Expert answer:Education in China
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Will the Next Steve Jobs Be From China?
By LENORA CHUOCT. 23, 2017
Photo
Students in a Peking University study hall. Credit Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG, via Getty
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The traditional Chinese approach to education is outdated. Domineering
teachers discourage open questioning. An emphasis on standardized testing
keeps children studying rather than exploring. Collectivism promotes
conformity. External rewards are prioritized over a love of learning. Academic
pressure creates undue psychological burdens.
But the Chinese leadership is intent on improving the system. “There is
nothing that should remain unchanged when it comes to reform of our
educational institutions,” Wang Feng, a director in the Ministry of
Education’s National Research Center, told me in 2015. Government policy,
along with willing administrators and teachers, is beginning to produce
positive results.
The typical Chinese classroom is generally centered around the teacher, with
children sitting in rows, the higher performers at the front of the classroom.
The curriculums in the early years focus on math and the Chinese language,
with full literacy — defined as the memorization of 3,500 distinct characters
— expected in middle school.
In later years, students spend eight hours a day in school, and hours on
homework or after-school test prep. (American students generally spend 90
minutes fewer in school each day and tackle eight fewer hours of homework a
week than students in Shanghai, for example.)
The system is highly competitive. Of the nine million students who take the
national college entrance exam, about two to three million will fail to advance
into college. A focus on passing tests can kill a student’s natural interests and
prevent opportunities to explore and be creative.
But the 10-year education reform plan released in 2010 declared that schools
must foster a “fine environment for independent thinking.” The government
is beginning to allow some schools to dictate up to 20 percent of their
curriculum, according to Yang Xiaowei, a professor at East China Normal
University. Some principals have chosen to introduce science- and mathbased creativity classes or experiential learning projects, while one Shanghai
administrator simply lets out school early a day a week to encourage kids to
“explore.”
“Students must develop a personality,” Dai Chong, a Beijing schoolteacher,
said, uttering priority unthinkable two decades ago for a nation of rotelearning math fanatics.
As Mr. Dai ushered me through the hallways of Beijing National Day School, I
noted practices that seemed more American than Chinese: Rankings were not
be posted. Textbooks were left at school instead of toted home for study. Class
sizes had been whittled down to a maximum of 25. A mental health club was
advertised as a release valve for academic pressure. Choice was also on the
menu — students could pick electives such as swimming, rock climbing and
Frisbee.
“We have found traditional authoritarian Chinese teaching has many ill
effects and deviates from the essence of education, which is to serve
individuals,” Mr. Dai said. “Our teachers are like friends.”
An abrupt reversal, indeed, for a school that at one time didn’t provide hot
water for showers because cold water would enhance “willpower and
endurance.”
Reformers are also loosening the shackles of entrance-exam testing. Some
students in Shanghai will have two chances at the college entrance exam,
while universities are beginning to consider volunteering, interviews and
regular high school tests as part of the admissions process.
For all its faults, the Chinese system provides some benefits that critics tend
to dismiss. It imparts an early foundation of knowledge that can prepare a
child for lifelong success. Cognitive scientists say that real learning doesn’t
happen unless knowledge is imprinted on long-term memory. Once children
lock away key information, they can free up the active memory for thinking
deeply — and for being creative.
And the system produces success stories. On the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development’s 2012 problem-solving test, students in
Shanghai — a pilot district where reforms are tested — finished sixth, well
above the O.E.C.D. average. And highly skilled Chinese can thrive in
environments that encourage originality and entrepreneurship.
When such skilled Chinese emigrate, the results are impressive: Ethnic
Chinese immigrants are founding Silicon Valley start-ups and are securing
American patents at a disproportionate rate. China is a global leader in
industries like artificial intelligence, drone manufacturing and mobile
payments. China’s start-up sector has produced nearly as many tech unicorns
as the United States (and surpassed Europe) so far this year.
Significant obstacles stand in the way of reform. Deeply rooted
authoritarianism and exam pressure dampen individual will, as does the
Communist Party’s increasingly heavy political agenda in the classroom. How
can China’s leadership cultivate critical-thinking skills while also pushing
political indoctrination?
Further, change is largely confined to urban Chinese schools with the will,
special designation or clout to experiment, while rural students are more
likely to founder in a system that perpetuates inequality. Meanwhile, families
with the financial means continue to prefer secondary and university
education abroad.
Yet in education, the Chinese are hopscotching with intent, and in the right
direction. In a tightening global marketplace for college spots and jobs, the
Chinese are growing more competitive.
Lenora Chu is the author of “Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School and
the Global Race to Achieve.”
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion),
and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
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