What's the different between English school and Chinese school?

What's the different between English school and Chinese school?
What's the different between English school and Chinese school?

What's the different between English school and Chinese school?
Many friends of mine in China are very curious about the life of doing a PhD in U.S. I was asked many times to tell them about my daily routine. They are often astonished when I told them my school life here is just like going to high school in China. My professor encouraged me to write about something about the differences of the education in China and U.S. according to my personal experience to share with friends and teachers.
第一, 教材的差异
The Difference of Textbook

在国内读大学,还有很多研究生阶段的课,老师通常会指定一本教材作为主要的教学内容.这些教材一般被认为具体领域里的必读或者经典数目.全国各个大学相同的科系选用的教材基本上会比较接近.在美国,某一门课教材的选用全都依据任课教师的个人偏好而定.同一门课,在不同的大学,教材的选用会出现非常大的差异性.在过去的两年里,我所上过的课里老师们指定的教材的数量也是千差万别.有的课中规中矩,只有一本参考教材,有的课有三四本教材,有的课根本没有教材.所有的课都有一个特点,那就是除了参考教材以外,有非常多的期刊文章,或者别的书里的部分章节作为阅读材料.所以,每次上课之前会有大量的阅读材料需要看,这些阅读材料来源不同,观点各异,有的观点甚至针锋相对.习惯于正确答案的中国学生在刚开始接受这种模式的阅读时会显得非常不适应.第一,母语不是英语,阅读速度跟不上去,看不懂文章的核心内容.其实很多美国学生也是如此,他们倒不是因为阅读速度的问题,主要是个人的阅历,领悟力,和对相关领域背景知识的掌握程度有关.第二,阅读量太大,材料根本看不完.在上课阶段,大概每个学生一学期会选三,四门课.每门课一般三个学分.每门课每个星期的阅读量不会低于100页,超200的时候是常有的事,那就意味着每个学生每个星期就要看450-600页的阅读材料.还要有时间写总结,评论和作业.所以可以认认真真一字不落的读完所有的阅读材料的可能性比较小.第三,各种阅读材料的相关性和观点之间的联系让很多学生丈二和尚摸不到头.对于习惯了有正确的标准答案的中国学生而言,就像掉进了各种观点的大海,不知道哪个对哪个错,该怎么取舍.这三个挑战对于美国学生和其他国际学生来讲是同时存在的.我个人认为这种模式是故意这样设计的,其目的就在于锻炼学生们在信息的汪洋大海里迅速提取自己需要的信息的能力,锻炼学生们开阔视野接受不同观点的能力,以及锻炼学生们保持独立思考,自己去探索真理的能力.
In college and graduate school in China, the instructor usually assigns one textbook as the main reading material. These textbooks are always considered as the classic reading of a particular field. Almost all the departments in the same field but in different universities across the country will use the same textbook. In U.S., it is all up to the instructor to decide what books should be used as the main reading material. For the same class, the textbook can be very different in different universities. In the past two years, the amount of textbooks in the classes I’ve taken varied very much. Some instructors require just one textbook, but some others require 3 or 4 books as the textbook. Some instructor even did not assign any textbook. However they all have one thing in common, that is, there are a lot of reading materials besides the textbook for one class. The material might be journals papers, chapters from other books and papers from other non-academic sources. There are a lot of reading materials for each class before the class meeting, and some of the arguments from different readings are diametrically opposed to each other. Many Chinese students who used to look for correct and standard answers feel very uncomfortable when they just start studying in U.S. Firstly as an English-as-second-language student, Chinese students feel very difficult to finish all the readings in time and grasp the main arguments from the readings. In fact, it is a challenge to most of the students including those who are using English as their first language. The ability of fast reading and understanding is related to the personal experience, the background knowledge and personal logic preference of each student. Secondly, it is the relationship of the arguments in each reading material always seems confusing to Chinese students, who tend to be told by a solely correct conclusion. They usually feel lost in the reading the contradictory arguments. I think it is intentionally designed in the way it is in U. S. The aim is to train students to select the information they need quickly from the vast information flow, to open up their minds to be exposed to different opinions, and to be critical thinking to explore the truth by themselves.

第二, 课堂组织的差异
The Difference of Class Arrangement

关于课堂表现,一个经典的笑话是这样的.美国的学生滔滔不绝得提问,中国（亚裔）学生在课堂讨论中保持沉默,他们都是在假装自己已经懂了.中国和美国的大学课堂里一个显著的差异是老师的角色.在中国,上课以老师讲授为主,一节课的大部分时间是老师在讲话.在美国,上课以学生讨论为主,每节课的大部分时间是学生们在讨论或者辩论,老师的角色是问问题.美国通常不喜欢回答问题,即使被问到一些问题,他们也会把皮球踢回来,问学生,你怎么看?在中国,大学课堂一般不会每次上课都留作业,学期论文一般是一学期一篇.在美国的这两年里,我上的课,不管是什么level的,几乎每次课都要交作业,每门课一学期要有三3-5篇的position paper.每个星期三四门课,看书和做作业都是安排的满满的,几乎不大的课余时间,和在国内读高中差不多.与在国内读研的“惬意”时光相比,真是不可同日而语.
There is a common joke about the difference of class performance between American students and Chinese students. American students keep asking questions, and Chinese students keep being quiet. Both of them are pretending they understood what the professor is talking. The role of the professor in the class is very different in China and U.S. In China, professors have a lot of lectures, and professors are talking in most of the class time. In U.S. in most of the class time students are talking. They express their opinions, discuss and debate. The role of the professor is to ask questions. American professors tend to ask questions more than answer them. Sometimes even when the students are asking the professor questions, the common answer is “what do you think about it?”

第三, 教育理念的差异
The Difference of Education Philosophy
一个核心的问题是,教材和课堂组织方式差异这么大,学生的收获是否也有这么大的差异性?一个让我困扰了很久的问题就是我从这门课里学到了什么?每次课上完,每学期结束,我都一直在问自己这个问题.我读了那么多书,写了那么多作业,也参加了那么多讨论.可是我真正得到了什么呢?我得到的这些对我未来要做的工作有什么帮助呢?我持续的问自己这个问题,却总也得不到一个满意的答案.在持续不断的询问和思考里面,我慢慢得想通了一个道理.教育的目的在于启发人的思考,播下一个种子,然后锻炼学生自己的能力去让自己挑选的种子发芽,长大,开花,结果.学习的意义就在这个探索的过程之中.教育学生是帮助他们开打一扇扇的窗户去领略更高,更远,更广阔的空间.学生选择走什么路,怎么样的走,都得靠个人的修炼了.这也许就是中国古话所说的“师傅领进门,修行在个人”吧.
Since there are so many differences in the class, did I learn more or better in U.S. It is a question I kept asking myself. What are the take-home messages? What exactly did I learnt from this class? How will these things I learnt from class benefit for my future career? I could not find a satisfied answer for a few semesters until someday I understood the purpose of the education all of a sudden. The aim of education is to inspire the students to think, to help student select a seed to put in their mind, and train their abilities to cultivate the seed they select. How far they can go depends on their own efforts and creativity. The meaning of learning, exactly like life, lies in the process, rather than the outcomes. To educate students is to help them open up each window so that they can see higher, farther, and wider. It is up to the students to choose the destination they want to go and how they could reach there.
各位老师,同学,朋友,你对教育怎么看?
My dear friends, how do you think about difference?