During the school holidays, 22 Queenwood Year 8 and 9 Mandarin students travelled to China for an educational, cultural and historical immersion. The girls felt the experience was a true eye-opener and once in a life time opportunity to witness Chinese ancient historical sites where 300 Emperors lived and contrast with ultra-modern high-tech infrastructures around the country. As one girl’s mother puts it: it has changed her way of looking at the world. The girls began to appreciate how people think by being in the country, speaking the language and understanding their culture.
The group visited 2 different schools: QuYang No. 1 High School in Xi’an and Xing Zhi Senior High School in Shanghai. Our girls were amazed by the sheer size of the classes, the focus and learning attitude in the classrooms. On average, in Chinese schools, each class has 45 to 50 students and each grade 10 to 15 classes. There are 4 periods in the morning and 4 in the afternoon each lasting 45 minutes, with a 10 minute break in between. Most of the students attend several different tuition classes in the evening after regular school until 7 or 8pm, and only then go home and work on their ever-increasing load of homework until bed time. When the girls were having dinner in the school canteen, many students were reading study notes in the queue, fearful of wasting precious study time.
Western education aims for a well-rounded personal education, rooted in the Classical Greek view advanced by Socrates in Plato's Republic. It is a student-centred view that focuses on examining our own lives and developing critical thinking skills. In contrast, Chinese education is mainly based on Confucian pedagogy within an exam-oriented system. Confucius said, “The pursuit of scholarship surmounts all other occupations”. Following this tradition which emphasised the vital role of education in bringing honour to one’s self, family and society, Chinese students have a deep sense of the collective. Chinese families also put utmost trust and faith in the education system in the hope that their children will be successful, which in turn benefits and takes care of the family. This is especially so for poor families. Getting into a reputable school and acquiring a good job is the only way to move up, remembering that the population of China is over 1.3 billion. According to sohu.com, only 2 per cent of test takers in 2016 were accepted into the top 38 schools in China, thus there is great competition and a rising pressure to study.
China is a big country with a focus on manufacturing which requires a lot of researchers, engineers and basic workers from all walks of life. Therefore, there is need to educate the younger generation through exam-oriented education. They may continue to adopt this system for many years to come. However, many parents and educators have realised the shortcomings of exam-oriented education and are trying to implement Personal Quality Education with the goal of cultivating well-rounded students.
When visiting the first school, the students whom we were supposed to meet had their yearly exam the next day and could not afford the time to join our girls for their Creative Arts lessons, which were Chinese Traditional String Instruments, Ink Painting and craft. We were told that at the end of June each year, for three days, China conducts the University Entrance Examinations for every graduate in every high school in the nation. People divert cars, horn beeping is prohibited within three kilometres of exam centres, and rush hour traffic must give way to cars with exam candidates.
Despite such respect for education, as China moves into a rapidly developing technological era, people are realising that the young generation needs creative and innovative ideas which calls for a new style of education to open up young minds, while still maintaining their academic excellence.
Education in developed Western countries gives greater focus to the humanities, and that balance is what we often call a liberal education. As the world moves towards an exciting new technological era with 5G, Artificial Intelligence and robotic operation, will there be a need for education to move towards the middle ground between the East and West?
Ms Juan Zhang
Mandarin Teacher & International Programs Coordinator