Chinese and American Schools
Trip Start
Jul 17, 2008
1
10
Trip End
Aug 06, 2008
Putney, Vermont
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Still, I am not the same person I was before this journey. I no longer take for granted basic things like transportation. As a New Englander, it has always been in my routine when April and May role around to whine about the conditions of the roads after the ground has begun to thaw. After seeming to narrowly escape death from the ledges, rocks, and mudslides of unmaintained Chinese roads, I feel lucky to be driving on the ones we have here. I also feel thankful for the freedoms I have as an American. Although in China the restrictions are very subtle, or seem that way because I don't speak the language and did not understand much of what was going on around me. I did notice, however, that much was done out of a sense of duty instead of interest or free will. While I understand Chinese pride in their culture - that they put the needs and well-being of the masses ahead of those of the individual - there was something about it that made me slightly uncomfortable. Perhaps it was that I grew up in America, where the individual comes first.
As a teacher, what looked at closely when I was in China, and what I continue to think about on a regular basis, are the school systems in China and in the US. My original goal for the trip was to try to answer the question, "What do teachers, students, and parents in Chinese schools do differently from teachers, students, and parents in American schools?" What I found was not a set of specific strategies or list of China-does-this, America-does-that, but rather an overall ideology. American schools are designed to educate the individual, epitomized by the No-Child-Left-Behind act, where every student is expected to learn the same things and succeed to the same level. The Chinese education is all about education as a tool to enhance the greater good of the nation. Any one student's needs are brushed aside if they compromise the education of the majority of the students.
The first school we visited was in a rural area near Luoyang. The students were on summer vacation, but returned to school for the day to visit with us. We were serenaded by students playing recorders, singing, and dancing. We played group games with these students, such as duck-duck-goose, red light/green light, and the hokey-pokey. What I was most excited about was their enthusiasm to speak with us in English. These 8-13 year-old students had very little English education, yet huddled around us like we were rock stars. They were constantly asking us for signatures and speaking to us in the few words of English they knew. I was hoping to learn about their education system, but it wasn't until a week later in Xi'an that I had the chance to speak with some Chinese people about education in China.
I have heard mixed accounts of the quality of a Chinese education by the many different people with whom I spoke. Some Chinese people think that the school systems in China are much better than in the United States, while others believe that the US schools are far superior. One thing I am sure of is that these two systems are as different as night and day. Chinese students go to school from 7:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night, with an hour or two for lunch. Middle school and high school students sit for 45 minutes at a time listening to lectures, with a 10-minute break in between. Students are required to sit still and just listen - not take notes, not ask questions. There is a time for questions at the end of the lecture, but not during. Students are expected through tradition to be quiet and polite. They have very little homework that they need to turn in, but they are expected to study on their own, and understand the concepts presented in class for a test. All classes are taught through lecture. Many students have private tutors after school until 9 or 9:30 at night. Most do not have any chores to do at home. One mother explained to me that going to school and learning was her daughter's full-time job and only responsibility. My host sister in the Washewan village was not able to accompany us during our daily excursions because she wanted to study in order to get ahead on her schoolwork. She was still a month away from starting classes again in the fall. In contrast, when I was fifteen, my summer vacation was sacred. I had no interest in thinking about school between June and September.
Teaching middle school is my passion. Lessons are hands-on, interesting, and interactive. I love doing labs with students and watching the excitement of discovery cross their faces. I love the pride they express when they show off projects that they have worked hard on. Overall, I love teaching in an American school. However, it would also be nice for my students to take education seriously, as students do in Chinese schools. I get many complaints from kids in my classes that they're bored. Sometimes I'm offended when I have worked hard to develop an interesting, meaningful lesson. But mostly it saddens me that entertainment - not learning - is what they value most.
Just as different people in the US have different feelings about our public schools, different people I spoke with in China also have differing opinions of Chinese schools. I spoke with a 15-year-old girl from a city in a Hmong Village in Guizhou. While we were talking, a little boy was running around at our feet. This girl told me that the boy is very creative, and his parents are hesitant to send him to school for fear of stifling that creativity. In a conversation I had just a few days before this, my host sister in Xi'an told me that Chinese schools require students to be extremely creative. She did not elaborate. I've heard stories of Chinese families sending their children to US boarding schools because they feel their children deserve the best education possible. On the flip side, Chinese emigrants to the US sometimes return to China in order to send their children to more rigorous Chinese schools.
I feel as though I have heard many sides of many stories about Chinese education. I am not yet sure exactly how it will influence my teaching, but I am certain that the more I learn about different education philosophies and strategies, the better I will be able to serve my students.
Comments
Hi Tifin,
I was interested in your comments about the hours the Chinese students attend class--- much like the Japanese, from what I understand. They, too, have long school days and are often tutored in the evening.
I would imagine that it would be frustrating to teach American students after teaching or observing the Chinese students who appear to be quiet, polite, and respectful of their teachers. As a once part-time guidance secretary in a middle school, I was frustrated with the lack of respect the students gave their teachers, peers, and administrators.
My very best,
Kitty
Hey Tif,
Just found time to read your last blog entry.
I think your comment about student's complaining about being bored, (which translates to not being entertained enough) is so true. So many students are in school because the government requires them to be. So much is lost without the 'wonder of learning'.
Keep teaching! I wish there were many more teachers that cared so much that they would travel half way around the world for insight!
Love,
Lucy