English 402-02
The purpose of this research paper is to give readers a basic understanding of how the Chinese educational system functions, including primary school, high school, university, and the international school. Part one of this essay addresses the history of the Chinese educational system. In part two, there is a brief explanation about existing flaws in the system followed by recommendations. A discussion of the international school in China is used to illustrate one of the reasons so many Chinese students pursue study abroad programs. Solutions are posited based on research and contemporary articles. Some of the information contained in this essay is anecdotal, based on personal experience and perceptions.
China's supremacy on international standardized tests leads many to believe that American schools should work to imitate the Chinese educational system, “China has a reputation for having a rigorous educational system, scoring first place out of 65 nations in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test” (Jackson 1). Chinese students score high on Math and Science tests. The reason Chinese students do so well is because they work so hard in school. Cultural pressure to perform is high and students are cautioned that they will have a bright future if they study hard. If they do not do well in school, they are told, they will grow up to be losers. Therefore, the study load for Chinese students is very heavy. The following is a chart that demonstrates time spent on homework in China.
This chart clearly displays the amount of time 15-year-olds spend on homework per week. According to the article “Student in these countries spend the most time doing homework” (Kohli 1). The average amount of time an America student spends doing homework every week is 6.1 hours compared to a Chinese student who spends 13.8 hours. Chinese students spend more than twice as much time doing homework as American students. This leads to great successes on test scores, but the student loses a lot in the exchange. Chinese students do not have spare time to go outside play with the friends or to develop new hobbies. They do not pursue as many art classes or music lessons as students in other countries.
Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), brought immense changes to the country’s educational system. So many changes occurred so fast that it threatened to bring the whole system to its knees. By the end of the Cultural Revolution, the system was dysfunctional. The Cultural Revolution caused the educational system in China to regress several decades. After the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party worked to reverse the losses that occurred during Mao’s tenure.
Beijing has been attempting reforms of these tests for several years. Specifically there is opposition n to the emphasis on English and on overall procedure.
After 1976, the Chinese government began rebuilding the economy and the educational system. In 1985, the Communist Government created a nine-year program of compulsory education. Primary school became six years followed by three years of middle school. At the same time, the state educational commission introduced the two Entrance Exam systems: the Zhongkao and the Gaokao. The Zhongkao (中考, Academic Examination) is required for entry into High School. The Gaokao (高考, Higher Education Exam) is required for entry into colleges and universities. These exams are known to be extremely stressful and draining. Students dread the exams and so do their parents. Students are assigned numbers and often feel dehumanized by the experience. Test scores become the sole indicator of a student’s success. There are other complaints that the exams are unfair and more academically demanding than can be expected of most publically educated students. Accusations of unfairness stem from the private tutoring system in China, which some parents can afford offer to their children.
There have been government proposals that would outlaw private tutoring. In order to understand the way the Chinese educational system works, it is better to provide a chart. The figures above give nonprofessionals an understanding of education in China. Many events that occurred during the Culture Revolution seem nonsensical. For example, there is the story about a young man named is Zhang Tieshen. In 1973, he composed a letter to the college president on the back of his blank college entrance exam. In his letter, he denounced the examination process as based on capitalist models of education. Some believe he actually did not know any of the answers to the test questions and that is why he wrote the letter to the school president. His story made the front page of the newspapers and his noble morality was praised. He was admitted to the university and is now a folk hero and millionaire.
Other problems with China’s educational system that should be addresses concern the Zhongkao and Gaokao, mentioned above. A young person’s future can be decided on these two exams. The exams decide which high school and which college a student enters. Both two exams are given once a year. Normally, after a student finishes middle school, they are given the chance to take the Zhongkao. That exam decides their high school placement. After high school, most students’ goals include entering a great university. However, this requires graduating from a good high school. There are a number of notable differences between the Chinese and the US educational systems. One of the main differences is that in the United States, the college educational system is accessible to most people, even those with limited resources, as long as they possess the will and desire to attend. In China, once a student has successfully entered a good university, it is still challenging but probable that graduates will find a good administrative position after graduation. Even though college graduation statistics in America promise a better life, that life is not guaranteed in the United States. There is some level of similarities in terms of standardized testing. The SAT constitutes one of the most important tests to gauge college placement and financial aid access. The Gaokao in China is the one and only critical test needed for one to make it into college. Gaokao competition is high and considering the population of China and the limited spots available, many students end up specializing in test-taking skills. Some argue that the Gaokao stunts motivation and creativity, "No one, after 12 years of Chinese education, has any chance to receive a Nobel prize, even if he or she goes to Harvard, Yale, Oxford, or Cambridge for college" (Jackson 1). Students end up studying test-taking instead improving other skills or preparing for a future job. This causes many problems. High-end companies will not hire graduates from local colleges because most of them did not learn anything during the college. China ranks highly in programs of international student assessment. However, after students cease to prepare for the Gaokao anymore, their scores drop quickly. “There’s a 40% unemployment rate for white collar workers in China, and multinational companies will often import workers for top positions rather than hire locals. While China graduates over 600,000 engineers a year, McKinsey Global Institutes estimates that only 1 in 10 had the skills to make it in a foreign multinational”(Forhooar 1).
