Taiwan-born-and-based Cheng Ho has captured the attention of the prominent Business Insider publication with his ambitious Choxou startup, and his goal to convince the mainland Chinese population that sports is the missing factor from the educational equation.
The determined entrepreneur is using his four-year experience as a Harvard American football player to present the value of team sports in the development of China's next generation.
In his Year of the Sheep interview, Cheng speaks of a "more sustainable" educational ethos, whereby individual students "have to identify . . . strengths and weaknesses and put them together" when they participate in sporting teams.
He conveyed his observations of Chinese parents who have looked to the U.S. education system after losing faith in China's economy, and increasingly want to send their children overseas.
The sports entrepreneur also shared his insight regarding why Chinese nationals are looking abroad for better opportunities:
"The system is so test score driven, it's one individual that has to compete with all other students. The problem is that once you get the score and go to college, you realize there's more you need to do to be successful in life."
Cheng can use his own extraordinary international-study experience, which he has said occurred after a "family emergency." Cheng landed in America with no English-language skills after the death of his father and the institutionalization of his mother for mental illness. The 13-year-old proceeded to use an electronic translator at school and was eventually chosen by Harvard University for his gridiron skills.
However, serious doubt was raised by college professor Susan Brownell, who is also an expert on Chinese sports. Brownell said that, even though physical educators in China and Taiwan "really believe" that greater involvement in sports "would be the counterbalance," China's ingrained culture is simply too difficult to disrupt.