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Comparison of educational differences between China and America
Professor Yang Zhenning pointed out when comparing Chinese and American education: "American education pays more attention to inspiration, while China education pays more attention to indoctrination." So, what are the specific differences between China and the United States in teaching? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these differences? This paper will analyze and expound the basic education and higher education in China and the United States.
Keywords basic education; Higher education; Differences between China and the United States
I. Basic education
Education in China and the United States have very different traditions. Education in our country pays attention to the accumulation and indoctrination of knowledge, the cultivation of students' respect for knowledge and authority, the mastery and inheritance of knowledge and the construction of knowledge system. In contrast, the United States pays more attention to cultivating students' practical ability to use knowledge, cultivating students' spirit of questioning and criticizing knowledge and authority, and expanding and creating knowledge.
American primary and secondary school students have very little class time, and their homework is limited by time. There is usually no homework on weekends. If there is too much homework in a class, the teacher may be prosecuted by students or parents according to law. At present, American primary and secondary school students have less academic knowledge than China primary and secondary school students. The knowledge level of mathematics and physics textbooks in the second grade of junior high school in China is the same as that in the third grade of junior high school in the United States. Universities and middle schools in the United States implement the credit system, elective system and major and minor system. Curriculum integration, integrating theory with practice, and doing well in the second class make students' extracurricular activities colorful.
For example, in language education, American schools pay attention to cultivating children's self-awareness and language ability. Teachers often ask students to write homework in combination with reality, such as: What do you want to be when you grow up? According to the characteristics of the industry, adults who have been engaged in the industry are required to write a true and feasible report and then speak in class. Therefore, most American children are better than China children in speech and communication. I think the most ideal education is to combine the advantages of Chinese and American education models to make our children have a good foundation and high creativity. Among the educational differences between China and the United States, the most obvious one is the difference between education view and knowledge view. For example, what is the foundation of the basic education stage? The "foundation" of education in China means that the brain reserves knowledge as much as possible and extracts knowledge as quickly as possible on the premise of being independent of computers, so the brains of China students have been fully trained in these two aspects. The "foundation" of American education means that under the premise of making full use of computers, the brain gives up the ability needed to develop those fields that belong to computers and only develops those fields that belong to computers that can't work. China's education has achieved fruitful results in utilizing and developing the internal functions of the brain, but American education is even better in utilizing and synthesizing various external information and expanding the functions of the brain toolkit. Therefore, American students can't compare with China students in the form of closed-book written examination, but China students are far behind American students in the practical research of freely using various information tools.
Second, higher education.
American higher education attaches importance to the cultivation of comprehensive quality, which is mainly manifested in the curriculum setting of schools. Many universities in the United States have offered the course "College Life in 1990s", which is similar to the courses of "Introduction to Life" and "Ideological and Moral Cultivation" in domestic universities, but the content is different, including the role of university education, campus lifestyle, survival skills and so on.
American universities offer various courses, and each course provides corresponding credits and specific requirements for teachers. It is entirely up to the students to decide which courses to choose each semester. The United States only stipulates the total credits that undergraduate and graduate students must achieve. There are no strict rules on entrance examination, years of study and age. , but only the maximum number of years of study at school. As for which academic year to complete the credits, it is up to the students themselves.
The enrollment of colleges and universities in China is mainly based on the results of college entrance examination. In China's higher education, most undergraduate courses are four-year programs, and a few are five-year or six-year programs. At present, China's higher education management is still more or less influenced by the traditional planned economy, and there are still many management principles and systems that cannot meet the needs of market economy and social development.
Similar to higher education in China, the undergraduate program in the United States is a four-year program. The difference is that the first two years of its curriculum are based on basic courses, and the last two years are biased towards professional education. American colleges and universities have different semesters from domestic ones, and some have two semesters a year, which is similar to domestic ones. There are four semesters a year, and one semester is only about ten weeks. Under the credit system, students' learning cycle and teachers' teaching cycle are greatly shortened, which makes the curriculum more compact and professional, and the number of courses undertaken by students per semester is correspondingly reduced. This arrangement is conducive to reducing the time conflict between courses and making it convenient for students to choose the courses they are interested in as much as possible; Focusing on several courses for a period of time is also conducive to improving the quality of learning.
