Lecture 8 1.docx

Lecture 8 1.docx

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Lecture81

April28,2011

Lecture8

Education

（1）

Educationisveryimportanttoanycultureintheworld.Generallyspeaking,systemsofformalandinformaleducationseektomeettheperceived（认知上的）needsofsocieties.Thus,ineveryculture,schoolsservemultiplefunctions.

First,ithelpsfashiontheindividual,orhelpstheformationofcharacters（性格）.

Second,schoolsareplaceswhereaculture’shistoryandtraditionsarepassedfromgenerationtogeneration.Inanotherwords,educationisthetransmissionofcivilization.

Third,educationequipsstudentswithconventionalandmodernknowledgeandskill,sothattheymaymakealivinguponleavingschool.

Finally,schoolsplayabigroleinteachingtheinformalknowledgeofaculture,suchasbasicvaluesandbeliefs,rulesofcorrectconduct（formalbehavior）andthelike.

I.EducationintheUnitedStates

Pre-school,sometimescalledkindergarten,isavailableprivately,butpublicschoolsdon’talwaysprovidethis.Mostpre-schoolagedchildrenstayatprivatedaycareorgotokindergartenwhiletheirparentsareworking.

Whenchildrenaresixyearsold,theyenterthefirstyearofpublicschool.Ingeneral,localpropertytaxespayforthepublicschoolsfromthe1stthroughthe12thgrades.Thismeansthatinrichneighborhoodstheschoolsareverynice,andinpoorneighborhoodsschoolsarepoor.

ThesystemofelementaryandhighschoolinU.S.A.

Gradelevel

Age

Nameofschool

1sttrough4th

6-10years

Elementaryschool

5thand6th

11-12years

MiddleSchool

7thand8th

13-14years

JuniorHighSchool

9thto12th

15-18years

SeniorHighSchool

Notes:

Freshman,sophomore,junior,andseniorareusedtodescribeyears1,2,3,and4ofhighschool,respectively.Thesamefourtermsareusedalsoatthecollegeoruniversitylevel.Thestatement,“Johnisafreshman”,doesnotclarifyifheisincollegeorhighschool.

HigherEducationintheU.S.

Definition:

Anyeducationthatisaboveeducationofseniorhighschoolbelongstohighereducation.

School,college,anduniversity

Whatdothetermsof“college”and“school”mean?

Whatisthedifferencebetweenacollegeandauniversity?

“School”isageneralterm.Schoolmayrefertodifferentleveleducationalinstitutions.It’srealmeaningalldepends.

“College”isalsoageneralterm.

Ingeneralconversation,theterm“college”isusedtodescribeanyeducationalinstitutionabovehighschoollevel.

University

Auniversityusuallyconsistsofseveralcolleges.Canadian,English,andAustraliansaremorelikelytousetheword“university”thanAmericans.

Anypersonmayentercollegeanytime.Itissaidthatschoolsare“easytogetinto,buthardtogetoutof”.Manypeoplechangecareersbyreturningtoschooltogetaneducationinadifferentfieldthantheyworkin,orgetadditionaleducationinthefieldtheycurrentlyworkin.Anyonemaychangehis/hermajoratanytime.

“College”includesvocationalschoolsandacademicschools.Avocationalschoolisaschoolthattrainsitsstudentsinblue-collartrades,suchasautomobilemechanics,welding,hairstyling,electronictechnician,andmanyothers.Sometimesvocationalcollegesarereferredtoas“technical”schools.

Thetuitions.

Moststateschargehighertuitiontopeoplewhohaverecentlymovedintoastate,orhaveapermanentresidenceinanotherstate.Asmostofthemoneycollegelevelschoolsgetcomesfromstatetaxes,andforeignersandout-of-stateresidentsdon’tpaythesetaxes,theymustpayhighertuition.

Trade/Technicalschoolandcommunitycollege

Trade/Technicalschoolsbelongtothefieldofvocationaleducation.Practiceismorestressedinsuchkindsofschools.Forinstance,inamechanictrade（technical）schoolabout30%ofthetimeisspentinclassroomandtherestishandsontraining.Theteacherandstudenthaveatruejourneyman–apprenticerelationship（师徒关系）.

Generallyspeaking,studentrequiresabouttwoyearsoftechnicaltrainingtobecomeanautomobilemechanic.

Communitycolleges

Communitycollegesprovidenotonlyspecialtechnicaltraining,butalsothefirsttwoyearsofacademiccoursesrequiredtocompleteabachelordegreeatauniversity.Peoplechoosetodothisbecauseitischeaper.IntheU.S.mostcommunitieshavethosecolleges.Theseschoolshavetwofunctions:

First,theyallowstudentstoobtaintechnicaldegrees.

Second,bycompletingthefirsttwoyearsofanacademicdegree,thestudentscantransfertoauniversity.