Most students who graduate from college cannot find a job because of their lack of practical skills. Rather than spent a lot of money and time to train a new employee, they would hire a high skill employee from other country. There is another reason; even after graduation, people cannot find a job. According to the Yukon Huang and Canyon Bosler, the main reason is nepotism. Finding a good job is dependent on the family’s connections and one’s father’s position. The easiest way to find a good job is to bribe someone in Human Resources or management. The majority of the people do not have enough money or the right connections. It could be very much to a good job. Many talented graduate students going to waste because most of good jobs are secured by rich people.
Another major problem for the Chinese Educational system is the most of the material is useless. Students with photographic memories have no difficulty passing the Gaokao. Even the for the math tests, students must memorize formulas, questions, and solutions. “Creativity and critical thinking are seen as objects of western frivolousness. Although Chinese students analyze literature, they never write essays and instead they simply memorize the texts” (Ringmar 1). The creativity and imagination is the foundation of innovation. National politics is concerned with educational reforms in China, and most agree it must be accomplished on a mass scale. However, finding creative and innovative ways to deal with such huge student spoliation is not easy. Nor is there one single solution. An essential change that ought to be made is to lessen the emphasis on math and science and increase creative studies programs. In this way, future generations will have better critical thinking skills. It also must be the most treasury things for the human being. Corporations seek employees who have creativity skills such as those found at Google, and Apple. Right know fossil fuel will be run out less than five hundred years. If human can find any alternatives, the human race will become a dying race and most likely go back to middle ages.
The high student suicide rate could also be a major problem. There are three major causes of the students commit suicide, which are massive homework, long tutor and test score. “Suicide is the top cause of death among Chinese youth, according to China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In most Western countries, accidents cause the greatest number of youth deaths. Every year, roughly 250,000 people commit suicide in China, while another two million attempt to” (Caskie 1). The major cause of the suicide is the Gaokao and Zhongkao. The daily high pressure of homework is even hard for an adult. The test score also is main reason drive student to suicide. The one child policy makes every family put all the attention to their only child and since the government retirement plans, is worthless. Parent’s retirement income really depends on their only child. Almost every parent in China wishes his or her child to have a promising future and be rich someday. The school also train the students become test machines, and in order to pass the Gaokao and Zhongkao have a chance to enter a great University, and wish them to find good job. Gaokao and Zhongkao is the only option to become rich. For the family they will sacrifice everything for their children to get good test score. Personal experiences of students across China are filled with parents who tell their children that they are willing to sacrifice everything to help prepare for the tests. Parents put a lot of pressure on their children. Chinese students often receive private tutoring outside of class. Even the schools will organize extra tutor for the students. According to the Wei in the article of “Copying the long Chinese school day could have unintended consequences”, the Student start at 7:30 to 8:00 a.m., and be over at p.m., most middle school, high school and even the elementary school then rush into tutorial class for another 2-3 hours. For the weekend most of students would choose go to teachers personal tutorial class. Many teachers make lot of money through tutorial class. Another problem arises when a student reject a teacher’s offer of tutoring. Teachers then treat those students differently. For example, the rejected teacher may place the student at the back of the classroom. In some extremely cases, teachers have been known to swear at students and tell them they are useless in front of the whole class. The government is aware the negative effect of tutorial class so they have considered prohibiting the practice. In reality, no one would repot tutorial class to the educational institution. Parents believe is helpful to children to success at Gaokao and Zhongkao, and there are no actual punishment for organize the tutorial class. Students spent most of time on the tutorial class, at school, and doing the homework. Students face the pressure of daily tests. Examinations become most students’ worse nightmare. Even for excellent students there are no guarantees they can get good score every time. There is a rank system in each test. For example, if there are 40 students in a class, the lowest scoring student will have a rank of 40. Every time teachers return homework, they announce the student’s name, score, and rank number in front of the class. There is no privacy at all. The main purpose of the rank system is because of want student competitor each other to get good grade, and give students motivation to study harder but the side effect is very serious. High-ranking students have a feeling of superiority. They bully the low rank number students to release daily pressure. That behavior is abnormal. For the low rank students they feel shame and become unconfident. The parents are also angry to their child because of the low grade and rank number. Homework is big part of role in suicide cases. “In a highly competitive educational system that emphasizes rote learning and passing exams, Chinese students spend on average 8.6 hours a day in class and can expect several more hours of assignments afterwards.” Normally the homework could spend more than three hours daily. Typically, students go to bed at midnight and arise at 6:30 am to prepare for the school. There was no time for play with friend or watch television. In the United States, there is a sentiment that childhood should be a happy, carefree time. In China, it can become a nightmare because of constant stress from testing, homework, and tutoring. Some students function on the edge of collapse.
