1998, this concept was introduced into China, and "K 12 China Primary and Secondary Education and Teaching Network" was opened, which opened the precedent of K 12 online education. Compared with the foreign K 12 education system which has been perfected after years of reform, China's K 12 education system is not perfect, but there is still a lot of room for development.
This paper will briefly describe the K 12 education system between China and the United States, and make a comparison between Chinese and American education, so as to clarify the enlightenment of American education to China education.
American public schools provide a compulsory education system from kindergarten to senior high school/grade KLOC-0/2 (K 12). The procurement of public educational resources in the United States is relatively market-oriented, which provides a stable and profitable business model for educational service companies; Perfect network and other infrastructure conditions provide greater opportunities for technical education companies.
I. Concept definition
K 12 is a special term for education. K 12 or K- 12, kindergarten? Through? Twelfth? The abbreviation of grade refers to from kindergarten (usually 5-6 years old) to 10 grade (grade? 12, usually 17- 18 years old), these two grades are the beginning and end of free education in the United States, Australia and other countries, and can also be used as a general term for basic education stages.
In China, basic education refers to nine-year compulsory education in a narrow sense, that is
Six years of primary education and three years of junior high school education. At present, K 12 has become an important sub-industry of online education. With the arrival of the population window, it will have a very broad market prospect.
II. K 12 American Education
? The United States is one of the countries with the highest education quality in the world, with a complete and unique education system. The high level of American culture and education also determines America's leading position in the field of science and technology in the world. In the eyes of Americans, everyone has the right to receive education. American law stipulates that children must go to school at the age of 6- 16. Public schools in the United States are supported by government taxes, and students are admitted free of charge; Private schools are mostly funded by the church. Generally speaking, American education can be divided into four progressive stages: preschool education, primary education, secondary education (junior high school and senior high school) and higher education.
Case study: K 12 International Education Company
K 12 International Education is an American science and technology online education company, which provides courses, educational services and management systems for students from kindergarten to 12 grade (defined by K 12 in the United States). The company's business is mainly oriented to B-end customers, including public schools, private schools, virtual network public schools and physical online mixed schools; At the same time, it also provides courses and educational services for C-end customers.
K 12 The international community is an online private school. Students can get an American high school degree through academic programs or apply for part-time single-subject courses. K 12 The international community adopts the same curriculum, system and teaching mode as the virtual network public schools, providing a community for students to communicate with other countries.
George Washington University's online high school project is a cooperation with George Washington University, which provides preparatory courses for students who are eager to attend top universities, as well as academic consulting services for high school students.
Keystone School offers full-time and part-time courses, including online courses and correspondence courses. Keystone offers cheaper courses than the other two private schools.
The project income of managed public schools is the company's main source of income. In fiscal year 20 15 (July 2004 1, June 30, 2015), the company achieved revenue of 950 million USD, up by 3. 1% year-on-year, mainly due to the slow growth rate of management public schools (application (For more information, please visit Eurosubnet) Management-oriented public school projects contributed 87.3% of revenue, while institutional sales projects, international and private school projects accounted for a lower proportion of revenue, accounting for 7.7% and 4.9% respectively.
Second, the comparison of Chinese and American education
The fundamental difference between Chinese and American cultures is that the United States advocates individualism and pursues individual freedom, while China emphasizes collectivism, demanding that individual interests obey collective interests and unify thoughts. In education, the United States pays attention to the development of students' personality, emphasizes that students explore and design experiments themselves, and pays more attention to the process of teaching thinking when imparting knowledge, rather than pursuing the logic and hierarchical system of knowledge theory.
China's education, as we all know, emphasizes theoretical knowledge and ignores the thinking process, and emphasizes the test results and ignores the experimental ability. Any science textbook in primary and secondary schools in China, including universities, is very logical and organized, but what do these knowledge predecessors think?
Can we design experiments to verify the correctness of those theories? What related occupations can you engage in after learning these theoretical knowledge? Or is this knowledge useful in real life? China's textbooks can't answer these questions. In China, if it weren't for the exam, I believe no one would be interested in reading those textbooks.
Three: Summary
Through the brief introduction of K 12 education curriculum in China and the United States, and the comparison between China and the United States, generally speaking, the trend of education reform in China is promising. But among them, there are great challenges for teachers and students. Teachers and students must make a lot of efforts to adapt to the reform under the new situation.