Communitycolleges,technicalschool,andvocationalschoolshaveprogramsthatarecenteredontheneedsofindustry.Thesekindsofschoolsallowyoutoearntwo-yeartechnicaldegreesorspecializedtrainingcertificatesneededforabluecollarcareers.Positionssuchas,

electronictechnician,

computerrepairtechnician,

x-raytechnician,

computernetworkengineer,

beautician,

machinist,

andotherskilledlaborjobs.

Learningtobeanetworkengineer,computerrepairman,orother“handson”computerprofessionalonlyrequiresabouteightmonthsoftraining.PrivateschoolsthroughouttheU.S.providethenecessarytrainingtoobtainanetworkengineeringcertificationsfromallofthemajorcomputercompanies.Aswithmostcomputerfields,experienceweighsasheavilyasformaleducationwhenlookingforajob.

Computerprogrammersareself-learners,mostareworkingwithcomputerlanguagestheypickeduponthejob,notinschool.Duetothefastchangingnatureofthebusiness,skillismoreimportantthaneducationlevelinmostcomputerprogrammingjobs.Newlanguagesarebeingintroducedallthetime;ifcomputerprogrammersdonotcontinuallystudynewlanguages,theywillfallbehindveryquickly.

II.Culturalinfluencesoneducation

Asculturesvaryinwhattheyemphasize,thereisculturaldiversityineducationalconceptsandpractices.Forexample,therearedifferentwaysofperformingteaching.

Basically,twoways,whichcanbeseenfromtheChineseproverb:

“Giveamanafishandyoufeedhimforaday.Teachamantofishandyoufeedhimforalifetime.”

Therearedifferencesin

howstudentsparticipateinthelearningprocess,

whatroleteachersplay,

howmuchauthorityisvestedintheteacher,andsoon.

NowletusdealwithsomeoftheeducationaldifferencesbetweenChineseandAmericancultures.

Somedifferencesinthewayteachingandlearning

1.MostAmericaneducatorsassumethatstudentparticipationinclassroomdiscussionhasvitalvalues.Becauseofthisbelief,AmericanandotherWesternteachersgenerallyhopetoencourageinformaldiscussionsanddebatesintheirclassesorseminars.

ButChinesestudentsarenotusedtomakingcommentsoraskingquestionsinclass.Someofthemevenviewthiskindofdiscussionasawasteofprecioustimethatoughttobeusedbytheteachertodeliverintellectualtreasurestothestudents.ThemostimportantreasonmaybethatChinesetraditiondoesnotvalueself-expression.Therearealsosomepracticalreasonsgivenbysomestudentsfortheirreluctancetospeak.

Poorstudentsinacertainsubjectusuallysaytheyareafraidoflosingfaceiftheyspeaksincetheymaysaysomethingstupid.

Outstanding/topstudentsusuallysaythattheyfearbeinglookeduponasshowoffsbytheirclassmates（alsocreatinglossofface）iftheyspeaktoooftenorsaysomethingthatareobviouslybrilliant.

Averagestudentsseemtohavetheleastreluctancetospeak;theysay,however,thatthereisnopointintheirspeakingunlesstheyhavesomethingreallyvaluabletocontribute.

2.InChina,thetransmissionofknowledgeisorientedmoretowardtheorythantowardpracticeorapplication,somemorizationofdetailsandfactsisimportant.

Incontrast,intheUnitedStatestheemphasisisonknowingwheretofindfactsandhowtousethemcreatively.

3.Americanteacherstendtousebooksmerelyassourcesofopinionsorinterpretations.

Whereas,booksinChinahavebeentraditionallytakenasthesourcesofauthority.

4.InAmericanclassrooms,experimentallearning,problemsolving,casestudies,andparticipatoryteachingmethodsarepracticed.

InChineseclassroomteachingshouldbeclearlystructured,andinformation-packed.

5.InAmerica.Testsaremoreusedtogauge（judge/measure）astudent’sprogress.

InChinatestsareextremelyimportantbecausetheyareviewedastheabsolutedeterminantsofastudent’sfuture.

6.AtypicalstrategyofAmericanuniversityteachersistolectureonsomeaspectsoftheircoursesubjectbutexpectotheraspectstobecoveredbytheassignedreadings.Chinesestudentsarenotusedtothiskindofassignment.

7.Americanprofessorsoftengiveessaytestsonwhichtheyexpecttheirstudentstodiscussanissuefromseveralpointsofview;typically,suchtestsaregradednotonthebasisofrightandwronganswersbutratherofcommandofinformationandqualityofreasoning.

Americanprofessorshateplagiarism.ThisattitudemayleadtomisunderstandingwithChinesestudentswhomayrepeatonatestverbatim（一字不差的），repeatingtheactualwordsexactlysomethingpreviouslyreadandmemorizedinthebeliefthatthisisawidelyapprovedwaytoattainahighmark.

Discussion:

AsthingsarechangingrapidlyintheeducationsectorinChina,someofthedifferencesmayhavebeenchanged.Pleasetalkaboutthechangesifthere’sany.