Picture by yellojkt

James Fallows of The Atlantic has a pretty good series going on different perspectives about pros and cons of the Chinese education system. The main criticism is that it discourages critical thinking and creativity. The latest post looks at the gaokao, the nationwide college-admission exam that pretty much determines the student’s major, career, and lot in life. As you can imagine, it’s a stressful experience for the student. I was fortunate in that I moved to the U.S. when I was 10, well before I had to deal with that pressure. But I do remember my older cousins going through it, and seeing hordes of parents waiting outside schools with refreshments for their kids who are taking the exam. It is something that, put simply, no American student can imagine.

While you’re at it, also check out NPR’s series on higher education in China.

Personally, I feel very fortunate to have been in both the Chinese and American system. The Chinese system emphasized to me how important education is and would not allow me to lower my standards (for Chinese students, any score below a 95 is disappointing). At the same time, I don’t think I would be in the career I’m in now if I remained in that system. I probably would have gone into science or medicine, as both are major points of emphasis in Chinese education and also have long histories in my extended family. I probably would not have pursued a liberal arts education, and I almost certainly would not have gone into design. The best thing about the American education system is the encouragement of multi-disciplinary learning. In that regard, I’m thankful to have been in an American system from middle school through college.

The legacy of communism?

One comment that someone sent to Fallows really resonated with me:

I’ve been reading your series on Chinese education because it so greatly resembles my daily life as an English teacher. The thing is, I don’t teach in China, I teach in a Eastern European country.

…

I can only speculate why my experience so closely resembles that of an utterly distinct culture thousands of miles away. Perhaps it is the shared legacy of communism …

I can relate with this comment because I remember feeling the exact same way when I was reading Cafe Europa, a book about life on the Communist side of the Berlin Wall. So much of what the author describes about life in East Germany sounds very similar to my experiences growing up in China: views about money and shopping, perception of those from Western countries, the culture of bad customer service, etc. Perhaps they are all part of that shared legacy of communism.

And now, self-absorbed nostalgia

My elementary school in China. It didn’t look this nice when I was there, that’s for sure.

Reading Fallows’ series also brought back memories of my five and a half years in elementary school in China during the 1980s. Some of the strongest memories:

• Huge class sizes: My class had 52 students, and that was about par for the course at my school, which was a magnet school and considered one of the best in the city (the fact that there was so much emphasis on the quality of elementary school seems in itself an illustration of the stark differences between the Chinese and American education system). This is why I can’t really share American parents’ complaints about class sizes. If there’s one thing that my Chinese education experience has taught me, it’s that ultimately, it’s the student’s responsibility to learn. Large classes or lack of equipment notwithstanding, the student MUST take an active role in the knowledge exchange process. If you really have an interest in learning, you will seek out knowledge no matter the obstacles. If you have no such interest, the best teachers, the smallest classes, the most advanced equipment won’t do you a lick of good.
• The style of classroom instruction: In the Simpsons episode where the family goes to Japan and ends up on a trivia gameshow, the host tells them, “In America, you reward knowledge. Here, we punish ignorance.” And for me, that also seems to be one of the biggest differences between U.S. and Chinese classrooms. In my Chinese elementary school classes, when a teacher asks a question and calls on a student for the answer, that student stands up to answer. If they get it wrong, they must remain standing until someone else provides the right answer. It was kind of like an act of public humiliation, intended to shame you into studying harder.
• Tremendous respect for teachers: This is an ancient tradition in Chinese culture. Students look up to their teachers and obey. The most rambunctious, disobedient student in the Chinese classrooms I’ve been in would be considered mild in America. Students form strong bonds with their teachers, often visiting them long after they’ve graduated. How many of you still remember your elementary school teachers, much less have the desire to visit them.
• Sanitation duty: Each morning, the first thing we did after getting to school was to grab a broom and help sweep an area of the school. My class was in charge of the back courtyard. Our class was also in charge of taking care of the plants on the school grounds, so we would take turns staying after school or coming back to school from lunch break early to water all the vegetation. Another responsibility was updating the bulletin board in our classroom, which was basically a chalkboard that ran the length of the back wall. So every couple weeks, a few students would painstakingly write up news tidbits and draw flowers, bees, and other such uplifting images on the chalkboard after school. The thing about it all is that not only did we not see these things as unwelcomed chores, we actually embraced the additional responsibilities as signs of our trustworthiness and dependability.
• Eye relaxation exercises: Every afternoon, there would be a 15-minute break for eye relaxation exercises, much like these. We would sit at our desks, and a voice, along with some really loud music, would blare from the crackly intercom in each classroom, counting as we did each exercise.
• School “brunch”: School took a break around lunch time, and almost all of us would go home, eat lunch, and take a nap before coming back in the early afternoon and go till late afternoon/early evening. However, we also were served a meal around mid-morning. It was usually congee. The teacher would send a couple students to go to the school cafeteria to fetch the big metal bucket of congee and buns. We would then all get out our little metal lunch boxes (they look sort of like this, except they were rectangular and had a folding handle that also acted as a clasp to lock the lid in place), line up and get our scoops of congee. And yes, school meals in China are about the same quality as school meals in America.
• Along with the metal lunchbox, the other staple in every student’s school supplies is a good canteen. Obviously there were no drinking fountains, so a canteen was of utmost importance. In the morning, every student made their way to school with a bookbag on their back (usually with the lunchbox stuffed inside) and a canteen hanging across their shoulder.
• Young Pioneers of China: This was a Communist-run youth organization, and yes, I was a proud member. And no, we didn’t go around crushing capitalism and stomping out bourgeoise excesses (that comes in sixth grade). Mostly, what I remember now about being in the organization, which basically everybody was in, is the red scarf, which we wore as a point of pride.