preview

Education Difference Between East Asian and American Essay

Good Essays
Open Document

Education difference between East Asian and American
One of the phenomenon I experienced and observed a lot is East Asian students, comparingly, speak less in class than American students. More precisely, the students impacted by western education is more talkative (in a class discussion) than the students learned under East Asian education system. Besides the language issue, I am more interested in the foundation of different that drove behind this phenomenon. And I believe this is a good example of how culture affects our mind, further, our behavior.
To explore this question, I will discuss the differences between East Asian and Western education system in several aspects: First, the major cultural difference existing in two cultures. …show more content…

Contrary, students have a more passive role in a lecture, professor being the only role that deliver the knowledge. Students take everything from and only from the instructor and usually not question it even if they doubt it.
In East Asian education system, teacher is the center of knowledge (Whang, 2002). Which is not the idea of the Western education system. This can be traced back to ancient China and Confucius culture, which advocated students to respect the teacher. And students were educated to trust everything a teacher gives and should see it as the only truth. Thus, the role of teacher is also a huge factor that affects two education systems. As described, the role of the teacher in East Asian education is majestic, teacher has absolute authority, and students revere their teacher. Because students believe everything the teacher taught, any concepts that different from the teacher is considered to be wrong, making East Asian students tend not to talk in class unless he/she is sure about the things he/she is going to say is right or meaningful to class. What do students expect in the class? In a research done by a foreign language teacher in China, she pointed that “students expected to be provided with a detailed systematic plan pertaining to the course provision and delivery to enhance mutual understanding between teachers and students.”, and “Students show great respect to teachers, but they also expect teachers to have

Get Access