China's Education system compared to the USA

bd popeye said:

Exactly.. Most unfortunately many Americans could not find China on a map.
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Lord Vader, are you serious?

I know that statistic shows average Americans can not find Afghanistan or Iraq or Iran... those of which (no offence) they send their boys and girls to die for, yet even the name of the country is hard to remember; but can not find the one big ass nation which is the 3rd biggest of the whole damn planet - that hurts.

Average Chinese people who finished their middle school, would know that US is at west hemishere, sit at the BEST part of North America continent, and although can not name all, can tell there are 50 states of the "smaller than us" country (that's the funny part, China got 34 provinces "only"), 2 of which are situated outside the mainland, which "taken" from someone else... no offence intented.

No sh*t, this is not propaganda, any semi-educated Chinese people can find USA at the map - that's not fair, if there is any "G2" going on yet one country-men can not find the other on map. (Edit: I am not selling "G2", I am undermining it in fact)

Chinese wisdom believes self-occlude kills a mighty empire - no small talk here.

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

No offence taken Red__Sword!

And I am serious. Many Americans are poor at geography. Even that of the US.

China must be doing a better job at geography..

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

Red___Sword said:

Lord Vader, are you serious?

I know that statistic shows average Americans can not find Afghanistan or Iraq or Iran... those of which (no offence) they send their boys and girls to die for, yet even the name of the country is hard to remember; but can not find the one big ass nation which is the 3rd biggest of the whole damn planet - that hurts.

Average Chinese people who finished their middle school, would know that US is at west hemishere, sit at the BEST part of North America continent, and although can not name all, can tell there are 50 states of the "smaller than us" country (that's the funny part, China got 34 provinces "only"), 2 of which are situated outside the mainland, which "taken" from someone else... no offence intented.

No sh*t, this is not propaganda, any semi-educated Chinese people can find USA at the map - that's not fair, if there is any "G2" going on yet one country-men can not find the other on map. (Edit: I am not selling "G2", I am undermining it in fact)

Chinese wisdom believes self-occlude kills a mighty empire - no small talk here.

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Chill, man. It is fact that most Americans are poor with geography. It is mostly because of the difference in education systems in China vs. the US. In China, all courses are required. So everyone has to take geography. However, most of the subjects in American schools are elective and don't have to be taken, except English, math, political science, American history and some kind of science. As you can imagine, geography is not the most exciting class and not many kids take it. Many Americans cannot even draw the general shape of their own state, let alone the location of another country. This is not to say anything about the quality of the education system in the States, only that it is different from that of China.

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

Not to sound like it's a conspiracy theory; the poor education in world history (including geography) that most Americans get conveniently allow the US elite to either put on a pedestal or demonize any country/culture/society/government and easily sell the message to its own people.

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

PanAsian said:

Not to sound like it's a conspiracy theory; the poor education in world history (including geography) that most Americans get conveniently allow the US elite to either put on a pedestal or demonize any country/culture/society/government and easily sell the message to its own people.

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To be honest, I actually like the American system. Why? When I was in China, my focus was heavily biased toward math and science. My dad always says if I stayed in China and finished schooling there, I would never be able to get in a good college. This is because China's system wants people to be good with everything. You will have to get a high total score for all the subjects to get into a good college. For me, the courses like Chinese, political science and geography would drag me down so bad and my total score would not be high enough to get in any good colleges. When I came to the State, however, I was able to choose those courses that I liked and thrive.

I think I fit much better in this kind of system. The American system cares about everyone, including those with special interests and talents. Instead, China's system blindly wants everyone to be good with everything. Jack of all trades means expert of none. One might think China's system could allow someone to know a little about everything. However, everyone of us knows that we would simply study for the tests and forget all about it once the test is done in a class that we don't like. How many of us still remember anything about those classes we hate in school? It's waste of time and energy. And most importantly, it would not allow people with special talents and interests to thrive. I would imagine I would be a factory worker if I stayed in China since I would not be able to get into college. Instead, the American system allows me to thrive and I am now a successful scientist in cancer biology.

