For a Chinese student first came to study in America, the most common question asked by my classmates and teachers is “why would you come to U.S.?” or “what motivates you to study in a foreign country?” My answer was brief, “because American Education is the best in the world.” I know that my response is somewhat naive and lack of evidence. But now, after diligently struggling for three years in high school, I have a more persuasive explanation to certify that my decision of studying aboard was brilliant.
Comparing to the American education, the Chinese one that I have experienced confines and eventually strangles students’ imagination. Early in the Elementary school, teachers had instilled the idea in my mind that test scores are the primary evaluation of a student’s academic ability. Answering the problems correctly is the students’ goal. Students would be admitted to an excellent college, high school, even middle school if they perform outstandingly in the tests. Students are always ranked based on their grades, and they have to hand in the corrections with parent’s signature next to the test grade on the day after the test has been handed back. I clearly remember one question from the Second Grade Math
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In the next three years of receiving American education, I have enriched my knowledge and gradually developed the critical thinking skill-- the ability to think rationally at anywhere in any situations-- through reading books, doing projects, volunteering and participating in extracurricular activities. Indeed, I have experienced exclusive American culture, surprised by the immense diversity and customs of American residents. Surrounded by the American education environment, I grow stronger, smarter, more mature and even more talented for the past three
In his article “Lost in America,” Douglas McGray focuses heavily on the problem of isolationism in the U.S education system in order to prove that changes in the education of young Americans must be taken. “Lost in America” was issued by Foreign Policy magazine in 2006, which reveals that McGray’s audience includes American legislators involved in the elaboration of the American curriculum policies. McGray, who is the Editor in Chief of The California Sunday Magazine and Pop-Up Magazine, discusses that America has an isolationist education system that fails to embrace worldwide perspectives. To support his argument in the article “Lost in America,” McGray builds credibility through the use of anecdotes that surprises and shocks his audience,
In his article “Lost in America,” Douglas McGray highlights the issues of isolationism in the American educational system. The article was issued by Foreign Policy magazine in 2006. Through his article, McGray expresses his concerns about the lack of focus of the American educational system on the learning of foreign cultures. McGray’s target audience is people that can make changes in the educational curriculum, which signifies that his intended audience includes American legislators involved in American curriculum policies. McGray, who is co-creator and editor-in-chief of Pop-Up Magazine, claims that Americans are neglecting a valuable resource that is essential for the future generations’ success in the competitive world market. In his article “Lost in America,” McGray uses anecdotes to build credibility and trust, uses hyperboles to surprise and instigate fear, and motivates his audience with a call to action, to provide American legislators the actual state of the American education and effectively persuade them to incorporate foreign culture studies into the American educational curriculum.
Jaschik identifies education as a key aspect to the American identity and society. Jaschik draws in the audience to see his’ perspective. He describes with a logical sense that higher level education holds weight and value, and therefore should be reflected in test scores, critical thinking skills, and analytical reasoning. He cites a book by the University of Chicago Press called, “Academically Adrift” which lists results from an assessment taken by college students. This assessment tests students to see where they place according to the categories of, “critical thinking” and “analytical reasoning”. The results explain a consensus of student’s level of knowledge that has been retained over the intervals on two years and four years: “forty-five percent of
Rereading America begins by discussing the obstacles that students will face when entering college, and how cultural myths play a significant role in the way we think, and how we react to situations in our environment. In order to be a successful, intellectually-minded college student, one must engage in critical thinking in their academic work. Critical thinking involves the examination or consideration of various perspectives, realizing that what is commonly appeared to be “normal” or “crystal clear” is not from analysis, but rather from the cultural myths unconsciously embedded in our lives. While it can be argued that cultural myths provide social order in society, they also discourage individuals from forming their own beliefs after thinking
Western parents allow their children to to accept that fact that they got a bad grade on some assignment, while Chinese parents make their children correct whatever they did wrong. Chinese parents order their children to get exceptional grades, while Western parents can only ask their children to do well. Chua says, “If a child came home with an A- on test, a Western parent will most likely praise the child, but the Chinese mother will gasp in horror and ask what went wrong”(Chua 307). Chinese parents believe their children are capable of doing anything as long as they work hard at achieving it. Western parents can only help their children do well in school by trying to prepare them, and not pushing too hard. Chinese parents think that their children owe them everything and not the other way around. This is most likely because Chinese parents work very hard at raising capable children, and that they have worked hard to make them productive in life. Therefore, the parents expect much in return. Chua says “my husband Jed actually has
“High school grades reflect years of effort and are more reliable assessment of college potential than test scores.” Historians detected that standardized testing started back in the seventh-century in China. The government of China began to organize written exams to select people for the civil service. Also many educators try to make sure that they are following the right requirements but some of them don’t and do all sorts of stuff with the results. Many individuals would say that standardized testing is a helpful way of learning from what the student knows and doesn’t, but the consequences that teachers found out of the standardized tests are making the students have a decrease in critical thinking.
