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22. Comparing Educational Systems
December 4, 2000
The Mathematics course I am teaching is "The Mathematics Curriculum in the United States." Since the culture creates the educational system of a country, studying the educational system automatically studies the culture. Since mathematics is the same across cultures studying math education helps understand the major differences in educational systems.
The teacher is still the center of the Chinese system. The classes are large, at least 50 students per class at every level, and the teacher lectures while the students listen and take notes. Chinese teachers question the class as a whole. If they ask a question the entire class answers it in unison. U. S. teachers tend to ask individual students questions. Chinese students do not ask questions in class and the concept of questioning the teacher is one they do not comprehend
Textbooks in China are selected by the National government. All schools use the same textbook, teach the same lesson on the same day, and use the same examples and techniques that are provided.
Research shows that middle school math teachers have a deeper understanding of math than U. S. teachers do. Even though Chinese classes are much larger, Chinese teachers have a distinct advantage over U. S. teachers. They have free time every day, they meet regularly with other math teachers to talk and compare techniques, and they are more deeply trained in theory. In one international study, Chinese middle school students did significantly better on a test than U. S. middle school teachers.
I read 110 papers over the weekend in which my mathematics students compared the Chinese and U. S. educational systems. One glaring difference is that the Chinese system doesn't teach how to write papers. I found, in questioning students after I'd begun reading the papers, those middle school students write papers but that it is not a focus at all in high school or college. I showed my syllabus to several faculties before I handed it outs and was given no information concerning this even though a paper was 25 % of their grade. It is one of the characteristics of Chinese culture that no one alerted me to the discrepancy in my expectations and the students training and skills.
The papers varied from very good to incredibly bad. A few of the papers had no relationship at all to the topic. It must be very difficult to write a paper in a foreign language. A Chinese mathematics faculty member attends every class, takes notes, asks questions, and she advised the students to write the paper in Chinese first and then translate it..
Plagiarism is accepted and in fact expected here. Many of the papers were copy and paste papers directly off the internet. Usually there was no attempt at transition and often the information had no bearing on the topic. Several students copied an article from the internet that contradicted almost everything I'd covered during the class. They didn't notice the discrepancy in information. I also saw the same paper more than once. A common practice here is for one student to do the homework and the others to just copy it.
I learned from the better papers. The Chinese system focuses on rote memory and preparation for tests while our system focuses on development of creativity and autonomous learning. One of the more charming sentences in five different papers was "The United States is denting what we are strengthening." The rationale for this sentence is that China is beginning to question and modify their intense system of testing which blocks progress through the grades. Our system is questioning whether we have carried teaching for creativity too far and need to instigate mandatory testing for grade advancement.
In mathematics education China teaches a rigorous theory based mathematics to all students while we teach mathematics as a useful tool. One student said, "American educational style, which attaches importance to practical ability, makes students more active and creative. The Chinese style consolidates basic theory and leads students to learn deeply and soundly. Both systems have shortcomings."
Next class I will correct some of the misconceptions I found I their papers. U. S. students only play games and never work hard problems. Chinese primary students learn what our high school students learn. U. S. students dominate the classroom. U. S. teachers never lecture. U. S. students never do any homework. Chinese are smarter than Americans. We don't teach long division. We introduce fractions in middle school. These are misconceptions my lectures and handouts should have corrected. I have one more class period to try and convince them that, in fact, U. S. schools do teach mathematics. We just value a different way of teaching and learning.
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