The other night I was talking on SKYPE with one of my really good friends from China. If we are not careful, we could spend our entire time talking about the many differences between American culture and Chinese culture. Quickly our topic of conversation quickly turned to one of the many differences of our cultures.
What was the topic of that conversation? Schools and public education.
Now let me preface the rest of this blog post with this: I DO NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT POLITICS. I DO NOT KEEP UP WITH POLITICS. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A POLITICAL ISSUE, DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, ETC.
Back to the story…
I began to ask about my friend’s high school experience in China (she is now in her third year of college). As she began to talk about her high school experience (the common Chinese high school experience), I was floored. This was her daily school schedule while in high school (remember this is public school):
7:30am to 12:00pm – In Class
12:00pm to 2:30pm – Lunch, Rest, and Homework
2:30pm to 5:30pm – In Class
5:30pm to 7:00pm – Dinner and Homework
7:00pm to 9:50pm – In Class
Needless to say, I picked my jaw up off the carpet to tell her that the 8:00am-3:30pm American school schedule was significantly different. Think for a minute how life would be different in the Chinese school schedule. Wednesday night church? Not possible. After school sports? Nope. Quality time with your friends? Only if they sit beside you in class. Quality time with your family? Pretty tough to come by.
There is such an importance and emphasis put on education in the Chinese culture. Because of the massive population, students from an early age understand that the way to get ahead and go to a good college is to be the best of the best in the classroom. Nothing comes before performance in the classroom. The results show that their education system works too.
That got me thinking about American public schools. How do we do? After a quick google search, I came across a very interesting article by John Stossel (yeah, the 20/20 reporter with the killer stache). If you have a few minutes, I suggest you read it. His article, entitled “Stupid in America”, has some interesting stories and statistics that will get you thinking (including people from other countries calling American students “stupid”).
How do you think the public school system is in America today? Do you think America has a good, quality public school system? What would you like to see changed in the American public school system? Having a 1st grade teacher for a sister and a mother working in American public schools, I have a great interest in this topic.
Wow, now in a way i would LOVE to have that schedule, but then again it would be like late but i guess if you got all the breaks and stuff you wouldnt be tired! That would take a lot getting use to though!
good blog!
love you
Wow! I’m floored. The Stossel article makes me concerned for my kids’ futures. I’m just going to have to work extra hard as a mom. In many European countries, you have to pay to go to high school, but college education is free. It impresses more of a value on secondary education so that students are trained better for college learning. Call me crazy, but I think the U.S. should jump on the bandwagon!
I would like to see student mentality change.
More parental involvement and accountability for their childrens actions instead of griping about dress codes.
Focusing on test scores instead of giving teachers the oppertunity to educated, connect, and inspire is unnerving.
“We tolerate mediocrity”… Yikes.
Faith – I think students would still definitely be tired on that schedule because you would procrastinate on completing your homework and studying until the break right before those classes.
Laura – I am all about free college education. As somebody that had to have loans and married a wife that had college loans, free college education sounds nice.
Sarah – I have read and heard some really interesting information on how hard it is to fire terrible teachers, causing the quality of teachers to be extremely low. It is worth checking out. I think that makes a huge difference.
I had such awesome teachers when I was growing up. I watch my friends, who have become teachers HAVE to stress test performance instead of really pouring into their kids the way they would like.
Bad teachers however… 6 years to get a teacher out of the classroom for… That is disturbing.
And you wonder why so many people are opting for the “home school” thing. We were at a Middle School event for the Gateway Church in Southlake last Sunday and there were probably 250-300 Middle School kids there. They polled them and asked how many were “home schooled”. I would say that over half of them were.
It makes you think…
I want to be a teacher so that I can “Pay it forward.” There’s more to education than sitting in a class, sometimes one needs to experience a little more life in order to understand it. I feel like there are very few “great” teachers in our schools, but many outside of the prison-like walls. I’m not saying education isn’t important, rather one cannot depend solely on a “system” to ensure that their child is learning. We don’t graduate as many of____ because we have become comfortable in our fat wealth.
i agree dad there were a TON of people there! WOW! and yeah probly a half of them were home schooled i was so suprised but i guess thats just how it is up there! ill tell you what……. i am not going to be home schooled…..i hope!
Mr. Thompson… I love it! Too bad we think of a “living classroom” as an alternative education.