Differences Between Chinese And Us Middle School Teachers

With the development of a progressive and civilized society, education becomes a greater priority. In separate countries, there are distinct differences in the systems and methods by which education is practiced. The Canadian secondary school educational system is different from the Chinese education system in four main areas: the subjects offered for study, requirements for graduation, the authority of the teachers and the physical aspects of the institutions.

He points out that the Chinese have their number naming systems to thank. The Chinese have a very short and simple way of saying their numbers, unlike the English language which is very irregular making math considerably more challenging. In English there are numbers such as fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, but then the numbers preceding them are not oneteen, twoteen, or threeteen it is eleven, twelve, and thirteen which takes more time for American children to learn. Meanwhile, the Chinese count like one-ten-one for eleven, one-ten-two for twelve and so on, which gives them an advantage in math fundamentals and allows them to move on to more difficult skills at a younger age. “Asians have a built-in advantage” (Gladwell, 230) because the way they say their numbers and fractions are more comprehendible, putting less stress on the student, thus compelling the student to enjoy math, try harder, and take more math classes. The number systems are distinguishable between the East and the West – it suggests that the root of being good at math can all be traced to the group’s

After reading Seal’s article which stated that Americans often thought kids are born smart while Asians more often believed that studying makes a person smarter, I was reminded my own personal beliefs on intelligence and I realized that I have thought people could get smart by exerting effort since I was in the last year of elementary school in Vietnam. Therefore, I empathized with Seal’s attitude that success and achievement are a result of working hard. I could remember that I got this attitude when I was in an important final exam which decided where my middle school was in the next year that depended on my score. In this exam, the math test was an extremely difficult test for every student because it had a strange math problem which my classmates and I had never studied before. At first, I had spent for 2 hour to solve this problem, but I didn’t succeed. So, I wanted to give up. However, I was worry about my score and thought about my mom, who hoped that I could get the high score enough to enter a famous middle school. Since I didn’t want to disappoint my mom’s wish, I tried to solve this math problem again and again and again. Eventually, I was successful to solve

Over a period of year’s education has grown to be very important to many cultures all over the world. At one time in many cultures children were only taught what was necessary to get along and sometimes only children of the wealthy would be taught. China’s government

No under 30 of the 56 different nations that took an interest in the Program for Worldwide Understudy Appraisal (PISA) math test had a bigger level of understudies who scored at what might as well be called the propelled level on our National Evaluation of Instructive Advance (NAEP) tests. While 6 percent of U.S. public and private school understudies evaluated as cutting edge in eighth grade arithmetic, 28 percent of Taiwanese understudies did (Hanushek, 2010). This is revealing to me that different nations are using something we are not that is enabling their understudies to exceed expectations pass the U. S. No less than 20 percent of understudies in Hong Kong, Korea, and Finland were exceptionally expert, and 12 different nations had no less than double the level of very proficient understudies as the U.S. also, different nations (Hanushek,2010). This proof demonstrates that only 8 years prior U.S. understudies were failing to meet expectations in math and

Gladwell proves how focusing can make a difference when it comes to math test. In "Rice Paddies and Math Tests" Gladwell proves how people of Asian descent can focus more because it's in their culture. Every 4 years a test is given to elementary and middle school students worldwide called the TIMSS. The TIMSS test the students over math and science, but at the beginning the student has to fill out a questionnaire that is 120 questions long. It turns out majority of students leave about 15 to 20 questions blank. Gladwell explains, “In other words, countries whose students are willing to concentrate and sit still long enough and focus on answering every single question in an endless questionnaire are the same countries whose students do the best job of solving math problems” (Gladwell 247-248). If teens could also apply the same focus on everything, which Asians can on math, then they could make further into their education. Then after being educated and all that good stuff can use their amazing focus to get a job that they could get promoted in. After getting that job and using the focus they can get promoted to a position of authority and become more successful.

Its impressive how something like a number-saying system can influence in the level of difficulty an Asian student, compared to an American average student, can have in math. Asians have a built in advantage when it comes to math. Does that mean they are more likely to succeed? Not necessarily but it I an advantage rooted in a group’s culture, in this case, Asians. Therefore cultural legacy is another key factor in the why of what we do and who we become.

