In a scathing op-ed, and a crushing blow to those who believe standardized tests are the be-all and end-all, a top Chinese educator says the United States does a far better job educating its students than China. Jiang Xueqin says Chinese students lack social skills, creativity, and lose their passion for learning (to name just a few of the problems) because the country has put such a high priority on standardized tests. On the other hand, he says that America is the leader in public education, with a curriculum that promotes critical thinking, innovative thought, and the acquisition of knowledge (to name just a few of its strengths).
Jiang Xueqin is deputy principal of Peking University High School, and director of its International Division. He wrote this piece for The Wall Street Journal:
It’s ironic that just as the world is appreciating the strengths of China’s education system, Chinese are waking up to its weaknesses. These are two sides of the same coin: Chinese schools are very good at preparing their students for standardized tests. For that reason, they fail to prepare them for higher education and the knowledge economy.
On Tuesday, Shanghai’s 15-year-olds topped the global league tables in reading, science and math in the Program for International Student Assessment, a test run by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This comes as no surprise to anyone working in Chinese schools.
With its demanding parents, ambitious students, and test-obsessed culture, China’s K-9 schooling is probably the most rigorous in the world. And Shanghai, an open and cosmopolitan city that is boundlessly ambitious and fiercely competitive, has always been China’s K-9 education leader.
So China has no problem producing mid-level accountants, computer programmers and technocrats. But what about the entrepreneurs and innovators needed to run a 21st century global economy? China’s most promising students still must go abroad to develop their managerial drive and creativity, and there they have to unlearn the test-centric approach to knowledge that was drilled into them.The failings of a rote-memorization system are well-known: lack of social and practical skills, absence of self-discipline and imagination, loss of curiosity and passion for learning. Chinese students burn themselves out testing into university, where many of them spend their time playing World of Warcraft.
Both multinationals and Chinese companies have the same complaints about China’s university graduates: They cannot work independently, lack the social skills to work in a team and are too arrogant to learn new skills. In 2005, the consulting firm McKinsey released a report saying that China’s current education system will hinder its economic development.
But don’t the PISA results at least show that China’s K-9 education is the best in the world, and that standardized testing, as U.S. President Barack Obama seems to believe, is necessary to improve American schools?
Not really. According to research on education, using tests to structure schooling is a mistake. Students lose their innate inquisitiveness and imagination, and become insecure and amoral in the pursuit of high scores.
Even Shanghai educators admit they’re merely producing competent mediocrity. The OECD report states, “[T]he dictates of the examinations have left students with little time and room for learning on their own. ‘There is an opportunity cost in terms of time and space,’ said [one experienced Shanghai educator]. ‘Students grow with narrow margins’ and are not fully prepared for their lives and work in the future. This is seen as a deep crisis, exacerbated by the reality of single-child families.”
A consensus is growing that instead of vaulting the country past the West, China’s schools are holding it back. They equip everybody with the basic knowledge to be functional in a socialist economy. But now that China is a market economy hoping to compete globally, it’s jealous of America’s ability to turn its brightest students into the world’s best scientists and businesspeople.
Reform is on the horizon. This year the Chinese government released a 10-year plan including greater experimentation. China Central Television’s main evening news program recently reported on Peking University High School’s curricular reforms to promote individuality and diversity.
As director of Peking University High School’s government-approved International Division, an experimental program to prepare students for study in America, I’ve attended meetings where Beijing’s top education officials endorsed importing Western curricula. Nevertheless, it’s safe to say China won’t challenge America’s leadership in education anytime soon.
Shanghai’s stellar results on PISA are a symptom of the problem. Tests are less relevant to concrete life and work skills than the ability to write a coherent essay, which requires being able to identify a problem, break it down to its constituent parts, analyze it from multiple angles and assemble a solution in a succinct manner to communicate across cultures and time. These “critical thinking” skills are what Chinese students need to learn if they are to become globally competitive.
So the first step of education reform is trying to teach students who are good test takers to be good essay writers. To write well in English, students need to understand concepts such as thesis and argument, structure and support, coherence and flow, tone and audience, diction and syntax—concepts that are barely introduced in Chinese schools. One way we’ll know we’re succeeding in changing China’s schools is when those PISA scores come down.
I’m not sure where you’re going with that one, but I noticed you didn’t address any of the points he made in the article.
Top educator? Really? . He also got chased out of middle school program after 13 months. His “international division” is hardly world class yet. It is barely known in China.He does write well.Although perhaps in four years we will see the true testimony of his wisdom if any of students get in Harvard.
Who is responsible for the U.S. “declining into being a third world nation in quality of life” as you suggest?
Why is it unsurprising to find this on an American teacher website?
The views expressed in the article might be believable if the U.S. weren’t declining into being a third world nation in quality of life and other measures on account of how Americans are too stupid and incompetent to compete in a globalizing world economy.
Interesting expressions from your readers, Charles. As a cultural anthropologist, what FACTS states is the closes to reality of the education in China. Education, as it does everywhere, takes its reflections directly from the culture (society) it serves. For example, China has very large class sizes as conformity must be maintained as within their society, China’s long established language system that characterizes -symbols fosters a capacity to utilize the left side of the brain, therefore enabling strong abilities to use numbers, e.g., maths. One last point the explains education in the context of the larger society is EFFORT. Everything in school is about applying effort. If a child is failing it is because of the lack of effort. In Chinese society, all “progress” is accountable to the effort placed on the event and failure is not acceptable. Moreover, remember that China is a monoculture- any deviations in education-classes are pounded into conformity- “The exposed nail must be pounded down.” Cheers, H.F.
“The results also appeared to reflect the culture of education there, including greater emphasis on teacher training and more time spent on studying rather than extracurricular activities like sports.”
“Large fractions of these students demonstrate their ability to extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very creatively in novel situations,” he said.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?pagewanted=all
There needs to be a middle way between the American model were academic excellence is not highly regarded in elementary, middle and high school and the Asian model were students cram for hours every day to pass standardized tests.
Part of the academic success in primary and secondary education of other countries and the failure in the US is, because our teachers and administrators are not accountable for their performance (or lack thereof), the inability to fire those teachers and administrators, the loosening of academic standards, the promoting to more and bigger heterogeneous groups in core subjects, as well as advancing students that do not pass grade level tests or pass because of their ability on the sports field.
And yes, parents play a big part in the process. There is no question that a child that has involved and supporting parents has an advantage as well as do those who have been born with a higher mental capacity (or in plain English: who are smarter).
We are all to blame. You conveniently ignore and distort.
Our parents realize that we do more than teach to the test. They trust Greenwich educators.
I teach my students how to be critical readers, thinkers, and writers. I’m proud of that.
First, Charles, you reprinted the Wall Street Journal oped in full, which, without the publisher’s express permission, is a copyright violation. Excerpts are fine, but not more than half of an article.
Second, interesting opinion from Jiang. But I would surmise that no one in China wants to substitute our system for theirs; certainly not the parents in Shanghai. Would they want to have our school system and its students’ poor grasp of so many skills? Of course not. And let’s also keep in mind that for many years the engine of America’s economy- the technology center of Silicon Valley- has seen well over half of all new companies created by individuals who were foreign-born and foreign-educated. So much for the lack of entrepreneurial skills in Asian educational systems.
Last year foreign corporations applied for more new patents in the United States than did American corporations. And consider the fact that Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea is now one of the leading car makers and sellers in America, with one of the highest-rated new sedans, while American car makers are either in bankruptcy, coming out of bankruptcy, or losing market share. And look inside your computer and see the brands inside: virtually all of the components are manufactured in China, and many are designed in either Taiwan or South Korea. That hardly points to educational systems that lack the ability to instill originality and creativity in their students. It hardly points to educational systems that fail to teach math and technology to their students. Let’s also keep in mind that it’s not just the Shanghai schools we trail, but dozens of other nations’ school systems around the world, including Canada, many in Asia, as well as in Europe. Let’s keep those comments in perspective.
Charles, you have repeatedly laid the blame for poor student performance at Greenwich High School at the feet of parents. Are your students’ parents aware of the utter contempt in which you hold them?