanced than how Durov is putting it, adding that China's AI success is also a result of other factors such as diversity, creativity and critical thinking and not just competition. The writer adds that the western schools prioritize empathy and collaboration, which created a whole different success story for the U.S.

Regardless of what you think of China's educational system, one thing remains unchanged-China students are outperforming their western counterparts in STEM.

For this reason, Durov warns that if the U.S does not fix its educational system, it risks losing its tech dominance to the Chinese.