Education in China

What I have learned about the Chinese education system has made me even more thankful to be an American. In China, the goal of a student is to go to college. The family will pour all of their money into ensuring that the child will go to college. At the end of their middle level education, students take an exam. This exam determines their future. If they score high they go to a good academic college. If they do not score high, they then go to a vocational school. The vocational school offers one more opportunity to attend college. If you are a gifted artist or craftsmen, you can possibly go to college on that route but again the competition is fierce. To attend college from the art track, you have to produce a single piece of art in a specific amount of time. Failure to do so at the level of proficiency deemed exceptional, results in no further education and the entry into the world of work. As the program coordinator said "Life in China is hard for those without an education."

The high school that we are visiting works very hard to prepare students to have one more shot at college. The faculty however is also very realistic and with that they place great emphasis on being a good citizen after high school. The faculty teach one to two classes per day and the each class has 50 to 60 students.

Collaborative learning is not part of the pedagogical practices here. We have opened their eyes to a new way of teaching. In China, the teacher is the disseminator of knowledge and the students are the passive recipients of the information. Parents and students follow the rules of the school and do not challenge the authority. Parents want to please the school in the event that there may be an opportunity for their children to be placed into a college option.

The teachers here are absolutely fascinated by our collaborative activities. They were amazed that learning can be fun and that the students could smile during the learning process. The faculty is so eager to change. The teachers want to know how we knew to bring in the learning games and where they could find such information. I shared that I would email English Language Learner websites to them and they were so incredibly excited. Several teachers have asked that I continue to email them for they want to change their style of teaching to improve the level of learning that is occurring in their classrooms.

This experience has opened my eyes to how advanced our school system and our educational system truly is and how we should work to continue to open lines of communication with other countries. From our time here, we have impacted not only the students currently enrolled but we will continue to make a difference in the learning of students to come for the teachers have seen a new and innovative way to instruct.