The Secret Of Good Chinese Education? There Is No Secret

There is no secret reason why Chinese education is performing well, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes. They just do the things they know they work, but then consistent and systematic. Every visit to China, you hear such a wide variety of predictions about the future of the country. Recently, a number of globally operating investors have been "short" in China, believing that this powerful economic machine will soon cope with the collapse of the real estate headquarters. Optimists see it differently: China - hold on - just got started and what we're going to see soon is the reward for 30 years of investing in infrastructure and education. However, anyone who is seeking support for the belief that this optimistic vision is not completely cranky should take a look at a primary school in Shanghai. Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America visit some of the best and worst performing schools in China to try to find The Secret: how it could be that Shanghai's public high schools in 2009 ended at the world ranking of PISA, a large-scale international comparative research that every three years is performed among thousands of 15-year-olds in 65 countries. The students are tested for their knowledge and skills in mathematics, physics and reading skills. After visiting the Qiangwei primary school (754 students, 59 teachers, groups 3 to 7) Wendy Kopp think it's secret to discover: there is no secret.

Principles

If you attend a lesson and talk with the school principal and the teachers, you will notice the ongoing focus on all the principles that a well-performing school must fulfill. Namely: deeply convinced of the importance of teacher education, peer-to-peer learning and permanent professional development, high involvement of parents, a school leadership that pursues the highest standards and a culture that enjoys teaching staff. The secret of Shanghai is that they apply these principles better and more often. Take the professional development of the teachers. Shen Jun, the head of Qiangwei, has made her primary school change school in ten years from a poor performing in an excellent performing school, while 40 percent of her students are children of low-skilled guest workers. She says that her teachers teach 70 percent of the time and spend 30 percent on developing educational skills and making lesson plans. That's much more than in a typical American school. Tenh Jiao is 26 and teaches English classes. The school starts at midnight and ends at half past five, and in that time, he gives an average of three lessons of 35 minutes. I attended an English class in group 5. That lesson was meticulously planned, no time was wasted. The rest of that day, Tenh Jiao spends lessons, doing exercises, listening to improvement tips from other teachers who attended a class or attended classes in classrooms of highly experienced teachers. According to Teng, 'parents' schools' are also under his task. Three to five times a semester, parents visit the school to learn how to handle the computer. Then they can help their children better with their homework and follow online classes. In 2003, Shanghai still had a very "common" education system, according to Andreas Schleicher, who is in charge of the PISA tests. "Now it is performing the world rankings and drastically reduced the differences between schools." You can easily find all details online if you want to see Shanghai top School Website but there are still many medium schools in China where much has to change. The good news is that by simply doing the things that both American and Chinese education experts know that they work - but then systematically and consistently.