U.S. school or China school?
mhaak
August 29, 2011, 08:00 PM posted in General DiscussionQuestion on where to school a small child. I'll start with a little background. I am American and have been basically U.S. schooled, with a little elementary schooling in Holland. My wife is from Chongqing and has been schooled only in Chongqing. We live in USA but still own a home in Chongqing. We have a two year old son and plan on him going to preschool in Chongqing for at least a year.
For those of you who have experience with education in both countries, what would you do with your small child in order to give him/her the best all around education?
pretzellogic
August 30, 2011, 01:00 PMIt would be helpful to know how you quantify best all around education. Best all round is pretty subjective, especially if you move across English, Math, Science, and handwriting. Also subjective is what is good for a 1st grader that doesn't have a social studies class, may not be good for a 6th grader that does. As you know, when money is no object, in the US, you move into a great neighborhood with great schools. Money is certainly an object for us, and we could go back to the US to educate the children, but we like living in China.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I've heard from one of the teachers in one of the many Beijing schools that serve expats that kids that go to school in a chinese school system get used to the tons of homework doled out to kids. Its easier for kids to switch from lots of homework in one school district to another school district with less homework. But harder for kids to switch from a school district with less homework to one with more homework.
mhaak
August 30, 2011, 05:32 PMThanks pretzellogic. I value your input. I understand that 'Best all around education' is subjective. You did in fact answer part of my question. Actually it's opinions that I'm looking for. The more the marrier.
I'm under the impression that, as you stated, kids in Chinese schools get used to tons of homework as opposed to U.S. schools with almost none. But kids in Chinese schools are taught to 'memorize' for exams and use far less critical thinking than kids in U.S. schools.
So maybe the first year(s) in Chinese schools and later year(s) in U.S. schools. Just a thought.
pretzellogic
It's interersting. All Chinese schools are different too. According to a couple of local Chinese parents, Beijing Middle school/High School #4 is one of the "best" schools in Beijing. But homework is piled on kids, and kids are publicly ranked and rated. Top students are praised and rewarded. Bottom students are ignored or berated. Other local Chinese schools in the Chaoyang area including Wangjing, or Dashanzi seem to be less stressful. Interestingly, among the international schools, Beijing City Int'l School also piles on the homework, and seems to have a rep for ranking/rating/praising/berating students as well. I've learned to avoid generalizing.
Regarding the "critical thinking" and "memorizing" argument, i've heard that knock against Chinese schools plenty of times. I remember trying to look for peer-reviewed research on effective schools, and apparently (i'm still looking for the citations), there are only 2 things that are consistently important in the research. The first is parental involvement. The second is small class sizes. Critical thinking is important, but how important is it when you're only 5 years old anyway? Certainly, you want your kids going through mindless drills on writing their name (in English and Chinese), and knowing the alphabet and so on. Critical thinking in math doesn't come until you have your kids doing story problems, and figuring out the moment of inertia of an ellipse of revolution or something.
Even if your kid where to go to Beijing Middle School #4, if you as the parent make it clear that you won't kill your kid for getting less than an A, then much, but not all, of the stress associated with a top school disappears. Or at least, this is my hope. Additionally, critical thinking isn't just limited to what is taught at the school anyway. Parents certainly can do plenty to foster creativity in their kids at home. Turning off the TV, and encouraging reading and game playing are a great start. Brainwashing your kid to start C++ programming is even better :-)
pretzellogic
August 30, 2011, 01:00 PMIt would be helpful to know how you quantify best all around education. Best all round is pretty subjective, especially if you move across English, Math, Science, and handwriting. Also subjective is what is good for a 1st grader that doesn't have a social studies class, may not be good for a 6th grader that does. As you know, when money is no object, in the US, you move into a great neighborhood with great schools. Money is certainly an object for us, and we could go back to the US to educate the children, but we like living in China.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I've heard from one of the teachers in one of the many Beijing schools that serve expats that kids that go to school in a chinese school system get used to the tons of homework doled out to kids. Its easier for kids to switch from lots of homework in one school district to another school district with less homework. But harder for kids to switch from a school district with less homework to one with more homework.