Exploring Chinese Education: Triangulation Theory - Couverture souple

Baker, Thomas Jerome

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1484062078 ISBN 13 : 9781484062074

Editeur : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

We set out to triangulate what we knew about China, its education system, and its high performance on the PISA test in 2009. Would PISA 2012 bring similar results? Yes, even better... Students in the Chinese city of Shanghai continued their impressive showing from PISA 2009, taking first place not just in mathematics but also reading and science, the two other core subjects tested by PISA. The strength of their performance in mathematics, especially, is striking: In effect, the city’s 15-year-olds scored the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling above students in most OECD countries. Not only that, more than half of them – or around 55% – performed at the highest levels in maths, compared to an average in OECD countries of around one in eight students. We looked through the eyes of many people, from a variety of perspectives. We have managed to include a large number of voices. We have not simply “looked” at China through our own eyes, but used the “eyes” of others as well. We have seen that China took on the tremendous task of learning English, as early as Kindergarden and Grade 1, over ten years ago. This is a nation with over a billion people, and it did not accept that what they were attempting to do was impossible. Rather than make excuses, they took bold and decisive action. As a result, they have advanced farther than many other less-populated nations. The efforts of the Chinese did not stop with learning English. They made it a requirement for their university entrance exam, thereby assuring that teachers and students alike would diligently apply themselves to the learning of English. In China, English counts, it matters, and that explains their seemingly hurculean accomplishment in learning English. In sum, it is both a personal and a national priority. The lesson that we take away is obvious: if you want results, reward the results on a level consistent with your rhetoric. In China, if you want to make the country successful, you learn English. If you want to make yourself, the individual, successful, you learn English. That level of consistency is what English language learning requires. Can there be any doubt that in the absence of such rewards, efforts will be less energetic than otherwise might be expected from both teachers and learners alike? Yet again I caution, the Chinese culture is not transferable to the Western world, at least not without careful consideration and building a broad concensus before making any sweeping, overnight structural changes. From another perspective, we have seen videos, heard the tales of actual students, and looked at the words of people in a variety of view points. We are not surprised to find that everything seems to converge on a single point: the Chinese are serious about their education system. They believe it is fair for everyone, it works well for everyone, and a notable spirit of collaboration exists between everyone involved in education in China. Many countries could learn a lesson here.The Chinese are on a mission, and they are very determined to work as long and as hard as necessary, together, until they reach their goals of having the best education system on the planet. When I showed my students the videos and the testimonies of the Chinese students, at Bashu Middle School http://bit.ly/14NsL72 http://school.bashu.com.cn/ going to school 7 days a week, I could see in their eyes that they would never have believed me if I had simply told them the story myself. I confess even I was surprised. One student, a girl of 17, explained how she studied for 17 hours every day, spent 2 hours eating, and 5 hours sleeping. That was her routine, every day for 7 days a week, in order to get the best possible chance to enter university. She was determined to succeed. After all, she was trying to become one in a billion....

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Thomas Jerome Baker is the Past-President of TESOL Chile (2010–2011) . Thomas is also a member of the “Comunidad de Innovación Escolar” (School Innovation Community), sponsored jointly by the Education 2020 Foundation and the Telefónica Foundation. He is a past member of the Advisory Board for the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL), where he also serves as a reviewer and as the HETL Ambassador for Chile.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1484062078
• ISBN 13: 9781484062074
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 72
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg