The Secret to China's Academic Success

[adnelson60087]

“Who in this class can tell me how to demonstrate two lines are parallel without using a proportional segment?” Ms. Li called out to about 40 students seated in a cramped classroom.

One by one, a series of students at this medium-size public school raised their hands. When Ms. Li called on them, they each stood politely by their desks and usually answered correctly. They returned to their seats only when she told them to sit down.

Educators say this disciplined approach helps explain the announcement this month that 5,100 15-year-olds in Shanghai outperformed students from about 65 countries on an international standardized test that measured math, science and reading competency.

American students came in between 15th and 31st place in the three categories. France and Britain also fared poorly.
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The Shanghai students performed well, experts say, for the same reason students from other parts of Asia — including South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong — do: Their education systems are steeped in discipline, rote learning and obsessive test preparation.

Public school students in Shanghai often remain at school until 4 p.m., watch very little television and are restricted by Chinese law from working before the age of 16.
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“These are two sides of the same coin: Chinese schools are very good at preparing their students for standardized tests,” Jiang Xueqin, a deputy principal at Peking University High School in Beijing, wrote in an opinion article published in The Wall Street Journal shortly after the test results were announced. “For that reason, they fail to prepare them for higher education and the knowledge economy.”

In an interview, Mr. Jiang said Chinese schools emphasized testing too much, and produced students who lacked curiosity and the ability to think critically or independently.

“It creates very narrow-minded students,” he said. “But what China needs now is entrepreneurs and innovators.”


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=edit&forum=219&topic_id=30776&mesg_id=30776
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Are we really willing to sacrifice our children to Obama & Arne's plans to convert what we have into this model?? If so, we all lose. That is the bottom line.

[Lithos]

1. The counter to this is...

Many of our students lack the discipline and tools which allow for creative problem solving to amount to anything useful.

I do agree learning to pass rote tests are useless, but there is definitely room for the emphasis on study and the primary focus on education first which are core to the Chinese model.

However, I think the understated argument of this debate and shift in education paradigm starting with Reagan is that education is not an enabler of opportunity for "all", but for only "some". Only the "gifted" (definition tbd) are to be given opportunity while the majority are to be prepared for the work force or abandoned to their own fate. I do not agree this is right, but it does seem to follow the reality of the defunding of education.

W-

[patrice]

3. 1+ Memorization & discipline are very un-PC right now. There's nothing intrinsicly wrong with them

if they are not relied upon to the exclusion of creativity and freedom.

Perfect learning and learners aside, there's a good deal to be said for persons who may not understand WHY ________________, but can access that fact by memory anyway.

There's also a great deal of good in students with the discipline to walk themselves through the processes by means of which to discover the answers that they don't know.

[adnelson60087]

4. Let's all remember Bloom's Taxomomy, right?

Knowledge (memorization) is the fundamental basis that all learning depends upon. However, if you never engage the mind above this base level, students will not be able to move onto the higher-order skills. High-stakes testing is all about "drill and kill", as in drill the sample problems, kill the higher cognitive skills.

Discipline is something families and parents need to address, with SUPPORT from schools. Unfortunately, many parents do much with discipline and it shows (badly) in their students' outcomes.

[provis99]

2. having Chinese students in my poli sci class was illuminating.

All the ones I've taught demonstrated little to no creative thought, new little to nothing about politics and political institutions before my classes, couldn't connect instituions and concepts to their significance, but had good written grammar. Among my most mediocre students, surprisingly.

[adnelson60087]

5. Yes, I've encountered many of the same things

in my graduate level courses. Many of the Chinese students lack a sense of connection between principles, but they do recall facts very quickly.

[Hannah Bell]

7. good test takers though

[midnight]

6. I wonder how many artists thrive under this test mentality?

[On the Road]

8. Their Secret is High Expectations Father: