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Old 10-06-2007, 06:20 AM
 
1 posts, read 27,481 times
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hello,everyone!!


actually,I'm doing my research right now.
so I need your comments
and would you like to share your own opinions about this issure?
so ,what do you think of the differences in education between western countries&eastern countries????


and,if you could give some examples or sth you have experienced,that will be better.

waiting here,thank you~~~

 
Old 10-10-2007, 06:38 PM
 
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That is an interesting but very broad topic. I've taught in public schools (elementary level) in the U.S. and now recently in Taiwan and find there are definitely differences in the structuring of classes, curriculum and administration, materials, teaching styles, student expectations, etc.. In the past, I think schools in Taiwan were more uniform across the country in comparison with the U.S., where there is a wide range between states, districts, schools and even classrooms. Comparatively there are more resources allotted to special needs and more of a focus on the individual learning of each child (in the U.S.). However, there has been shifting in the way things are done (in both environments) so it is difficult to make a general comparison of countries. Did you have a particular focus?
 
Old 12-04-2008, 12:36 AM
 
Location: UK
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Yes, what is the title of your thesis?
"The differences in education between Western countries and Eastern countries" maybe?
 
Old 12-04-2008, 06:30 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
5,725 posts, read 11,662,183 times
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I wrote this in another thread a couple of weeks ago:

"I recently read an interesting take on this topic in Fareed Zakaria's book The Post-American World. Zakaria is a Newsweek columnist who grew up in India, came to the US for college and stayed. He described his pre-college schooling as typically Asian, meaning a heavy emphasis on memorization and constant testing. In the book, he cites a visit from the former education minister from Singapore, who said (paraphrasing) that America has a talent meritocracy and Singapore has an exam meritocracy. Here is a direct quote from the minister (Tharman Shanmugaratnam):

"We know how to train people to take exams. You know how to use people's talents to the fullest. Both are important, but there are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well - like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are areas where Singapore must learn from America."

One other piece from Zakaria - he notes that the top fifth of American schools rank among the best in the world, so American education is not in itself flawed. But - there is a huge diversity within the country between high-achieving and low-achieving schools. As it relates to this thread, the key question is will increased spending at lower-achieving schools address the differences between them and the high-performing schools? If not, then people's reluctance to increase spending is entirely understandable.
"
 
Old 12-04-2008, 12:48 PM
 
Location: Houston, TX
17,029 posts, read 30,773,910 times
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I think many in America don't realize the importance and opportunity they have with a free education.
 
Old 12-04-2008, 02:41 PM
Rei
 
Location: Los Angeles
494 posts, read 1,757,445 times
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Quote:
so I need your comments
and would you like to share your own opinions about this issure?
so ,what do you think of the differences in education between western countries&eastern countries????
Western - education is cheap, practically free. This makes people take education for granted.
Eastern - education is not cheap and is considered a privilege; thus, their parents, school and society do not take it for granted. They actually whup your a ss if you don't perform.
 
Old 05-11-2009, 05:00 AM
 
Location: UK
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Quote:
I think many in America don't realize the importance and opportunity they have with a free education.
It is interesting to read that you think your education is free. Do you mean free as in no money? Or do you mean free - as in open to all? You pay taxes, and all kinds of other levies to pay for the education you receive.

Unless you educate your kids at home, I should think that they will end up with a bunch of beliefs that you as a parent do not agree with at all, so in that respect you are paying a very high price for the education that your kids are receiving from society. Basically education is a training in how to live within the confines of the culture in which we live, and that appears to me to be the same here in China too. Making a good little citizen who does not rebel, does not question, and accepts all the standards and laws that may or may not be of benefit.

Particularly at the moment when it is looking as if more and more of our freedoms in the West are being withdrawn, education is a powerful weapon against the reduction of those freedoms or in perpetuating the restrictions.

So, what did you mean by your comment?
 
Old 05-11-2009, 09:15 AM
 
Location: Sandpoint, Idaho
3,007 posts, read 6,257,121 times
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OCpaul,
if you really want to understand the differences, break down education into components as seen through the stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, administrators, schools, government, firms, and society. From there, things get ever more fascinating.

The best aspects about Western education are its innovative deliverables, the applications, and the approach to fomenting excellence. Without these aspects, the US would be a mess. Note: I mean education, of which schooling is a subset of sorts. Ironically, these are the things seen as the holy grail in Asian reform movements, yet are not given much attention in the current policy debates in the US.

The brilliance of Western education is dimmed by its growing list of the administrators, politicians, and minorities (as in small voice with vested interests) who seek to catch up by undermining the integrity of Western education. In modern Asia, this form of economic suicide baffles most.

Asian education since WW2, with the exception of pockets in Japan, has been about development and nation building. This means economies of scale, uniformity, and accountability.

As the economic gap shrinks between affluent parts of Asia and the West, so too will the gap in how each approaches schooling on a systemic basis.

Unbelievably in the US, the move over the past ten years has been toward uniformity and standardization and away from independent thinking, innovation and differentiation. Not only this a step backwards, but it is the wrong solution to the ills of US education. We can never out Asia the Asians or out Euro the Europeans. If we continue on this Obama-Clintonesque path, we will fail miserably. We have already done so, although are failure are masked by ample immigration and outsourcing which has decimated the middle class.

In most of Asia, schooling is highly if not completely socialized and nationalism means that schools push a hard standard on its students (although too often by brute force method). 捕习班 are everywhere and students know that an excellent performance on the 联考 can mean entrance to a top university and better job security. Increasing affluence means more Asian parents are sending their kids abroad to master the Western Way. How many Westerners take their first degree in Asia? Only a handful.

In the US, we have an antiquated school system that is socialized without any nationalistic agenda. So if you look at the bottom three quartiles of US junior high and senior high schools, the quality per $ of input is appalling. And unfortunately this virus of mediocrity has crept up into higher education, where the top paying fields centered on innovation and technical creativity are dominated by foreign, often Asian, imports.

In short, the US and to a lesser extent Europe have virtually handed over leadership to the East for the taking. Provided Asian governments stand clear, i.e. get the hell out of the way, Asia has a reasonable shot at dominating the highest rung of the ladder in higher education. Will they? Japan's example is mixed. Great with innovation in pockets, but increasingly disappointing to Japanese scholars.

When the smoke clears in 50 years, many in West will wonder how on earth it lost its head start over Asia. Perhaps not since the zenith of the British Empire has a country, the US, done more to topple its own advantages and leadership, many of which were handed to the US as a result of European self-annihilation in WW1 and WW2. The installation of Barack Obama is a direct consequence of an America refusing to take up the mantle of freedom and rationalism for the liberty-loving people. Instead, we have become a country of apologists and ever expanding government which grows fat on the dreams of future generations. Nowhere is that more obvious than in US public junior high and senior high schools, and increasingly our universities.

Enjoy your research...
 
Old 05-11-2009, 09:58 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,179,658 times
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An anecdote: My daughter had two Japanese exchange students as roommates this year at the University of Colorado. They told her they felt CU was more difficult than their college in Japan, and that students were expected to work harder at CU. Interesting . .
 
Old 08-12-2009, 07:47 AM
 
Location: UK
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Quote:
Unbelievably in the US, the move over the past ten years has been toward uniformity and standardization and away from independent thinking, innovation and differentiation.
I realise that I love a conspiracy theory, but this smacks of the state wanting to turn out little robots who all think the same and do not question what is placed in front of them. By limiting free thinking we dumb-down the populace and with certain other programming from TV and media the US will become a nation of yes-men, accepting the answers and opting for the state providing easy solutions.

In both the US and the UK the governments continue to raise bogey-men such as terrorists and impending pandemics. Of course, when you have bogey-men like these, what you really need is someone with a solution - how convenient that the government provides both the bogey-men and the solutions to them too.

As far as Chinese education goes, although Chinese education is very good at cramming facts into heads, it is absolutely useless at getting kids to think around the subject and to have independent thoughts for themselves.

It promotes reliance on others making decisions and the acceptance of those without any question. This is what our educational system is becomming in the West but without the Asian discipline for hard work, I fear that future generations are doomed to failure.
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