Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Modern Chinese Education


The Modern Chinese Education


                Since the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, China has become one of the largest and most significant countries in the world. Through strong leadership and a well laid out plan, China has become an economic force that is influential internationally with the second largest gross domestic product (Jeffrey). This rise to power can be attributed to China’s active strides towards modernization, one of which is their educational system. The Chinese educational system is advanced and creates large amounts of educated students. Education in China is broken into four parts: Elementary, Middle, High, and Post secondary schools.

                The first step in the Chinese educational system is elementary schools. Elementary schooling is provided by the government and is free to attend by students. First year of enrollment usually will take place around age six and lasts until age eleven. The school day lasts about eight hours from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon (Ganderton).  As the students go through this primary school, their main study is math and language with other side subjects.

                A major pride of the Chinese Education is the scores that students test in both math and science. To obtain these high marks in these subjects, students start studying mathematics young. During elementary school, “Chinese and mathematics accounted for about 60 percent of the scheduled class time” (“Wikipedia”). Other subjects taught are a secondary language, often English, introduced around third grade. Also social science, natural science, physical education, and art are covered. With so many subjects covered, there is a good amount of stress put onto the children.

                In the elementary schools of china, it is regular for children to be required to take exams. Success on these tests is crucial in the eyes of both parents and teachers for the student to succeed in a very crowded and competitive place of study. “A survey of 9 to 12-year-olds in eastern China found that more than 80 per cent worried "a lot" about exams, two-thirds feared punishment by their teachers and almost three-quarters reported fearing physical punishment from their parents.” (Foster). Children also are given out of school work to help reinforce learning. This workload continues through the Chinese education system onto the next level, middle school.

                Middle school in China begins around the age twelve and or at the grade seven. Students stay in middle for three years graduating after ninth grade. The duration of school is increased during middle school by two hours with the days beginning at seven in the morning and lasting until five at night. Middle school like elementary school is provided by the government for free for students to attend. When transitioning from elementary to middle school much of the classes and schedules stay the same.

                When looking at the time allotted towards various subjects in middle school, the emphasis on math and science become clear.  Mathematics and science are given more time dedicated to allow for deeper teaching. Other subjects covered are Chinese, secondary language, social sciences, physical education, music, and drawing. These subjects covered help the student with further educational study. “The primary objective of the middle schools is to instill basic knowledge and to lay a foundation for more advanced training” (Thomas and Linda 10). With more hours in each school day, there is more material covered which also leads to faster and harder paced learning which can cause student stress.

                Middle school’s faster pace leaves some students behind or not ready for the workload. In many Chinese middle schools, out of class tutoring is promoted to help students fully learn the content. Exams, homework, and outside of class study are present at the middle school level. Teacher relationships with students are present in that a teacher will know which of the students are struggling and pressure them to get back on track. Teachers of middle school will try to get the best out of their students. Moving from middle school to high school is the first major difference between schools and student responsibility grows.

                At the age of fifteen or the grade of ten, students begin high school. High school differs from middle and elementary in that it is a crucial time to decide one’s future plans. If a student plans secondary education after high school, not only will the student take the normal twelve hours from seven to seven six days a week it is common to go to cram schools. “Parents have sent their children to attend various training classes, so they "will not lose at the starting line." Children have suffered much from the "good intentions" of their parents and schools.” ("People's Daily" ) Cram schools are out of school tutoring where the student can get one on one time with teachers. Students who plan on going to secondary are required to work more due to the competitive exams at the end of school which allow the students into university at the end of high school. High school last three years or up until twelfth grade.

                In high school topics covered are “Aside from math and science, students take Chinese, English, history, literature, music, art and physical education” (Mack) These classes most the material on the Gaokao, the university entrance exam, but students are promoted to out of school learning to prepare. Memorization is expected from the students in the fields of math and science. Since all the studying in high school leads to a large exam, stress levels are the highest at this grade range.