Because the Chinese number words are so brief, children can learn them faster and memorize more at one time. Mostly because of differences in the languages, “by the age of five...American children are already a year behind their Asian counterparts in the most fundamental of math skills” (Gladwell 229). Due to the transparency of the Asian math system, students often find it more enjoyable and logical. As a result, “students from five nations and territories in Asia have topped the latest global school rankings in science and math conducted by the OECD” (Maslog). This validates Gladwell’s conclusion because it has been shown that Asians have a leg-up in math from an early age, and it makes sense that this would translate to Asia’s achievements on mathematical exams. This particular cultural legacy would most certainly have an impact on Asian students’ probability of success, because it would most likely lead to them performing better in math classes and exams, and it could help them in a future career. This is one of the several instances in which a person’s cultural legacy would need to be greatly factored into their chance of

59). Furthermore, Stone and Hamann (2012) state, “Ultimately, these four sites did not lend themselves to a direct test of whether or how inquiry-based mathematics education was helping American Indian elementary students or reducing achievement gaps” (p. 61). Implementation of Investigations garnered universally higher scores, however the impact on the achievement gap remained marginal (Stone & Hamann, 2012). Consequently, Stone sought alternative agents of change, which had the potential to affect American Indian students’ math achievement. Stone and Hamann shifted their focus to observable differences in culture at each of the schools. The modification in the research focus led to the valuable insight that high expectations correlates with improved mathematics scores among all student groups. Although Mueller and Maher’s (2010) study consists of the smallest cohort, the student participants most closely align with the participant group selected for this action research project. Mueller and Maher (2010) offer two vignettes, which provide a rich description of both teacher, and student actions, which led to successful problem-solving in the study. A significant weakness in the study remains a dearth of baseline and summative data. The credibility of the research would be significantly enhanced through

Each country has its own kind of education, and education always plays an important role in affecting students’ life and study on many aspects. Having received ten years of education in China and two years of education in the U.S. I would like to compare and contrast a few significant aspects of these two different kinds of educations. Knowing that no two education systems are the same, the differences between American education and Chinese education allow countries to take the essence and discard the dross through learning from each other so as to improve their own current education systems.

Asian countries like Singapore, have math textbooks that have aroused the interest of educators around America since the nation outscored the rest of the world. In 1996, the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study was released. Teachers from the United States then began purchasing math programs from Singapore to use in their own schools. There are over 100 elementary schools throughout the United States that have purchased textbooks from Singapore according to singaporemath.com, the Oregon City, Ore.-based distributor of the books (Hoff, 2002).

The differences that exist between the Chinese and American education systems are great and obvious. However, some of these differences don’t play to the strengths of the representative country. American schools allow for greater freedom of movement and choice, while Chinese schools decide the “what”, “where”, and “how” of educational circumstance for the students (Bush, tony, and Qiang Haiyan). These differences in structure should lead to a greater educational standard being held by China, but that isn’t always the case. This paper will examine the differences in education system in the two countries and show that the Chinese system, while

As a result of this, the system is constantly receiving criticism concerning the quality of the American system. (U.S.D.E. The Educational System in the U.S…) In fact, a recent study done by the National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment, states that in fourth grade math, Japan ranks third out of twenty-six countries while the U.S. ranks only twelfth, and that in eighth grade math, Japan keeps the ranking of third out of forty-one, while the U.S. drops to twenty-eighth. As result of these criticisms, sets of voluntary guidelines and standard achievement tests have recently been introduced as an effort to “catch up” to the other

Teaching students effectively in areas of multiplicative thinking, fractions and decimals requires teachers to have a true understanding of the concepts and best ways to develop students understanding. It is also vital that teachers understand the importance of conceptual understanding and the success this often provides for many students opposed to just being taught the procedures (Reys et al., ch. 12.1). It will be further looked at the important factors to remember when developing a solid conceptual understanding and connection to multiplicative thinking, fractions and decimals.

“As a international students, I care a lot about the difference of education system between the U.S. and China.”(culture shock) I realized that the educational ideas