Shanghai 2009
Thursday, 23 July 2009 06:07
Written by Anna Greenspan

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To begin with three anecdotes:

-- An early learning ‘mommy and me class’ has to regularly repeat its routine exercise, because whenever the teacher hides a toy clown and urges the toddlers to find it, the Chinese parents and grandparents can’t resist telling their children where to look.

-- The mother of a student in one of the most progressive international schools tries to organize a class field trip. Her plan is thwarted when her child’s Asian classmates refuse to attend. They think they outing will be a waste of time that will merely distract from their studies.

-- An American high school student excels in the humanities. The teachers love his ability to debate any subject and are especially grateful for his participation in classes with many non-Western kids, who are extremely reluctant to speak. When it comes to mathematics, however, the student lags behind. When his mother asks the teacher how he is handling pre-calculus, the teacher responds matter of factly: “he’s in the black hole with the other white kid.”

In his writings on China, the famous educational psychologist Howard Gardner, points out that East and West are separated by very different modes of learning. In much of Europe – and even more emphatically in North America -- parents and teachers stress self-reliance, creative solutions and problem-solving skills. The Chinese, on the other hand, use illustration and gentle guidance, a learning style known as ba zhe shou jiao (teaching by hand-holding). Thus, a Western art class usually consists of handing out paint and paper and encouraging children to use their imagination. In China, on the other hand, model pictures are hung on the wall and the art teacher takes the children by the hand, teaching them how to draw. Where the Chinese system stresses the mastery of technical skill, Westerners tend to value free experimentation, creativity and original expression.

In the increasingly globalized world of today, these very distinct educational systems and approaches, after existing independently for millennia, have become ever more aware of each other -- and at times have begun to clash. 

Foreign lessons
In the West, politicians, parents and pundits worry that the industriousness and discipline of kids in the East will leave relatively relaxed Westerners trailing behind. In an article warning of a growing concern amongst Silicon Valley engineers that America is losing its edge, columnist Thomas Friedman -- who writes extensively about the education gap in our increasingly ‘flat world’ – cautions Americans that China, India and the rest of Asia are “not racing us to the bottom. They are racing us to the top.”

Worried about the waves of Asian students filling the top slots in certain fields, Western educators are beginning to question the emphasis on fun, flexibility and individual learning styles. They are looking more favorably upon the achievements of Asia’s stricter, disciplined teaching environments with their emphasis upon the constant repetition, recitation and drilling that math and science, in particular, seem to demand.

At the same time, China is becoming acutely aware that it must reform its educational system to incorporate more elements from Western styles of learning. For China to climb the economic value chain and develop beyond its current position as factory to the world, it must start to inculcate skills including unstructured problem-solving and creative thinking that simply cannot be taught by rote learning and memorization. It is widely expected that the lack of creativity in China’s educational system will soon prove a major stumbling block in the country’s continuing development.

Government and business leaders worry about being channeled by native educational traditions into a derivative, manufacturing-based economy, incapable of innovating core technologies, lacking in major research and development projects and lagging far behind in creative sectors such as marketing and design. A lack of flexibility combined with an inability to demonstrate individual initiative threatens to affect the growing service sector, paralyzing employees at every level. Most businesses in Shanghai suffer from a lack of human resources in the creative fields and many are willing to pay grossly inflated salaries to the few Western-educated employees who are able to do more than robotically follow instructions.

Educational encounters
This crosscultural tension between Eastern and Western learning styles is particularly acute in Shanghai, where the two educational philosophies often come face to face. Even the most progressive international schools, such as the Shanghai American School (where there are no uniforms and students are encouraged to pursue extracurricular activities), are forced to adapt to the intense pressure from Asian students and their families. These comparisons between student populations are even more intense in the international divisions of local schools or bilingual schools, which incorporate both a local and international stream. At Shanghai High School, one of the top schools in the city, which regularly churns out award-winning students in math and science, the extreme rigor and discipline of local students is perceived as an alien curiosity by many of the students who attend the school’s international wing.