                Stress levels peek during high school for Chinese students because there are the most school hours, out of school work, and pressure to prepare for the Gaokao. Teachers of high school students are strict and punctual of study time, put into the words of a Chinese writer, “Teachers are a mixture of army training sergeants and Amway salesmen. The former abuses, the latter promises. A teacher is not only expected to teach, he also needs to motivate.” (Mu) A major stressor in high school is that the Gaokao exam put the students against each other as the test is competitive. It is normal for students to not help one another but to avoid it.

                After high school, students who were not taking the path towards university will enter the work force. For the students who had decided to go down the path towards university, these students Gaokao exam scores will help to decide where these students are attending the next year. University space and room is limited with the lack of schools and teachers available meaning students of the Gaokao exam are pushed in competition for entry. This trend is fading as schools become more available, “Since reducing barriers to admission in 1999, the number of students enrolled at universities in China has skyrocketed, jumping from 1.08 million in 1998 to 2.75 million in 2002, and has steadily increased since then.” (Beijing page 27)

                Secondary Education in China usually begins after high school or around the age of eighteen. Enrollment of adults is also normal as the Gaokao is not limited to students in high school and anyone can study outside of school or take private lessons and take the Gaokao to try to enter secondary education. University will usually last for four years or eight semesters until graduation. The Education at university is specific to a field of study where students can choose a major program to work towards. This type of university is not the only type in China where a student may choose to attend a vocational or technical school to get a more focused and hands on approach to learning about a specific field.

                In exiting high school 63 percent of students who attend secondary education will later go on to attend university where the remaining percent will go onto attend Technical and Vocational education and training (Guo and Stephen 17). These Schools are very exact in the content covered to allow students to be prepared for a specific work place. These schools do not cover as much material as university, “ The length of schooling for higher vocational education is 2-3 years; if graduates of middle schools are enrolled, the length is five years.” (XiaoHuan 67). Students who attend vocational schooling have the option for skipping high school and directly entering certain vocational schools with certain limitations.

                Through strict study, Chinese students learn a great deal through the Chinese education system. Over the twelve years spent in school a Chinese pupil will go through elementary, middle, and high school and be ready for post secondary education if they chose so. Even though students may experience higher levels of stress than those of other nations, they are ready for a modern society.

Bibliography


References without quotes have been paraphrased.

"Education in the People's Republic of China." Wikipedia. N.p., 2 2012. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China>.

"Primary school student questions China's education system." People's Daily. (2012): n. page. Print.

Beijing, Zhu. "The gaokao: still life's most important test?" China Daily 23 11 2012, page 27. Print.

Foster, Peter. "Third of Chinese primary school children suffer stress, study finds ." Telegraph 19 1 2010, n. pag. Print.

Ganderton"How many hours a day does China students attend school in China?" Answers. N.p.. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_hours_a_day_does_China_students_attend_school_in_China>.

Guo, Zhenyi, and Lamb Stephen. International Comparisons of China's Technical and Vocational Education and Training System. 12. New York: Springer Science and Buisness Media, 2010. 17. Print.

Jeffrey, Hays. BASIC ECONOMIC INFORMATION ON CHINA: RANKINGS, GROWTH AND DODGY STATISTICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=376&catid=9>.

Mack, Lauren. "School in China: Introduction to School and Education in China." About. About.com Guide. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://chineseculture.about.com/od/thechineselanguage/a/Introduction-To-Education-In-China.htm>.

Mu, Eric. " Confessions of a Chinese graduate." Danwei. N.p., 2 2011. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://www.danwei.com/confessions-of-a-chinese-high-school-student/>.

Thomas, Fingar, and A. Reed Linda. An Introduction to Education in the People's Republic of China and U.S.- China Educational Exchanges. Revised. Washington D.C.: National Acedemy of Sciences, 1982. 10. Print.

XiaoHuan, Su. Education in China: Reforms and Innovations. 2002. 67. Print.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Final Paper Draft



The Modern Chinese Education

                Since the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, China has become one of the largest and most significant countries in the world. Through strong leadership and a well laid out plan, China has become an economic force that is influential internationally with the second largest gross domestic product (Jeffrey). This rise to power can be attributed to China’s active strides towards modernization, one of which is their educational system. The Chinese educational system is advanced and creates large amounts of educated students. Education in China is broken into four parts: Elementary, Middle, High, and Post secondary schools.
                The first step in the Chinese educational system is elementary schools. Elementary schooling is provided by the government and is free to attend by students. First year of enrollment usually will take place around age six and lasts until age eleven. The school day lasts about eight hours from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon (Ganderton).  As the students go through this primary school, their main study is math and language with other side subjects.
                A major pride of the Chinese Education is the scores that students test in both math and science. To obtain these high marks in these subjects, students start studying mathematics young. During elementary school, “Chinese and mathematics accounted for about 60 percent of the scheduled class time” (“Wikipedia”). Other subjects taught are a secondary language, often English, introduced around third grade. Also social science, natural science, physical education, and art are covered. With so many subjects covered, there is a good amount of stress put onto the children.
                In the elementary schools of china, it is regular for children to be required to take exams. Success on these tests is crucial in the eyes of both parents and teachers for the student to succeed in a very crowded and competitive place of study. “A survey of 9 to 12-year-olds in eastern China found that more than 80 per cent worried "a lot" about exams, two-thirds feared punishment by their teachers and almost three-quarters reported fearing physical punishment from their parents.” (Foster). Children also are given out of school work to help reinforce learning. This workload continues through the Chinese education system onto the next level, middle school.
                Middle school in China begins around the age twelve and or at the grade seven. Students stay in middle for three years graduating after ninth grade. The duration of school is increased during middle school by two hours with the days beginning at seven in the morning and lasting until five at night. Middle school like elementary school is provided by the government for free for students to attend. When transitioning from elementary to middle school much of the classes and schedules stay the same.
                When looking at the time allotted towards various subjects in middle school, the emphasis on math and science become clear.  Mathematics and science are given more time dedicated to allow for deeper teaching. Other subjects covered are Chinese, secondary language, social sciences, physical education, music, and drawing. These subjects covered help the student with further educational study. “The primary objective of the middle schools is to instill basic knowledge and to lay a foundation for more advanced training” (Thomas and Linda 10) With more hours in each school day, there is more material covered which also leads to faster and harder paced learning which can cause student stress.
                Middle school’s faster pace leaves some students behind or not ready for the workload. In many Chinese middle schools, out of class tutoring is promoted to help students fully learn the content. Exams, homework, and outside of class study are present at the middle school level. Teacher relationships with students are present in that a teacher will know which of the students are struggling and pressure them to get back on track. Teachers of middle school will try to get the best out of their students. Moving from middle school to high school is the first major difference between schools and student responsibility grows.
                At the age of fifteen or the grade of ten, students begin high school. High school differs from middle and elementary in that it is a crucial time to decide one’s future plans. If a student plans secondary education after high school, not only will the student take the normal twelve hours from seven to seven six days a week it is common to go to cram schools. Cram schools are out of school tutoring where the student can get one on one time with teachers. Students who plan on going to secondary are required to work more due to the competitive exams at the end of school which allow the students into university at the end of high school. High school last three years or up until twelfth grade.
                In high school topics covered are “Aside from math and science, students take Chinese, English, history, literature, music, art and physical education” (Mack) These classes most the material on the Gaokao, the university entrance exam, but students are promoted to out of school learning to prepare. Memorization is expected from the students in the fields of math and science. Since all the studying in high school leads to a large exam, stress levels are the highest at this grade range.
                Stress levels peek during high school for Chinese students because there are the most school hours, out of school work, and pressure to prepare for the Gaokao. Teachers of high school students are strict and punctual of study time, put into the words of a Chinese writer, “Teachers are a mixture of army training sergeants and Amway salesmen. The former abuses, the latter promises. A teacher is not only expected to teach, he also needs to motivate.” (Mu) A major stressor in high school is that the Gaokao exam put the students against each other as the test is competitive. It is normal for students to not help one another but to avoid it.
                Through strict study, Chinese students learn a great deal through the Chinese education system. Over the twelve years spent in school a Chinese pupil will go through elementary, middle, and high school and be ready for post secondary education if they chose so. Even though students may experience higher levels of stress than those of other nations, they are ready for a modern society.

 

Bibliography

References without quotes have been paraphrased.
"Education in the People's Republic of China." Wikipedia. N.p., 2 2012. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China>.
Foster, Peter. "Third of Chinese primary school children suffer stress, study finds ." Telegraph 19 1 2010, n. pag. Print.
Ganderton"How many hours a day does China students attend school in China?" Answers. N.p.. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_hours_a_day_does_China_students_attend_school_in_China>.
Jeffrey, Hays. BASIC ECONOMIC INFORMATION ON CHINA: RANKINGS, GROWTH AND DODGY STATISTICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=376&catid=9>.
Mack, Lauren. "School in China: Introduction to School and Education in China." About. About.com Guide. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://chineseculture.about.com/od/thechineselanguage/a/Introduction-To-Education-In-China.htm>.
Mu, Eric. " Confessions of a Chinese graduate." Danwei. N.p., 2 2011. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://www.danwei.com/confessions-of-a-chinese-high-school-student/>.
Thomas, Fingar, and A. Reed Linda. An Introduction to Education in the People's Republic of China and U.S.- China Educational Exchanges. Revised. Washington D.C.: National Acedemy of Sciences, 1982. 10. Print.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Final Paper Outline



Final Paper Outline

I)        Thesis: The Chinese educational system is advanced and creates large amounts of educated students.
II)      Elementary Schooling
A)     Time frames
1)      When schooling begins
2)      Time of day and days of week
3)      Graduation year
B)      Education Goals in fields
1)      Literacy
2)      Math
3)      Science
C)      Stress levels and free time
1)      Out of school work
2)      Teacher relationship
3)      Responsibility of children out of school
D)     Cost of Schooling
III)    Middle Schooling
A)     Time frames
1)      When schooling begins
2)      Time of day and days of week
3)      Graduation year
B)      Education Goals in fields
1)      Literacy
2)      Math
3)      Science
C)      Stress levels and free time
1)      Out of school work
2)      Teacher relationship
3)      Responsibility of children out of school
D)     Cost of Schooling
IV)   High Schooling
A)     Time frames
1)      When schooling begins
2)      Time of day and days of week
3)      Graduation year
B)      Education Goals in fields
1)      Literacy
2)      Math
3)      Science
C)      Stress levels and free time
1)      Out of school work
2)      Teacher relationship
3)      Responsibility of children out of school
4)      Dropout and failure rate
D)     Cost of Schooling
V)     Secondary Education
A)     Time frames
1)      When schooling begins
2)      Time of day and days of week
3)      Graduation year
B)      Education Goals in fields
1)      Literacy
2)      Math
3)      Science
C)      Stress levels and free time
1)      Out of school work
2)      Teacher relationship
3)      Responsibility of children out of school
4)      Dropout and failure rate
D)     Cost of Schooling
E)      Non-Chinese Schooling options
1)      Countries
2)      Cost and government sponsorship
VI)   Conclusion

Intended Reference Material

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China
In class interviews
http://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/cedu.php
http://www.edu.cn/english_1369/index.shtml

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

My Final Paper Topic

For the final paper I have chosen education in China. I chose this topic because it was brought up a few times during the interviews and I found it to be interesting. I also like this topic because I feel that it will be neither too short or too long but will fit the requirements. The theme of the paper I'm not too sure about at the time but it will likely be related to educational test success, preperation for the workplace, or something about how successful the schools are.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Interview Three Reviews and Score Card

Score Card

On my score card I had a five way tie at 18 points. I reviewed the papers and ordered them from what I felt were the best three. The two excluded did not correctly cite their images.