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

Vesicles, no any intent of bash to American education system, just a clarification:

The "know everything" part of Chinese education, ends at the graduation of high school, that's year 2 of high school. It is totally different the GRADUATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL, and the ENTRY TO UNIVERSITY. After a talent who scores full mark of science subjects and barely passes the art subjects at his high school graduation exam, he can choose to take the science OR art track in his future study, and forget the other.(Chinese, English, Math are compulsory for both track though a little different in study). At the end of year 3 of high school, every Chinese take a walk to hell's gate and go for NATIONAL COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 全国高等教育入学考试， “高考” for short, where for one, the math questions, could easily beat the crap out of year 2 college student in UK (google it...)

All I want to say, is that emphasising people need to good at something (vs. good at everything), still requires people have some basic understanding of certain level of "everything", otherwise PanAsian at post #26 (Edit: #4 of this thread) speaks the grim truth. (lable every piece of truth into "conspiracy theory" is one of the trick they used too often.)

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

vesicles said:

Chill, man. It is fact that most Americans are poor with geography. It is mostly because of the difference in education systems in China vs. the US. In China, all courses are required. So everyone has to take geography. However, most of the subjects in American schools are elective and don't have to be taken, except English, math, political science, American history and some kind of science. As you can imagine, geography is not the most exciting class and not many kids take it. Many Americans cannot even draw the general shape of their own state, let alone the location of another country. This is not to say anything about the quality of the education system in the States, only that it is different from that of China.

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Does give high school political science insight into the question: how could politics in Washington DC become so dysfunctional? What else does it provide?

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

In China, there are lots of technology institutes and universities with very good science and engineering programs. They will admit students based on their scores in the relevant subjects, not overall scores. That's what I heard from my parents and their friends.

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

FriedRiceNSpice said:

In China, there are lots of technology institutes and universities with very good science and engineering programs. They will admit students based on their scores in the relevant subjects, not overall scores. That's what I heard from my parents and their friends.

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I don't think these schools are any good in terms of building your credentials. You may be able to find a job, but it's not going to get you into grad/med school or anything. And no one will care about those technology degrees, no matter where you are, China or the US.

Re: DoD 2011 annual military report on china is out

vesicles said:

To be honest, I actually like the American system. Why? When I was in China, my focus was heavily biased toward math and science. My dad always says if I stayed in China and finished schooling there, I would never be able to get in a good college. This is because China's system wants people to be good with everything. You will have to get a high total score for all the subjects to get into a good college. For me, the courses like Chinese, political science and geography would drag me down so bad and my total score would not be high enough to get in any good colleges. When I came to the State, however, I was able to choose those courses that I liked and thrive.

I think I fit much better in this kind of system. The American system cares about everyone, including those with special interests and talents. Instead, China's system blindly wants everyone to be good with everything. Jack of all trades means expert of none. One might think China's system could allow someone to know a little about everything. However, everyone of us knows that we would simply study for the tests and forget all about it once the test is done in a class that we don't like. How many of us still remember anything about those classes we hate in school? It's waste of time and energy. And most importantly, it would not allow people with special talents and interests to thrive. I would imagine I would be a factory worker if I stayed in China since I would not be able to get into college. Instead, the American system allows me to thrive and I am now a successful scientist in cancer biology.

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When did you go to the US? I dare say that your schooling experience in China was instrumental in you doing well in the US. I remember that I never listened to a single math class from elementary school to secondary school. What I learned in grade 2 in China was enough to get me past grade 6 math in Canada, and what I learned in Chinese school every saturday was enough to keep me ahead of the class to the end of high school.

Family values and society also plays a big part. In China, competition is much fiercer, and typically a much greater emphasis is put on language and literature in general education than in North America. Chinese families also tend to push their children a lot more strictly on education than other American or Canadian families.