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I was an above average student in Asia. Probably wouldn't have gotten into a top college there.
Here in the US I'm like the top 0.1% and am on track to a job that makes 420k/yr average. Why is that? Because the US K-12 education system sucks! There's just no getting around that fact.
I was an average student in Asia. Here in the US I'm like the top 0.1%. Why is that? Because the US K-12 education system sucks! There's just no getting around that fact.
that's very common. it's also why a lot of asians, even in asia are doing jobs that don't even use all of their potential. it's amazing. my aunt was an extremely smart cookie and if she had the opportunities in the west, she would be a top professional most likely but in asia, she was just a housewife. also, what's even more astounding is that a high school education in some asian countries is an equivalent to a bachelor's degree in education level in america.
It is because the in the US, we do not teach our students to learn, we teach them so that they can pass the test. Also, American kids are bad at math b/c they learn it later than kids in other countries ( I wasn't taught fractions until middle school, sad sad sad). This is why you have so many kids in remedial math classes in college. By college, they expect you to go immediately into pre-calc or calc, but most students can't do it b/c instead of being taught how to solve problems, they are taught tricks to help them pass tests!
I remember when I was in high school (2003-2007) and every other word out of the teacher's mouth was "this will be on the test", "remember the end of year test", "test, test, test". Of course, it wasn't their fault for this. Admin and the gov't keeps threatening them that they will be in trouble if those darn kids can't pass the test! Oh, and the kicker. To make sure we passed the test, the teachers would skip over certain parts of the texts so to only teach what would be on the test. But, in the next semester, the teacher in the next scheduled class would be pissed that we didn't know how to do such and such (which the previous teacher passed over).
I love America, but goodness! I can see why we are behind.
I agree. Teaching has now gone from caring about students learning to "OMG! We have to make sure these students pass or else the schools lose funding and teachers are fired!" It does not encourage students to learn. In fact, there are some cases in which teachers will cheat in order to make sure their jobs are safe. Not all, but there are a few and I don't blame them.
The "No Child Left Behind" thing was enacted while I was in high school. My little sister has a slight learning disability, but that did not stop them from making my sister take those tests. They put her in a room and each time she tried to mark a wrong answer the teacher would say, "Are you sure?" Then, when she moved her hand over the right answer they would say, "If you think that's right then put it down." They did it enough times to make sure she at least got a passing score.
How are we supposed to learn to be creative and innovative if we are taught to just memorize and regurgitate answers for tests? That's not training us for the real world. That's not training future scientists and inventors to "think outside the box". It's horrible!
I have a friend from England who married an American. His 18 year old step-daughter (American) needed help with algebra. His 11 year old daughter (British) was already passed algebra and had to help her older step-sister. My friend was so disappointed in our educational system b/c he heard we had the top educational system in terms of universities.
First of all, this is just a measure of Shanghai against entire countries. It's in no way a measure of the Chinese education system against the education systems of the world. Don't get me wrong, I've met tons of brilliant Chinese students who still boggle my mind when it comes to math, but as the article says it's not necessarily a measure of the entire Chinese education system.
I agree that America has to work harder in terms of learning. I was one of the more intelligent students in my school and was harassed horribly from 1st grade until my senior year. It was not "cool" to be smart and it was even less cool if you were a low-income student who happened to be within the top 10% of her class. However, I also believed I learned more when teachers were actually teaching and not trying to force facts into our head b/c "it will be on the standardized test".
There are pros and cons with the Asian systems as well though. For example, my friend from Hong Kong was assigned homework during all breaks. So, instead of having a small break from school, she would end up spending the break doing more homework. Also, if she missed one point on her homework, her parents would scream "YOU ARE A MORON! YOU ARE THE MOST USELESS, PATHETIC CHILD WE KNOW!" I have another friend from Fuzhou and another friend whose parents are Hong Kong who told me their parents did the same thing as well. My response was, "Wow, people in the U.S. reward kids for making good grades. They don't punish them for not being perfect."
I have a friend from England who married an American. His 18 year old step-daughter (American) needed help with algebra. His 11 year old daughter (British) was already passed algebra and had to help her older step-sister. My friend was so disappointed in our educational system b/c he heard we had the top educational system in terms of universities.
Indeed. I (German and American) came from Germany one year ago to study in the US. In my unversity courses, I am the best student and in classes where 60% of Americans fail, I still get an A or at least a B. This is absolutely not because the stuff is difficult to understand, but because the high-school education regarding knowledge and learning skills in the US is insufficient.
I have people at my university who can not solve simple equations, don't know where Hungary is on a world map, and are not able to speak english properly without slang or grammatical errors, even they are native speaker. (I am not, so I used to excuse my self for bad language skills, however). They ask questions again and again istead of listening and preparing theirselves. In an assignment regarding the development of countries all around the world, we compared the smartphone usage in different countries around the world. They came up with Monaco as beeing undeveloped, because they only have 50.000 smartphones. Seems they never heared about statistics, relative numbers, etc. Honestly, I am disappointed when it comes to the general level of education. No theoretical background, and very easy exams or assignments even for non-native-speaker, sometimes it has nothing to do with academics at all.
Another reason Chinese students are better than American is the use of their free time. Whereas in China it is all about learning, beeing better than others, here in the US it is all about party, pimping the car, etc.
No doubt, american students have a much better life, but this result in disadvantages regarding skills and knowledge.
So, instead of having a small break from school, she would end up spending the break doing more homework. Also, if she missed one point on her homework, her parents would scream "YOU ARE A MORON! YOU ARE THE MOST USELESS, PATHETIC CHILD WE KNOW!" I have another friend from Fuzhou and another friend whose parents are Hong Kong who told me their parents did the same thing as well
parents like that aren't going to raise happy kids. if one is doing the best they can and still berated to do more, it will be detrimental since it will be impossible to live up to these expectations. unfortunately, a lot of people do that in one way or another. some people put these burdens on their children, some do it to employees etc. many people are slave drivers or want others to work for them as maximum capacity or to make them look good as well as for their agenda. but not all asian parents are like this but it's a symptom that many do not reward children just because they are good enough. this makes one think they have achieved a lot when they haven't.
most parents are get very angry or even spank kids when they don't do well in school. that has been traditional, more or less, across all cultural barriers.
i don't think it's right though and it doesn't help them learn more, just makes them more afraid or negative. people learn best in a relaxed and non-pressure environment and learning method.
parents like that aren't going to raise happy kids. if one is doing the best they can and still berated to do more, it will be detrimental since it will be impossible to live up to these expectations. unfortunately, a lot of people do that in one way or another. some people put these burdens on their children, some do it to employees etc. many people are slave drivers or want others to work for them as maximum capacity or to make them look good as well as for their agenda. but not all asian parents are like this but it's a symptom that many do not reward children just because they are good enough. this makes one think they have achieved a lot when they haven't.
most parents are get very angry or even spank kids when they don't do well in school. that has been traditional, more or less, across all cultural barriers.
i don't think it's right though and it doesn't help them learn more, just makes them more afraid or negative. people learn best in a relaxed and non-pressure environment and learning method.
I'm glad to hear that not all of them are raised like that. I think my male friend who has Hong Kong parents handles it better, but I know my female friends from Hong Kong and Fouzhou have very low self-esteem and they keep asking me what is wrong with them. They are phenomenal students and very talented. I don't believe in rewarding a kid just b/c they passed a class necessarily, the passing should be its own reward, but I'm glad to hear that not everyone in Asia is berating their kids for not being 100% perfect each time.
I agree, the spanking does go across all cultural barriers. My parents never spanked due to low grades (mostly bad behavior), but I'm pretty sure a few students in the Southern U.S. have been spanked because they failed.
Indeed. I (German and American) came from Germany one year ago to study in the US. In my unversity courses, I am the best student and in classes where 60% of Americans fail, I still get an A or at least a B. This is absolutely not because the stuff is difficult to understand, but because the high-school education regarding knowledge and learning skills in the US is insufficient.
I have people at my university who can not solve simple equations, don't know where Hungary is on a world map, and are not able to speak english properly without slang or grammatical errors, even they are native speaker. (I am not, so I used to excuse my self for bad language skills, however). They ask questions again and again istead of listening and preparing theirselves. In an assignment regarding the development of countries all around the world, we compared the smartphone usage in different countries around the world. They came up with Monaco as beeing undeveloped, because they only have 50.000 smartphones. Seems they never heared about statistics, relative numbers, etc. Honestly, I am disappointed when it comes to the general level of education. No theoretical background, and very easy exams or assignments even for non-native-speaker, sometimes it has nothing to do with academics at all.
Another reason Chinese students are better than American is the use of their free time. Whereas in China it is all about learning, beeing better than others, here in the US it is all about party, pimping the car, etc.
No doubt, american students have a much better life, but this result in disadvantages regarding skills and knowledge.
I studied in England a few years ago and I was warned well in advance that it was much, much harder to get an A. I normally make A's in my courses and I ended up with B's in England. I thought the University was much more effective because it actually taught practicals along with theory. My school in the U.S. only taught theory, but it was a private college.
Not all students party or worry about their cars, but there are some who focus more on the party lifestyle. It's mostly because we're told that college should be the best time of your life. After that, you have to get a job and work 50 weeks a year. I didn't really party in college, but I do know of Americans who did party.
Not all students party or worry about their cars, but there are some who focus more on the party lifestyle. It's mostly because we're told that college should be the best time of your life. After that, you have to get a job and work 50 weeks a year. I didn't really party in college, but I do know of Americans who did party.
Of course college should be the best time of our life, I have no problems with that. I am not the party everyday type, but I love to travel around and I have been to Boston, San Francisco and other places during the weekends from Friday to Monday.
But if we enjoy our life, we don't need to wonder why Chinese students are better in subject-related matters. They don't enjoy, they have a higher pressure and they want to impress their family.
Another reason for American colleges to be "easy-going" sometimes is the service-oriented aspect. The dean of our university asked the teachers not to let so many students fail, to make the courses and exams easier. Well, this may lead to a higher number of students and to higher tuition fee income, but not to a better quality of education.
In Europe every school, regardless if it is is a small village, big city, "bad" area or influent area - the primary and secondary education level is the same. Students that pass from a class to the next know the same stuff. In America parents are searching which school is good or best and which school to avoid. This is a completely foreign concept in Europe and probably in Asian countries.
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