Locals can experience this culture clash as starkly as foreigners. The recent opening up of the local system to expat kids is forcing Chinese educators to adapt to the differing cultures and expectations of foreign families. At the same time an increasing numbers of foreign teachers are directly exposing Chinese students to foreign teaching styles and classroom culture. In addition, each year more Western-style pre-school and after-school programs are opening in the city, catering to the vast local market (where demand for education is insatiable).

Pursuit of quality
In order to respond to these external pressures China has recently reformed its indigenous educational system by implementing a policy known as Quality Education. The explicit aim is to teach creativity and emphasize character development. Quality Education has resulted in certain concrete shifts, including changes to textbooks, an increased emphasis on oral skills in language learning and various attempts to get teachers to abandon the traditional teaching style, based solely on lecturing, in order to encourage student participation. Most locals, however, although acutely aware of stereotypical complaints, nevertheless believe that change will be slow to come.

Assumed skills like in-class participation, seminar presentations and individual research projects, which are common practice in elementary schools in the West, are largely unheard of in the Chinese classroom -- even in most universities. Moreover, the stress on original thinking and strict rules regarding plagiarism often seem baffling to Chinese students, who have been taught that copying is an essential part of learning. To quote the great master Confucius: To learn and at due times to repeat what one has learnt, is that not after all a pleasure?

Most fundamentally, few think that any transformation to the Chinese education system is possible without a dramatic shift away from the enormous emphasis on standardized tests – a change few are willing to consider.

In contemporary China, where educational opportunities lost during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) have blighted the prospects of a generation, kids are subject to tremendous pressure. Parents typically assign extra homework themselves, while weekends, evenings, summer and winter holidays are filled with English and math tutoring. Even kindergarten teachers are asked to provide extra work. Learning is seen as the key to success.

This leads to certain deep-rooted and distinctive cultural tendencies. Chinese children, for example, have far less free time than their North American counterparts, with little opportunity for play. In stark contrast to their Western peers, the typical Chinese teenager rarely goes out in the evening or at weekends to hang out with friends.

These cultural variations are already evident in the simplest forms of infant play. Chinese babies are, in general, far more disciplined than their North American counterparts. Much of the behavior that is acceptable in the West – fidgeting in one’s seat, banging on the floor, crawling around in public spaces -- seems wild and out of control to the Chinese.

Conformity and its discontents
Such cultural distinctions are evident not only in lifestyle, but also in attitudes. Western cultures tend to glamorize the rebel and see the uniqueness of the misfit as worthy of praise. It accepts and on occasion even encourages failure. Chinese society in comparison is massively conformist. ‘The tall nail gets hammered down’ as the popular saying goes. Idioms such as this pepper the Chinese language and are often used to express near universally held opinions.

Finally, in China it’s cool to be a good student and even being the teacher’s pet is considered OK. For teachers to display explicit favoritism towards their most able students is common and accepted. It is common practice for Chinese schools to publicly rank their students and test results are posted for all to see. There are even cases of classroom seating arrangements being decided according to rank. While many complain about the cruelty that can result, with most Chinese parents telling their kids to aim toward the middle of the list, this type of overt comparison is generally seen as a positive motivational force.

Western parents shrink from these practices and many locals openly deride the humiliation, pressure and competiveness of Chinese schools -- not to mention the time and devotion required not only of students but also of their parents. Still, few would deny that the West could use more of the discipline, studiousness and widespread competence in math and science that Chinese schooling produces.

Schools in Shanghai are struggling to find the right balance. At Victoria Kindergarten, a Hong Kong based Chinese school, the emphasis on academic fundamentals is matched by a strong international focus. Yew Ching International School seeks to prepare students for both Chinese and foreign universities. Song Ching Ling Kindergarten - widely regarded as the best in the city - has an English and Chinese teacher in each class.

Local schools with international divisions are finding that what were once very separate streams are now increasingly feeding off each other. The city is hosting ever more schools from Singapore and Hong Kong that teach in both Chinese and English and take from both curriculums. Just as international schools are bending to fit the culture of their Asian hosts, the local schools are being transformed by the foreigners that are for the first time being admitted into their midst.

Near-future trends in education are bound to be profoundly affected by an ever-deeper intermingling of East and West. Whatever the outcome of this process, Shanghai’s wealth of cosmopolitan experience will inevitably position it at the cutting-edge of the coming educational hybridity.

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