Chinese vs American Schools -- There are Big Differences!

Ever Wonder….?

…what the differences are between schools in China and schools in America?  Between study habits of Chinese students and American students?

I get that question often from my Chinese students, so I prepared a lesson about it.  So if you've ever wondered the same thing…read on…and be amazed at the differences!

Cohort concept

One of the main differences I have run across in China is the concept of cohorts (standard groups). All students are placed in classes the first year of each school (primary, middle and high school, as well as at the university level), and they generally remain in that cohort for the full time they are in that school. Occasionally there is movement between cohorts based on year-end test scores, but that is not very common.

Of course, that does not happen in America, except in schools with limited enrollment. There is a bit of a cohort concept for AP / Honors classes, but that is generally due to a lack of multiple course offerings and usually applies only to those upper-level courses.

School Years

Chinese students are generally in class about the same number of weeks per year as American students.

American schools generally run from mid-August to late May / early June.

Chinese schools generally run from late August to early / mid-July.

Chinese schools have winter holiday (called winter festival) from January 1 until late February.

School uniforms

Chinese schools still require their students to wear school uniforms. One of the random questions students drew to answer for me during their final oral exams this semester was: “Describe your clothes.” One young woman who drew this question did a fine job, detailing where she had purchased her blouse, pants, tennis shoes and jacket, and why she liked them. She told me her jacket was the jacket from her middle school uniform. She said she really loved the colors, as compared to her high school uniform, which was mostly white, and in her opinion, “Very bland.” J

Note the red scarf all the students are wearing. This is a mandatory aspect of their school uniform in primary (elementary) and middle school throughout China. It symbolizes loyalty to China, particularly the Chinese flag. I have seen it compared to the daily recitation of our Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms. A half generation ago it symbolized the student had joined the Communist Youth movement, but I understand that is no longer necessarily the case.

(The five stars on China's flag represent the Communist party [the largest star], workers, soldiers, students and farmers.)

American schools do not generally require school uniforms, though some private schools and schools run by religious institutions still require it.

School day

This is an area of huge difference I found between Chinese and American schools. I think the school district where our children went to school is fairly representative of American school schedules.  All are between a 6 hour, 45-minute day (elementary school) and a seven-hour, ten-minute day (high school), with hours generally around 8:30am to about 3:30pm.  Studies in the U.S. show high school students have an average of about 3.5 hours of homework per week.

This next bit is HUGE -- virtually all Chinese high school students leave home to go to high school, and live in dormitories provided on or very near campus – this is a huge difference. Depending on the test score they receive at the end of their ninth-grade year, they are assigned to a high school, and most often it is nowhere near their home. So that means 15-year-old soon-to-be high school students bid their parents (and grandparents) adieu, and head off to school. The distances are usually too far for their parents to see them other than during holidays (or festivals, as they are called here).

The Chinese high schooler's day is rigorous. Students typically arrive in their classroom at 6:30am or 7:00am where they study under an adult's watchful care until their teacher arrives at 8:00am. The teacher teaches until noon, when students return to their dormitories for two hours, to eat and take a nap. They return to school at 2:00pm, then are in class until 5:30pm. They take an hour and a half dinner break, and then are back in their classroom at 7:00pm for teacher-monitored studying until 10:00pm. One of my students told me if you want to study when you return to your dorm, that is up to you.

One article I read indicated this schedule went on six days a week – school was from Monday through Saturday. I taught this lesson to a class of graduate students, and they told me that was not correct -- they were in class seven days a week, and that they got two weekend days off once a month. One student in that class said she got two weekend days off twice a month, and her classmates razzed her for having had it easy!

Curriculum

Another difference between Chinese schools and American schools is that the curriculum in China is government administered...and is somewhat of a one-size-fits-all curriculum. There are very few electives available at any of the levels of school.

Curricula in American schools is set by the school districts, and usually include a variety of elective courses that may be taken.

The Chinese curriculum is focused on learning facts, fact, facts. Students routinely memorize pages and pages of their textbooks in preparation for tests they will be taking.

The ability to memorize and regurgitate facts is why China's math students excel in competitions and exams -- they have learned the knowledge backwards and forwards.

But a big difference in the curricula between America and China is the application of the information!  American curricula provide knowledge, but also encourage teamwork, cooperation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as application of the knowledge learned.  Those characteristics are not what the Chinese curriculum is about.  But boy, can they take and pass tests!

Good in Math vs Bad in Math
Perhaps you read my recent post about stereotypes (Travel is Fatal to Prejudice, Bigotry and Narrow-mindedness, November 8, 2018), a lesson I taught to all my university classes.  One of the things that came out of that is that Chinese are very (rightfully) proud of their academic achievement in the area of Mathematics, and generally consider Americans as being weak in this area.

I went online and did some research. I discovered that there is a math competition called the International Mathematical Olympiad, which is the quintessential math competition for pre-college students.  The Olympiad has been running since 1959 -- fifty-nine years (if I did the math right!).  Teams from China have won that competition nineteen times...and they didn't participate during the first 30 years!  So they have won the gold medal nineteen of the twenty-nine years they sent teams!  That includes twelve victories since 2000.

America hasn't fared so well...but we are improving. We have won seven times in the fifty-nine years we competed.  However, we have won three times in the last five years, including in 2018.

But remember the previous section on Curricula? How China's curriculum teaches their students to pass tests, while America's curricula teaches her students how to apply the knowledge?  I found some other interesting information about that.  Each year since 1901, there has been a Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to deserving (and brilliant) physicists.  Since 1901, Chinese scholars have won three Nobel Prizes, two of which were won in Physics in 1957.  Americans have won 336 Nobel Prizes since 1901, ninety-one of them in Physics, and twenty-six of them since 2000.  Americans have won Nobel Prizes in Economics fifty-seven times and Chemistry seventy-three times.  A Chinese citizen won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.

So while many Chinese students are absolutely brilliant in the field of mathematics, Americans are far better at using and applying that knowledge to solve problems.

I could go on and on, but let me leave just a bullet point list of other differences between Chinese and American education systems:

• Chinese teachers typically remain with their cohort of students from first to sixth grades,
  seventh to ninth and tenth to twelfth grades; their teachers teach all subjects.
• Chinese teachers come to students -- students remain in their classrooms and teachers rotate.
• Chinese Kindergarten costs $500 to $5,000 per year; primary and middle schools are free, and high school is about $700 per year (which includes room and board in their dormitories). Chinese Kindergartens are for children 3, 4 and 5. The first two years are analogous to U.S pre-schools. 
• Chinese universities are much cheaper than in the US.  At the university where I teach, tuition, room and board runs between $1,000 and $2,300 per year, depending on the student's assigned major.
• Grades of each student are posted for all to see.
• As you might expect, Chinese schools have a huge emphasis on unity and uniformity (collectivism).
• Chinese students all take the same courses and tests.
• Class sizes are larger in Chinese schools than American schools. Class sizes in primary, middle and high schools usually range between 55 and 65 students. University class sizes are about the same, although some classes number in the hundreds (several cohorts).
• Non-academic activities (dances, homecoming, prom, athletic events, drama, etc.) are not a priority in China, and often not even available. They are seldom participated in.  Academics is the primary focus.
• At the end of their senior year, nearly 10,000,000 Chinese students take the Gaokao (rhymes with cow-cow) -- a standardized test that will determine their futures.  Depending on their score, they will be assigned a university and major. Students are vying for 7,000,000 slots at Chinese universities; those who don't make the cut won't be going to college.