First
Ouedraogo, Jonathan T
This paper was the best of the five because it was solid and covered all the topics welly. The images used were correctly cited and were helpful to the paper. This paper did not include an audio file. For each major topic in this interview their was an italicized explanation which appreciated.

Second
Chen, ZeYu
This interview was very good also. There were good supporting images in this paper and included a very good country report. This paper did have some odd formatting in the transcription. This paper did not include an audio file.

Third
Galkina, Elena V
This interview did a good job of covering all the topics on the score card. The main problem with this paper is that the formatting kind of went out the window and was very distracting. An audio file was not included in this paper either. 

Interview Two Reviews and Score Card

Score Card

On my score card I had a three way tie at 18 points. I reviewed the papers and ordered them from what I felt was the best of the three to the worst.

First
Galkina, Elena V
This paper did a good job of covering all the points. There was not an attached audio file which would have given her the extra point boost.  What made this paper stand out was the formatting and pictures included in the paper. The transcription was very welly done also.

Second
Chen, ZeYu
This paper covered all the topics also but was not as welly done as Elena's. I chose this one behind Elena's because it had some formatting issues that made the paper more difficult to read than it had to be. This paper did not receive the bonus point for including an audio file.

Third
Carroll-Anderson, Nicholas S
This paper was not as welly written as the first two. The reason this paper made it to the 18 point mark was that there was an audio file included on the post. Since this paper included an audio file it meant it lost points elsewhere which caused the paper to not be as good as could have been overall.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Interview 3



Interview 3
11/11/2012
Eng 191 section 28
Interviewer: Nick C-A
Interviewee: Jua L.
Country: China

Preparations:
                Before interviewing, I set up my questions, objectives, and technology. I begin by looking through the class set of questions to find ones that I felt would help me learn the most about China. I rearranged these questions in a way I felt would make sense to ask and put them into three sub categories: Intro, Questions about China, Concluding questions. The intro questions were designed to be personal and easy questions to help the interviewee open up. The Questions on China all related to cultural values to ideas that would teach me about the country. The Concluding questions were courtesy questions for the interviewee allowing them to ask me questions to feel that they had gained something from the interview. The objectives of my questions were all related to subcategories of Chinese culture. My first objective was different though because it tried to understand how the interviewee fit into Chinese society. The five other objectives were about Chinese youth, education, religion, holidays, and foods. Due the required transcription, I needed to find a way to record the interview. My iPhone has a built in application to record audio so I decided to use that.
                Unlike in the first two interviews, I did not have someone to interview from the other class. To help find someone to interview, I asked Hua from the previous interview for help to find my third interviewee. He said he’d help and he gave me contact information of a fellow exchange student, Jua. I contacted him via text message in which he accepted to do the interview.

