Education In China v. America: The Question Of Standardized Tests

Are Chinese and American education models heading for a role reversal?

As leaders work in China to move the country away from its notoriously rigorous focus on standardized testing, Americans seem to be heading in the opposite direction.

In China, all students must prepare for the country's massive, multi-day test known as the "gaokao". Each student's score on the test determines whether or not they will go on to college.

Unlike the American college application process, where each applicant's SAT score is considered amidst several other factors, the "gaokao" is the only factor that determines a young person's future.

According to ABC World News, Chinese students spend their entire young lives preparing for the tests.

Yet, as China continues to develop at an astounding pace, many wonder if the inflexible education system is able to produce the sort of innovators the country will need to succeed in the future.

At a time when many are pushing the United States toward an education system focused on test scores, what lessons can be learned from China's system, its shortcomings and the changes that are being made?

ABC's Diane Sawyer traveled to China to take a look inside the country's rigid testing system.

WATCH:

According to Newsweek, Chinese leaders are responding by moving education policies increasingly to focus on developing creative thinkers.

And they aren't the only ones, Newsweek says,

Around the world...other countries are making creativity development a national priority.

Meanwhile, in the American education system, reformers are pushing the country toward a more test score-based model, with scores dictating how funds are doled out, how teachers are evaluated and more.

Reformers in Los Angeles, New York City and other American cities have pressed for the "valued-added" system, ranking teachers based on their students' achievements on tests. These plans are similar to the ones proposed by the Obama Administration.

Teachers unions are among the groups spearheading the fight against boosting the role of test scores in grading teachers.

Newsweek reports,

When faculty of a major Chinese university asked [Professor Jonathan] Plucker to identify trends in American education, he described our focus on standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing. "After my answer was translated, they just started laughing out loud," Plucker says. "They said, 'You're racing toward our old model. But we're racing toward your model, as fast as we can.' "

Comments

[Lexie]

12:38 AM on 01/07/2011

Canada is much more like the US than China is, and its education system is ranked 5th in the world, while US's is ranked 21st. US would probably be able to look at and adapt the Canadian system more easily than the Chinese system. Canadian system is pluralistic but has very high standards.

[Prometeo]

09:15 PM on 11/26/2010

Wait a second! So China, the totalitarian state that controls everything it can, is moving away from standardized test and the US is embracing them. What is going on here? What's next a totalitarian US Educational System?

[Peter Pappas]

07:36 PM on 11/22/2010

Creativity is on the decline among our children. Walk into many classrooms and you'll see why. Our kids are too busy being force-fed a diet of "test-prep" to have any time to explore their learning in deeper, more open-ended approaches. NCLB marches on - narrowing the curriculum to the point that many elementary school no longer have time to devote to non-tested subjects. As if being a struggling learner is not punishment enough, students are pulled out of art and music - classes that offer hands-on learning and outlets for their creativity. What awaits them is likely “drill and kill’ that doesn’t sound like much fun for students or their teachers. Daily reading, writing and application of math should be common to every class. Let music students explore the mathematical elements of rhythm and then journal what they had learned.
While NCLB began with the admirable goal of narrowing demographic performance gaps and putting an end to sorting kids on the “bell curve,” because of its myopic reliance on standardized (we don't trust teachers) testing - it has failed. And the great irony is that while our students spend endless hours honing their test taking skills, the demand for routine skills has disappeared from the workplace. Anyone know of a meaningful and rewarding career that looks like filling out a worksheet?
What's needed to restore creativity as the centerpiece of schools? See my post "As NCLB Narrows the Curriculum, Creativity Declines" http://bit.ly/c0CmbQ

[fem56]

04:11 PM on 11/22/2010

The students in China seem like they are under way too much pressure but at the same time we could learn a lot from their dedication to and appreciation for learning. It seems to be a good thing if we learn from them too. The Chinese are so motivated. How can we transport some of the motivation to the US? Our students ought to be learning a second language in school. Why not start in pre-school so the our kids can converse in simple sentences by third grade?
It is amazing the way these kids come to the US in high school and learn English! Chinese is so different. It seems like it is much easier to institute changes in China because they are not a democracy but it is certainly worth the effort.

[SangZe]

10:32 AM on 11/22/2010

When I gave my Chinese nephew a 6th grade math book from the U.S.A., he laughed and said he had finished such games in the 3rd grade. He learned English as a second language before entering high school, and came out of high school knowing Japanese as well. The drawback? He spent long hours at school every day, and followed classes with private tutoring as well. This probably restricted his social development, but he learned hot to think for himself. Education and educators are highly respected in China by everyone. It is the key to success in the culture, and has been for many many years, unlike the U.S.A. which considers schooling as a form of babysitting.