The auxiliary teaching activities in American universities are rich and colorful, and Jackie Chan is a complete set. Various types of discussion classes organized by the school can arouse students' enthusiasm for participation and inspire students to think independently, study deeply and learn from each other. The activities of various student associations are lively, which greatly promotes the development of personal interests and hobbies. There are many kinds of academic lectures, most of which are reports by American academic celebrities, which broaden students' horizons. It is easier to enter an American university than to graduate. First, there are many homework, and the teacher's lectures are wonderful. A large part of it is to let students read, think, write articles and finish all kinds of homework after class. Moreover, teachers should be an important part of evaluating students' total scores every semester, and students dare not neglect them at all. Second, there are many exams. There are exams in almost every subject every week. If you don't pay attention to them, you will get into trouble, which will affect the overall score.
American universities are hierarchical. Famous universities not only have higher tuition fees, but also have better quality of students. Students in famous universities are characterized by special ambition and diligence. The general situation of popular universities in the United States is different. People live by competition and their own abilities. Therefore, American children have developed the habit of relying on themselves from an early age. They also go to college on their own jobs and loans, and they are very independent. They never depend on their parents for life. American universities attach great importance to students' feedback when evaluating teachers' level or performance. If most students are dissatisfied with the teacher, it will directly lead to the teacher being laid off. Therefore, the teaching in American universities has a sense of crisis. How to teach well and be strict with students and satisfy them is really a science.
American education pays more attention to self-study. What the teacher said is quite different from the textbook. In the doctoral stage, most of the time in the class is used for discussion, and the role of the professor is to guide. The main purpose of the discussion is to let you express your opinions and criticize what you have read. In the master's stage, they attach great importance to writing. Generally speaking, they have to write a 5- 10 page essay after reading the materials every week. If it is a big discussion class, you should write at least two papers of about 25 pages each semester, mainly to comment on the literature you read and put forward your own views.
Third, the enlightenment to China education.
Education in the United States focuses on breadth and breadth, while education in China focuses on narrowness and depth. Education in the United States focuses on cultivating students' self-confidence, autonomy and self-reliance, while education in China focuses on cultivating students' rigorous, rigorous and rigorous spirit. From the perspective of cultivating innovative ability, students in China tend to be self-disciplined and self-controlled, and they are used to sticking to conventions for fear of making mistakes. We should see that the United States only pays attention to the foundation to make up for the deficiency on the premise that innovation is more than foundation. The situation in our country is just the opposite of that in the United States. We have more foundation and less innovation, so the promotion of our education must be supplemented by innovation.
American university education attaches great importance to the cultivation of individual ability, is good at mobilizing the potential of individual learning and research, and is conducive to the development and emergence of talents. Education is a cultural phenomenon, and different education reflects different social and cultural connotations. An educational method or system suitable for today's American society may not be suitable for today's China society. Therefore, the comparison of education in different countries must be based on the comparison of social and cultural backgrounds. It is precisely because of the differences in social environment and cultural traditions that the educational differences between different countries and societies are formed. American educational tradition is consistent with American cultural tradition. Similarly, China's educational tradition must be rooted in China's cultural tradition. How to explore an educational model that not only adapts to China society but also absorbs the essence of world education is an important content and difficulty in educational research. We can learn about each other's strengths and weaknesses through communication. Combine China's subtlety with the openness of the United States, combine China's hard study with the creative spirit of the United States, and combine China's down-to-earth with the romance and imagination of the United States. This will be a good method of modern education. I believe that with the deepening of education reform, China education will surely achieve greater success and breakthrough in the near future.
References:
Yang Zhenning. Professor Yang Zhenning's Comparative Thinking on Chinese and American Education [J]. Fudan Education, 2002
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About the author: He Juan 1989-, female, from Yichang, Hubei, master, research direction: Chinese international education.