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| China Part 2/the positives |
| Editorial - Leadership | ||||
| Written by Sheila Riley | ||||
| Tuesday, 17 March 2009 11:17 | ||||
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What can the U.S. learn from the Chinese educational system? Plenty, say many who have seen and studied it first-hand. China has huge challenges: mind-boggling numbers of students, inconsistent local government support, and a huge disparity in quality between urban and rural schools. Western educators are often highly critical of its strong emphasis on testing. But China is doing some important things right, according to businessman and filmmaker Bob Compton, who produced “Two Million Minutes.” The documentary is a look at six high school students, two each in China, India and the U.S. “My fundamental premise is that the Chinese middle school and high school curricula are more advanced than America’s in every subject, not just math, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science,” said Compton. The businessman/filmmaker has been an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in Asia and the U.S. for 25 years. He points out that he isn’t an academic and describes himself a “well-traveled, observant non-expert.” Compton’s dealings with Chinese and Indian workers have led him to some conclusions that aren’t flattering to U.S. workers. “Based on what I see in China and India as an employer, what I see is a higher cognitive skill level and a much higher work ethic,” Compton said. And that holds true for much of Asia, he said. “When it comes to technical cognitive skills you develop when you take math, science and physics, the average skills of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians are higher.” It’s critical that the U.S. look at how China and India educate their young, Compton said. “The reason China and India are so important is that, for the first time in American history, we will be competing against countries larger than us,” he said. Out of a 305 million population, the U.S. has 53 million k-12 students. With a 1.3 billion people, China has 194 million students. India, with a 1.1 billion population, has an estimated 212 million students. While many factors come into play in comparisons of educational system, the numbers alone should send a powerful message, Compton said. Compton isn’t alone in his thinking that China, along with other Asian countries, is ahead of the U.S. in academic breadth and rigor. “China’s curriculum is more internationally oriented than American schools,” said Vivien Stewart, vice-president for education at the Asia Society. The New York-based nonprofit works to deepen understanding between Asia and the U.S. The idea that China is cut off from the rest of the world, as it was during the Cultural Revolution, still exists in some people’s minds. Nothing could be further from the truth, Stewart said. “There is this whole mindset of being open to the rest of the world. It’s a change from the past and a reaction to the past,” Stewart said. Chinese schools actively pursue sister-school relationships with other countries. All schools teach world history and geography, and English from third grade on. Schools use international benchmarking to make improvements, she said. “The syndrome of rejecting ideas ‘not invented here’ is not a problem in Chinese education.” Chinese educators are sent around the world to learn from other countries’ methods with the intention of coming back and redesigning their own, according to Stewart. A coherent teacher development system is in place. While educators tend to have very strong subject matter preparation, once hired, they have continuous professional development conducted by master teachers. Then there’s the well-publicized strong focus on math and science, along with longer school days, longer terms, and more homework, Stewart said. Practical considerations give China an edge, too. Unlike the U.S., it has an centralized control of education. China has experimented in the last 15 years with letting some of its 29 provinces and larger municipalities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have more say over curriculum content. But it’s generally equivalent across the country, said C. Montgomery Broaded, Director of the Center for Global Education at butler University in Indianapolis, Ind. “There is a more-or-less standardized curriculum in primary and secondary schools,” Broaded said. An even more fundamental underpinning to Chinese education exists—the country’s primary belief system. China has a very strong cultural commitment to education, with a tradition of respect for teaching that goes back to Confucius, according to Stewart. And she credits historical reasons for China having greater motivation than the U.S. to improve its educational system. “Both sides have a deep belief in education, but the Chinese, because they’re coming from behind, have a bolder long-term vision--and they are able to implement it.” The U.S. could meet its educational challenges, but it would take some huge shifts in how students spend their time, Stewart said. And it would involve some unplugging of electronic devices. “If our students spent as much time studying as they do watching TV and playing video games, our education system would be off the charts,” she said. China and MathLike most other East Asian countries, China is zeroed in on math. An increasing use of student-centered education methods in Chinese education generally is extending to math, according to Steve Rasmussen, publisher of Key Curriculum Press, which produces math and science textbooks and software. The Emeryville, Calif. company works with Chinese textbook publisher Peoples' Education Press and Beijing Normal University. It’s been doing business in China since 1986. China is moving quickly to make systemic changes in education, Rasmussen says. “Here in the U.S., the notions of student-centered inquiry and project-based learning have been prevalent for at least two decades. The uptake has been incremental at best in the U.S.,” Rasmussen said. “In China, these ideas have been in widespread circulation for less than a decade, but the uptake has been exponential.” Rasmussen is on the board of the nonprofit Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications, which promotes improved math education and sponsors an international high school mathematical modeling contest. The vast majority of teams come from China. It’s not unusual for Chinese schools to enroll students in math modeling contests that involve creative thinking and teamwork, he said. “These are not just buzzwords in China,” Rasmussen said. Inquiry-based investigations and open-ended discussions in classrooms are the trend, according to Rasmussen. “They are definitely what Chinese educators are thinking about and what the future of education looks like in China,” he said. China’s reputation as a math education leader also gets support from Vivien Stewart, Asia Society vice-president for education. It’s highly organized with clear national standards, textbooks tied to those standards and very qualified teachers, according to Stewart. “Their focus on that is impressive and thoughtful,” she said. In China, there’s a societal emphasis on math and science. Economic rewards are tied to success in the two areas. But in the U.S., it’s business and law that have those roles, Stewart said.
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