[dbl48]

12:02 PM on 11/22/2010

Students in middle schools in china start school at 7:55am and go until 2:20 and stay later for further instruction(it is voluntary but many still stay for extra lessons.).
Students in high schools in china start at 8:00am, but they have to get there at 7:30am for morning cleanup, have a lunch break, then go until 5pm, then break for dinner and then go until 9:30pm.
So if US schools were to follow China's schedule, there would be no need for "schooling as a form of babysitting" situation...or would it?

[fem56]

06:18 PM on 11/21/2010

Asians dominate the student bodies in the top California UC's. People complain about undocumented immigrants from Latin America in our state schools. At the top UC's a lot more undocumented immigrants are from Asian countries.. The parents want there children to take advantage of what the US has to offer. I have heard that reason for all the pressure on these kids from such a young age is because these young people know they can end up poor if they are not amoung the best in their country. They bring those values to the US. I remember watching Japanese parents tutoring their five year old kid during a birthday party. When my kids were tiny we use to stop at a donut shop. The Chinese immigrant parents worked seven days a week and the teenage daughter was always studying in the back. Even at progressive schools my kids have attended the asian students always did more, Saturday school, Kumon math-just bit by bit they got ahead.

[lcr999]

12:10 AM on 11/22/2010

Most asians in higher education are not undocumented. Student visas are relatively straight forward to obtain.

[fem56]

04:00 PM on 11/22/2010

Of course not-I didn't say or imply that plus I have no statistics. The vast majority of the students are legally in the US. Asians just tend to rise to the top of the pack academically and take advantage of everything offered.

[tulipsbabe]

10:53 AM on 11/21/2010

I am looking for solutions. Fingerpointing and victimizing will not solve the problems in EITHER education systems. KIPP schools are one solution to the problem. They may not work in every senario, but they are showing success in many disadvantaged areas. They could represent the pendulum's returning to a less drastic swing. The founders of KIPP schools saw the problem, devised a solution, and implemented it...it seems to be working. If nothing less there is something to be learned from what they are doing. Does anyone else have an example of progress? Does China have something similar to KIPP schools?

[SemperVeritas]

09:22 AM on 11/21/2010

Federal standards and testing is obedience-training,
pure and simple.

Nothing less and nothing more.

[Julie Zhou]

07:34 PM on 11/22/2010

To pass those testing one must read a lot and solve a lot challenging problems. No one is there helping you but yourself. People who read so much and tried so hard to find the most effective and correct ways to solve problems are critical thinkers, far away from obedience-training.

[Jeremy Kao]

10:47 PM on 11/20/2010

It's unfortunate that America is focusing on standardized tests when developing creativity is what made America's educational system the model of others'. Granted, the best educational system employs the perfect balance between taking tests and practicing creativity. And the effectiveness of such a system is dependent on the students and whether or not they are motivated.

Testing is a good measure of how well a student has learned the curriculum, but that's not exactly true for creativity. Creativity involves hands-on projects, interacting with others, and applying what is learned. Just as different people have different methods of learning, people also have different ways of thinking. And different ways of thinking is exactly what creativity is.

So by not focusing on creativity, America is taking away one of the very characteristics that separated it from other countries: its diversity. Standardizing anything, including tests, limits diversity and difference. And therefore, it also limits innovation.

[Julie Zhou]

07:38 PM on 11/22/2010

Basic training of fundamental skills and knowledge does not destroy creativity. You have to know the basic of cooking to create a new dish. It is hard work.

[mathman180]

06:38 PM on 11/20/2010

Anyone who wishes to read more deeply on this topic should not fail to read the best work I've seen that addresses it: "Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization" by Yong Zhao, a professor of education at Michigan State University and a product of the Chinese education system.

[Amalek]

01:23 PM on 11/20/2010

I teach in one of China's top universities.  My students are much smarter than at any university in the US simply because they school is so selective.  We admit the top 800 kids out of a pool of 75 million.  But while they are smart, scary smart, they are ignorant.  They have memorized so much but have never been taught to think and to create.  That is why I am there, and on those days I succeed, I fear for the future of America.

[grouseless54]

02:36 PM on 11/20/2010

Dear Amalek:
This will probably get lost in all your fans, but I've studied Chinese history and I would dearly love to know what it is you see when you succeed that gives you pause. Are the students you succeed with moral in the Confucian model? No? Will these students make able managers of the future? And not just for China - the world?

[Amalek]

11:11 PM on 11/20/2010

When I succeed in connecting with bright Chinese business students, what I see is a terrifying vision of a global business leader who is going to dominate any market she turns her attention to.   She is smart, he is driven, and she gets it (this person is more often than not a woman).   Yes, they are grounded in Confucian ethics, but they are as hard hearted as Jack Welch.

