Chinese Education
By: Sammi Gorski
Different levels of schooling
Just like in America, China has pre-school, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. The only thing different is the fact that they call middle school junior high school (some American schools do this too) and high school is called senior high. The students are required to take 9 years of schooling. When students in China get to senior high, they have two options. They could either go to the normal Senior high, or they could go to vocational school. Vocational school is just a different way of teaching. It is not meant for smarter students either. If a student is struggling with the normal way of learning in Senior high, they could try vocational school instead.
This is a picture of Chinese students all learning the same information through reading.
The steriotype
China has a major stereotype when it comes to education. They are known for being exceptionally good with test taking because of how seriously they take their schooling. This stereotype is actually very accurate. China took 1st out of 65 nations in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). For comparison, the U.S. placed 36th in math, 28th in science and 24th in reading. Every 3 years, 15 year olds have to take the assessment. The reason that China is doing so well is because they have way more school time than most countries. Although their pre-schooling starts at age three like America, the school days are much longer. The average school in China starts at 7:30 AM and ends at 5:00 PM. That's 9 and a half hours! Some schools even go longer than that. The average kid in America goes to school for 6-7 hours. Not only do the kids in China have to go to school for a long time, they also have about 14 hours of homework in a week. The kids in the U.S. only have about 6 hours. The Chinese get way more practice and learning time than most countries. They even have to go to school on Saturdays to learn more math and science.
These are some examples of Chinese textbooks for junior high students.
Problems and Arguments
In Yong Zhao's book he expresses his opinion about Chinese education. He thinks that since it focuses mainly on tests, the students are losing their creativity. The government is giving specific information that the teachers must teach. They can teach nothing else. Therefore the students use their memory skills and just memorize everything they learn for tests. They don't have opportunities to use their creativity. This is affecting China in a negative way because kids can not win the Nobel Prize without using unique creative skills. China will have to start modernizing and letting kids use their creativity in school if they plan on getting this big achievement award.
All these students have to wear the same thing, giving them no individuality or creativity with their outfits.
Family matters
Surprisingly, Chinese students can be affected by their families in an enormous way. Their lives depend of their family members because if the family has a bad reputation, the student will be denied from many schools they apply to. No matter how good of grades the student has, they can still be denied if their family has a bad reputation. If a student can't get into a top school, their future does not look good for them because so many students are getting into top schools for all their time spent on school, that it is not hard for jobs to find people to hire from those schools. Another way that the family affects the student is how wealthy they are. Most students partake in getting tutored outside of school to help them get better grades. Parents have spent over 12.9 billion dollars for after school tutors. If a family is poor, it will be hard for them to pay for tutors.
Fun Facts
- Junior high students have to learn math, chemistry, physics, chinese and english. Some of those are high school level in America.
- People in China that range from 15-24 years old have more than 99.4% of literacy skills.
- Students are not allowed to use calculators.
- 35% of students watch tv when they get home in China, and 84% of students watch tv when they get home in America.
My reaction
Coming into this project I already knew that China is extremely good with tests and that they're the smartest country based off of the tests. I did not realize how crazy they take their education though. All the statistics surprised me a lot. I also thought that China was very successful but little did I know that they have a huge problem with creativity. This project has made me realize that I am taking the amount of homework I get for granted.
Citations
Jackson, Abby. "Here's the One Big Problem with China's Supposedly Amazing Schools." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 09 May 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
Tackett, Wade. "Education in China: Unbelievable Facts." Education in China: Unbelievable Facts. N.p., 22 June 2015. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.
"Statistics and Facts about Education in China." Statista. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Pictures:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02493/china-children_2493141b.jpg
http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2011/1101/360_shanghai_classroom_0119.jpg
http://www.singaporechinesetuition.com/images/shutterstock_21198772.jpg