Many Chinese students seek to study abroad because they want to enroll in prestigious schools such as Tsinghua University or Peking University eventually. Others feel that by spending their college years elsewhere they will be relieved of the pressures to study and score high on the Gaokao. They view foreign schools as a way to have fun and enjoy a diverse number of experiences. These are some of the reasons that modern Chinese students pursue an overseas educational rather than stay in China and pursue college there or employment. One of the reasons that Chinese students choose to study abroad try avoid the upcoming Gaokao. Most of their high school scholastic careers are spent preparing for this exam. In addition, the study environment is so stressful. Not all the students can survive. Many students would like go overseas to study at foreign country to develop some personal skill and to choose an ideal study environment have good time. Another reason is China’s University plagiarism is very common. “Bureaucratic interference is also blamed for the deeply worrying trend of academic fraud, with problems including plagiarism, forged degrees, falsification of research data and ghost-writing theses and papers” (Yeung 1). Because of lack of the serious punishment for the plagiarism, not only students copy others work but also professor do the same thing use other’s work become his/her own achievement. Another major problem for the Chinese university is the lack of employment after graduation, “This year almost 7 million college graduates will pour into China’s job market, the highest number ever recorded in the People’s Republic’s history. By the end of April, only 35% of soon-to-be college graduates had found jobs, according to a survey by MyCOS, a data firm in Beijing.” Most of Giant Corporation would like to choose their employee graduate from foreign country over the local. The reason is because those people have skill that is more reliable and have better creativity, there are more than one million new college graduates. The job spot are limited. Most of them will have hard time to fine the job. Some students have very high ambition and with low skill.
International school is very different with traditional Chinese high school. Most of the international schools are local at China’s major city. The purpose for the international school is prepared for those students who are going to study abroad. They use English as primary language to teach the students. The only requirement to get in international school is money. They do not need Zhongkao to decide.
The educational system of international school is very similar to the US high school and Europe country so the stress level is not same as normal Chinese high school. The problem is the study environment is still very bad. Not come from the massive homework or test. Those students who fail to pass the Zhongkao have no way to enter high school. A lot of student has bad behavior, because their purpose is not to study, their just want to play around and make many troubles to the others. The reason the tuition increase so quickly because of more and more people like going to international school instead of traditional high school. More and more parents want send their children study abroad to have a better future.
The solution can be very difficult to carry out. Many people say that the best way to change the system ends the Gaokao and Zhongkao because it creates a lot of pressure to children. The reality is if we cancel the Gaokao or Zhongkao, only the rich kids can go to the university because the difference between rich and poor in China has a huge gap. Rich family will use their money and relationship let them enter university with no skill. For all the poor kids will have zero chance to change their life. Only the Gaokao and Zhongkao is relatively fair test to the public. It is not completely fair because there is still number of the people uses their money and power makes some assumption to their own child. One way to improve the Chinese educational system would be to reduce the level of difficulty in the Gaokao and Zhongkao. This would offer a wider number of students an opportunity to attend Colleges and Universities. Make the university courage students actual learn something is useful for the future career and develop more skill prepare for the future job. The government needs to make more regulate limit students workload but also need make tutorial class become volunteer to join not force by the school, teacher, and parents. The school needs to treat plagiarism more seriously and punish who are trying to do it.
Work cited
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