Execution:
                I had found my interviewee, we had to set up a date and place to do the interview. We decided that the best time for both of us would be on Sunday at two. Like the previous two interviews, we also decided that the library would be a good place to have the interview. On Sunday, I went to the library to find a place where we could have peace and quiet and found a secluded corner on the first floor that would work.
                From what I learned through the interview, he comes from a city called Louli just like the previous two interviewees. He decided to become a foreign exchange student because some of his friends and classmates had decided to do it. He also felt that this would be a good way to learn of other cultures and practice English. He decided St. Cloud because he had been told by a friend that this was a nice place. Jua is twenty years old and is going to St Cloud to get a bachelor in biomedical studies. This is his second semester in St Cloud.
                The interview went over pretty not quite as well as the first two but still went pretty well. The first thing I noticed in the interview was that Jua had better English than the first two interviews which really helped us to communicate better. Due to his fluency in English, the part that impressed me the most was how natural the first phase of the interview went. He was able to go through the questions with easy and with very little stuttering to help him think of what next to say. Moving onto the second phase of the interview, Jua brought up something that moved me.
                When I asked Jua about the differences between American and Chinese educational systems he began to talk about high schools in China. In China it is regular for students just to attend high school during the weekends and to work through the week. This leaves very little free time and not a day off in the week. This moved me because I feel that this is far more stressful on a fifteen to eighteen year old than the school I had gone through as a teenager. If I were to have been moved from one country to the other at that age, I know would have lost it in culture shock for at least a month. This part of the interview I found interesting but not all parts of the interview went over that well.
                Going from a student in English 151 to a student that was neither in it or had taken the class in the past was an unseen challenge for me. The change caused me to ask questions in the same way I had to the previous students to Jua. This left him feeling oddly when transitioning from question to question sometime causing him to wondering what I was going at. During the middle of the interview I simply had to quickly explain the assignment to avoid further confusion. This could have been easily avoided by leaving that information to the beginning of the interview or between phase one and two. 

Post-Production:
The country China is located in eastern Asia. China is known for its enormous size and population which causes it to be very influential from a global perspective. China is the most populated country with 1.3 billion citizens making it have about 18.5% of the world’s population (2). By land area china is the second largest country in the world (1). Both of these statistics allow for china to have a long history, large world economic influence, and large cultural differences throughout the country.
                Anthropological study of China points to civilization first sprouting in china sometime before 3.5 thousand years ago. (1) Modern China is a massive country in land area that could not all be governed by an ancient society. The most populated area being in eastern China was split up into dynasties which would commonly fight for power and resource. This dynasty styled governance lasted until 221bc when the Qin Dynasty conquered and unified the dynasties (1). The Qin Dynasty eventually fell to others which would hold power for only a few hundred years and lose it. Dynasty ruling style led all the way through to 1912 when civil revolt led to the forming of the Republic of China which lasted until 1949 (1). After civil war modern day China, People’s Republic of China, was formed.
                The formation of the People’s Republic of China led to the installment of a communist party led government. Under strong leadership, China has become the second largest economy in the world in terms of GDP (1). Under strong leadership, Chinese economic growth has been rapidly growing, when compared to other major economies around the world, since 1978 (1). Prior to China’s modern economic policies China went through some economic shock while forming into a communist style country. This caused starvation and little economic growth until they figured out how to successfully run a state controlled economic system.
                Modern day china is a massive country with many subcultures.  In China there are fourteen major ethnic groups (2) and many other minor ethnic groups. This diversity causes there to many languages throughout China but their national language is Standard Chinese or Mandarin. Even though the country has no official religion the largest religions are Daoism and Buddhism. The Chinese Education system is a lot like the American system with twelve primary grades and secondary options available. High School systems differ because the students only attend class twice a week on the weekends and are normally working during the week.
                Through a mixture of economic strength and sheer size, China has come into the spotlight a world super power. With this foreign power China has taken the opportunity to create trade and create international influence. As a way to help strengthen relationships with other countries China has a large foreign exchange program which is nice because it allows firsthand experience through talking and interviewing these international students.

Observations:
                As brought up earlier, the thing I found most interesting in this interview was about how the high school system differed between the countries. The large amount of work put into graduating high school in China is impressive and shows a great deal of perseverance. A decent conclusion that I have come to is that this would cause the students to be more disciplined at graduation than their American counterparts. This is arguable and would have to be studied further to bring more tangible evidence to prove it. Another thing that would be important to know is dropout rates and the percent of citizens that begin to attend high school.

Work Cited: referred material has been paraphrased
(1) "China." wikipedia.org. N.p., 22 2012. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China>.
(2) "The World Fact Book." China. CIA, 4 2012. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html>.