[English Blog] Education in China

12 minutes to read

Hello and welcome to my first English blog. Last week, my English teacher Mike gave me an interesting assignment —— write an article about education in China. That’s quite a big topic for an individual, but everyone has experience with it. So why not have a try lol

What is the school for

Mike showed me a video on YouTube, that asked a question: what is the school for?

I wish my parents watched this video before I went to school. And I wish I watched it, too.

Prince Ea talked about some aspect of the education:

• Period: for about 16 years
• Problems:
  • don’t know what is school for
  • can’t learn practical life skills, such as:
    • pay for a loan
    • investment
    • time management skills
    • self-control or emotional health
    • how to cook
    • …
  • forget many things learned from school
  • can’t learn knowledge that interested in most of the time
  • afraid of being wrong
  • aim for high scores, not personal and academic success
    • put learning instead of testing and memorizing as the top standard
    • F does not mean failure but finding another answer
  • time wasted for 6 hours a day
  • learn dot instead of connecting them
  • slam the door instead of open it

Educe means to draw forth or bring out, bring the gifts out of a person. Now the education system is metamorphic. I agree with that.

My Experience

Reflecting on my education experiences, I find some interesting insights.

Wrong ideas

Many thoughts are wrong when we are out of school:

• We have to finish school. Or we failed.
• Should get the teachers’ recognition
• Teachers are always true
• Teachers have the right to define our success
• …

These wrong ideas may come along with us with our whole life. But actually, they are wrong.

Finishing school is not the only thing that students have to do. They can do anything else if they know what they want to do. Not finishing school doesn’t mean you failed. And entering a great university doesn’t mean you are successful, too. The school is only a place where you get knowledge and meet new friends. Not a success checker.

We don’t have to get the teachers’ recognition. The teacher is a guide in a new area. When you come to a new place for travel, you will not want to do a great job to get the guide’s recognition. So why do we desire to do that in the school?

Teachers are not always true. Teacher is a noble profession to spread knowledge for human beings. But we have to admit that your teacher in school may not be the top cleaver and smartest person around them. From my experience, the top of our university classmates went to the financial and internet industry instead of applying for teaching. So their teaching method may not be the most suitable for you or even be wrong. We need to think independently.

Teachers have no right to define our success. When we were at school, some unqualified teachers used strict words to define ourselves: you are a bad boy because you do not arrive at school on time. But the two things are not relevant at all. The most powerful method to control a person is to deny everything a person has done. That’s so powerful on a child. But it hurts a lot.

I don’t know how many students are hurt in school. The earlier we know it, the less pain we will get.

Innovation Disappeared

When we were in primary school, our classmates had various types of weird skills, such as stretching rubber bands, doing origami, opening the toy lock without password, or simulating the pig’s voice, etc. But when we entered middle school, high school, and university. This kind of interesting person disappeared, or became not that ‘weird’.

But when we enter society after graduation, the weird skills come back again or become weirder than before. Some people can raise bamboo rats, cook, drive, speak crosstalk, or act. So there are some problems inside the school. I know it must have, but I have no idea how to make a change.

Plan for future

Congratulations on watching here, we’ll check the most important part of this article.

The traditional education system has many problems. But it’s easy to state but hard to change. This video gives us some questions about education. But there is no answer to it.

We can’t deny that the traditional education system has many problems, but there are some pros on the other side too.

• Pros
  • Structured Learning. Traditional education gives us a well-defined curriculum, providing a structured approach to learn
  • Knowledge Acquisition. It gives core subjects, equipping students with a broad of useful foundation knowledge.
  • Teacher Guidance.
  • Social Interaction. Traditional education facilitates social interaction among peers, promoting teamwork and social skills development.
  • Low Cost. Both for country and family.
• Cons
  • Limited Creativity
  • One-size-fits-all
  • Memorization Over Understanding
  • Lack of Real-World Skills

So is there a new way to take the essence and discard the dross? I have read a books called 《未来学校》. It gives some deep thinking thoughts to solve this paradox. Maybe it’s not a practical way, but it truly solve the problem in the draft.

If I have enough economical strength. I will send my children to the public primary school at first. They will get to know our neighbor’s children and will not get score pressure from my side. After that, I will send them to the international middle school and hight school. If they want, I will send them to the US or the Singapore for a bigger world vision.

My concept is that the method is better than the scores and 德智体美劳 is the greatest pursuit throughout their whole life.

Summary

I have shared this video on my wechat moments. But I only get two likes in response. The education evolution still has a long way to go. The reflection is quite valuable for everyone. Jump out of the circle is hard, but never give up bros.

I believe that the education system will be reconstruct with the GPT-5 or 6 in the next few years soon. The best education method is self-driving desire no matter where you are in the world. Keep it and protect it. It’s quite precious!