[cheeeeeeese]

12:54 AM on 11/21/2010

I teach at Harvard and I know American universities are better.

[Amalek]

09:21 AM on 11/21/2010

I have been there too.  I absolutely agree American universities are better. I am just saying Chinese students are smarter at the best schools.

[SemperVeritas]

09:25 AM on 11/21/2010

Sure. Uh huh.

[OldeTymeLiberalDude]

10:24 AM on 11/20/2010

One of the major points almost always missed by these comparisons is the model of the system of inclusion in America vs. almost every other country we are compared too. All students are given a chance at an education in the US they try to encourage kids to stay in school and have a shot at a college education and a better life, even kids with special needs. In China, Korea, and numerous other countries if a kid is not making the grade they are tracked out of that system into a trade school or put to work in a factory. Comparing the two models is like comparing apples and oranges and should not be done.

[lcr999]

10:03 PM on 11/20/2010

In both places everyone is given a chance. The difference is the consequences of non-performance, and how soon those consquences take effect. In the US a student can screw up for 13 years and still get into college. And then he/she can screw up for a few more years before finally growing up at about 20, and still actually succeed. Not likely, but possible.

In China and India , there are consequences to screwing up, and they kick in early, even in middle school and certainly in High school. Not many second chances.

One of the biggest problems in higher education in the US is the number of students who have not yet grown up, who have not learned to study, and who think they will always get one more chance. And this has been getting worse not better in the last 40 years.

Tracking someone into trade school at the 5th grade is not right, but letting them screw up without consequence until they are 20 is not right either.

[OldeTymeLiberalDude]

10:11 PM on 11/21/2010

Screwing up and needing some extra help are two entirely different things.

[rusterile]

12:21 PM on 11/19/2010

This is not something new in Asia. For years students in Japan have out preformed American students in language, math and science while America has out performed Japan in the real world of economics and technology. In an effort to change this Japan has for at least the last 10 years been trying to move it's education system more toward the less standardized American model. The problem for Japan, and I expect this will be true of China, is that their culture is more ridged and inflexible in the attitudes and roles assigned to parents, teachers and students. There is a commercial on TV about energy use that I have seen that shows a young Japanese adolesent playing his guitar loudly in his room and ends with an annoyed farther turning off the power resulting in in a confused look on the young man's face. The last line of the voice over in the commercial is "When Mr. Youshi (I think that's the name) lets him." This says it all about the difference between what is expected to be tolerated by kids in Japan verses kids in the U.S.

[Marc Wechsler]

12:58 PM on 11/19/2010

1. By "outperforming" in economics, do you mean succeeding in a subjective topic that had led us to our current economic situation.

2. I also question your comment about America leading in technology. Aside from weaponry, i don't consider America to be the forefront of technological advancements, unless you mean bringing in foreigners with money and counting that as "home-grown" technology.

3. This is an unfair comparison because the Chinese/other Asian countries can change from a more inflexible system to a more creative-based system because the kids at least have a strong basis of language/science/and math in which they can do other things. American students don't have even a solid foundation of those topics and so those standardized tests are needed to bring the kids up to a level where they can be creative and make something.

[rusterile]

01:56 PM on 11/19/2010

1. By outperforming in economics I speak of the last 30 year period. Our current economic situation is a problem that we now share with Japan which has been in our situation for the last 10 years. If I had to bet I would bet that we will come out of this before 10 years and probably before Japan but I admit we are in some deep s--t and the political situation is so bad that I am not confident in my prediction.

2. Don't you count things like the internet or personal computers? Anyway, again I am talking about the last thirty years. Are things changing? Are we loosing our edge? Maybe, again only time will tell. But I don't see Japan taking the lead in technology any time soon.

3. I don't see any issues of fairness arising from my comparison outcomes in economic and technological growth and the basic formats of the educational systems that feed into them. My piece was written that the real world outcomes of educational systems have more to do with culture than they have to do with the educational objectives of the system.

[Lake Saganaga]

11:48 PM on 11/18/2010

Yep, another post on similar lines :

http://yong-zhao.com/2010/03/24/does-the-u-s-want-what-china-wants-to-throw-away-the-role-of-testing-in-two-national-education-reform-plans/

[thankulord13]

09:17 PM on 11/18/2010

I lived in Korea for 3 years and the Koreans did the same thing, base a childs entire future on one multi-day test. This is very counter productive to society. The problem with America is that we have parents who are not active in the childs development, as well as societal problems such as getting material things and not working for it. We have become a lazy and with all this technicology we really don't have to do think. I was just telling some one the other day how we use to have to remember phone numbers. These days we program and push a button. We just need to prioritize and get our kid back to reading and not watching television.