Chinese Education

A little late, but considering my power was out for half the weekend, I excuse myself on this one.


http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2011/01/chinese_educators_leaders_questioning_focus_on_tests.html?qs=chinese+education


This entry was basically talking about another article (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/13/world/la-fg-china-education-20110113) which was talking about how China's PISA scores, etc, are always high, but that they are starting to realize that the scores aren't everything.  


"'In the long run, for us to become a strong country, we need talent and great creativity," Xiong said. "And right now, our educational system cannot accomplish this.'"


I think that is a pretty strong quote, showing the true feelings of Chinese officials.  While it is not new that China has consistently scored incredibly high on standardized tests, it is a change to see that they are not happy about this, but disappointed.  It's interesting to learn that China is looking to the US, even though we have been scoring fairly averagely on tests, because of our focus on fostering creativity and imagination.


I think that is one thing the US has always valued, and it's inspirational to see that China is beginning to realize the importance of thinking outside the test.