In America, teachers encourage students to develop their own interest and have more extracurricular activities. However, unlike the general education in America, the Soviet education system is based on large-scale industrialized standard This system ignores the needs of the majority and takes the construction of the country as a uniform standard. After China adopts this system, it has not changed much, and the teachers in China attach great importance in students’ score, as they regard this is the only measure of students’ intelligence and potential in the
As we were digging deeper into our stakeholders, we realized that students who recently graduated from Mandarin High School have important insight on our topic. They have experienced through four years of high school. All now in college had a different outlook on testing. We interviewed four college students, all former Mandarin Mustangs. They all explained how testing in High School was not overwhelming compared to the testing they have in college. Though they do feel the testing is all crammed into a short amount of time. These college students however believe that one test does not accurately represent what the students learned throughout the year. Majority believed that there were too many factors such as, “a bad test taker, bad day, little sleep, etc.” can affect how well the student does on the exam. These former students explained how they felt pressured they
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.
I believe that this individualistic ideal is indeed a consideration in why such a great emphasis is placed on study and academic success both in ancient and modern China. But whilst looking into the topic, I discovered that there was an underlying model of communitarianism with their ethos on study. Chinese people believe that a sound education does not only ensure the future of the individual, but also the future and the development of the family and country on the whole. What this means is the Chinese people believe that that only through study, will China be able to ensure the longevity of its people and nation. The maxim from the Three-Character Scripture (an ancient Chinese writing) states, “if no proper education is given to children, their nature will go bad.” I believe the word “nature” can easily be substituted for the overall health of the future of the nation.
The reason I came the United States is for study. Same as millions international students, I choose American as a place where I attend college, there are two reasons make me made this decision. The first reason is that America has one of the best higher level education in the world. United States not only has best universities of the world, but also the whole nation’s universities have a better academic performance than rest of the world. So that I came to America for study in order to enhance myself. The second reason of I came to America is the competition in my country – China is intense. In the past year, there are 765 million students graduated from college, since the population of college students is super large, find an idea job in China
The differences between the Chinese education and the American education are more obvious in people’s mind, not only to the international students, but also to the native students and some people who study on this. As more and more Chinese students come to America to have better education, we should think about why the American education system is better and how could we change our system to have a new education system in China. These differences have some deeply reason, like the American is the nation which loves freedom. It took long time to make such a big difference between the two education systems, and we need longer time to change it. An undeniable
“In 2006 to 2007, according to the data compiled by the Institute of International Education, 582,984 students from all over the world were enrolled in American colleges and universities in a wide range of fields” (Carter, Paragraph 2, 2008). The United States has the highest number of students who are coming to study abroad than any other countries. Each year, the number of international students coming to the United States to obtain degrees is increasing by thousands, and home countries of these students are primarily India, China and Korea, all located in the whole different continent. But what are the motives of students who are crossing the sea to study? Their goal of studying abroad is to experience diversity and to adapt attitudes
But all the same, living in the United States has also provided me with opportunities to grow and improve in my personal life. Further, into the paper, I will be discussing my formal, semi-formal and informal education experiences and most importantly, how I learned to be who I am today.
Traditionally, Chinese education has been measured on the basis of merit. Those who work hard, study the right facts, and pass the test, succeed. The test is China’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination, otherwise known as the Gaokao (高考- direct translation 'high test'). It is similar to the SAT in that it's a standardized test that determines college acceptance. However, the Gaokao is much more difficult than the SAT and is, for the most part, the only determining factor for college acceptance. The pressure adds up when companies in China only hire from the top universities, so scoring well on the Gaokao not only sets the path for college but also for one's entire career. The emphasis on the Gaokao promotes an academic system based on memorization, which means that students