The Problems with the Chinese education system (Part One)

As promised previously, I will rant about the problems in China's education system... Their are two main problems... I will talk about the first one today: The emphasis on memorization of the "right answer"

Chinese classes are all lectures. there are very few if any discussion classes and within the lectures there is no discussion.... I think that this is terrible... I don't feel as though this is an effective way of learning and frankly, I think that this is a waste of time... If you are just going to class to be talked at, then why not just read lecture notes or watch a documentary... If you want to actually learn something, then I think that is important to be an active participant in your own education... This means asking questions and thinking about the topics and issues... Not just trying to ingest and memorize them, which is exactly what students are expected to do here in China. For example, English instruction for these students starts in middle school, at about the age of 12... By the time they get to college, they have had at least 6 years of formal English Education... But most of them can barely express themselves. This is due to the poor quality of the system and NOT for lack of effort on the students..

Chinese students are very hardworking... Probably the most hardworking students on the planet... They are always studying... When I wake up in the morning and walk across campus to get breakfast at 7 AM, the students are already everywhere studying: the library is already full and the empty classrooms are littered with students pouring over their books and notes... they will also do this late into the night and then get up the next day to do it again... You would never see an American student with this dedication (at least not me!)

Unfortunately, they are doing it ALL WRONG.... Instead of thinking critically about the material, they try to memorize it verbatim. Instead of analyzing how material relates to other ideas and can be applied practically, they just try to memorize... THIS DOES NOT WORK... You CANNOT learn this way! sure it might be good for taking in some facts, but not for retaining them or applying them.... China is breeding a country full of encyclopedias!!! I think that it is much more useful to learn HOW TO APPLY INFORMATION and not the information itself! Information these days is so accessible, it is not useful to memorize a fact if you can simply look it up!

To combat this problem to the best of my ability, I am dedicated to teaching my students SKILLS and not FACTS... Yes building vocabulary in a foreign language is important, but without the proper ability to utilize that vocabulary, it is useless!

Sorry for the rant... Just had to get that out... tomorrow, I will go into the other major problem with the educational system..