Starting with a short story, what should China learn from the United States?

Ten-year-old children are sent to American schools for English classes, and teachers assign homework and write papers. The topic is incredibly big: "How do I view human culture"; In the history class, the teacher asked the children to play the role of presidential advisers and be senior advisers to national decision-making; Middle school physics class, homework turned out to be a municipal scientific research project _ _ urban lighting system layout; In fact, moral education begins with making children love small animals.

There is no unified teaching material, no unified examination, and no classification and ranking of students. This is an American education presented to journalists in China.

Facing the "western scenery" which is completely different from China's education, all kinds of doubts and puzzles follow. What kind of talents should American education train? "Children without disabilities only have education with disabilities." Is this an alarmist talk by educators or a profound understanding of the objective law between people and education?

Have we China people seriously reflected on our education? Is there any defect in our education in China? If so, where is it? As a nation that is planning the future in an all-round way, how should we examine the educational environment we provide for our children?

Author: Gao Gang

An American elementary school gave my 10-year-old son an assignment to write a paper entitled "Yesterday and Today in China". Studying the history of World War II, the American teacher actually asked the ten-year-old child to answer such a question: "If you were a senior adviser to President Truman, what would you think of the atomic bomb dropped by the United States?" All kinds of incredible things, all kinds of inevitable conflicts and reflections, thus "encountering" American education.

When I took my 10-year-old son on the flight from China Eastern Airlines to Los Angeles, my heart was full of doubts: I don't know if it was a mistake to bring him to the United States at such a young age. A friend's advice is still ringing in my ears: at least children should receive basic education in China before going to the United States, because the basic education in China is the most complete and systematic. Many experts also believe that the higher education in the United States is excellent, while the basic education is certainly not as solid as that in China.

Until I sent my son to the American elementary school not far from the apartment, my inner worry was finally confirmed: what kind of school is this! Students can laugh loudly in class. Let them play in school for at least two hours every day and go home from school before 3 pm. What makes me most open-minded is that my son doesn't have a textbook at all! Ms. Firth, a blonde female teacher, looked at her son's fourth-grade math textbook for China primary school and said softly, "I can tell you that he doesn't need to learn math until the sixth grade!" Facing her smiling blue eyes, I feel like a fool. For a moment, I really doubted whether bringing my son to America was the stupidest thing in my life.

As the days go by, I feel very heavy when I watch my son go to school happily with an empty schoolbag on his back every day. In China, his schoolbag has been full and heavy since the first grade. From grade one to grade four, he changed three schoolbags, one bigger than the other, which made people feel that the weight of "knowledge" was getting heavier and heavier. In America, children will be more relaxed mentally if there is no burden in their schoolbags. Can this be called school? A semester passed, and I called my son to the front and asked him what impressed him most about American schools. He smiled and gave me a clear answer: "Freedom!" "These two words hit me on the forehead like a brick.

At this time, I really miss China's education deeply, and I seem to have a deeper understanding of why children in China always win gold medals in international Olympic learning competitions. However, at this point, we can't send him back to China. I'm resigned to my fate.

Unconsciously, a year passed and my son's English improved a lot. Instead of going home directly after school, he often goes to the library and carries a big bag of books from time to time. Asked why he borrowed so many books at once, he looked at the borrowed books while typing on the computer and said, "homework."

Homework? I couldn't help bending over and looking at the title my son typed on the computer screen: "Yesterday and Today in China". Is this a primary school student's homework? Even the doctor dares to do such a big problem? So he asked his son sternly whose idea it was, and his son told him frankly: The teacher said that the United States is an immigrant country and asked each student to write an article about the country where his ancestors lived. It is required to summarize the history, geography and culture of this country, analyze its differences with the United States, and expound its own views.

I choked up: I really don't know what will happen if a child of 10 is allowed to run such a project that even adults may not be able to do? How can a child of 10 explain the geography, culture, history and present situation of such a big China? I just think that if a child aged 10 is educated and does these big and unreasonable things, I'm afraid he won't even be able to eat in the future.

A few days later, my son finished the homework. Unexpectedly, the printed booklet is more than 20 pages. From the Yellow River to hieroglyphics, from the Silk Road to the five-star red flag ... full of excitement. I didn't praise or judge because I was a little confused. First, I saw my son divide the article into chapters. Secondly, I listed the bibliography at the end of the article. I think this is the way I write my thesis after graduate school. I was 30 years old then.

Soon, my son's other homework came again. This is how I look at human culture! If the last assignment was marginal, it really doesn't matter this time.

The son suddenly popped out: "Is jiaozi a culture?"

"jiaozi? Culture? " I don't know how to answer at the moment. In order to be nice to future generations, I had to consult authoritative reference books with my son. It really takes a lot of effort. We finally finished the repeated tossing from abstract to concrete and from concrete to abstract. My son sat in front of the computer for several nights and made a scene. Looking at his concentration, I can't help smiling bitterly. How does a primary school student understand the concept of "culture" with infinite connotation and uncertain extension? I hope my strong-looking son, who has always been interested in "eating", doesn't just make a fuss about jiaozi and steamed buns.

My son, who became free in American education, soon made an article. This time, he printed out ten pages, designed the cover himself, and listed the reference books at the back of the article.

He proudly said to me, "What do you mean by culture? In fact, it is very simple-it is everything that people create and enjoy. " That confident eyes, it seems that he found the truth that others failed to find. Later, the children took back the homework that the teacher had seen, with the teacher's comments on it: "The original intention of arranging this homework is to let the children broaden their horizons and active their thinking, and the result of watching the homework is often that I have entered the realm that I hope the children will enter."

No evaluation, no right or wrong. Asked what this comment on writing meant, my son said that the teacher was not proud of us, but was shocked by us.

"Really?" My son asked me.

I am speechless. I've been thinking: what does Mr. Firth want them to enter?

At the end of my son's sixth grade, the teacher left them a series of questions about World War II. "Who do you think is responsible for this war?" "What do you think is the reason why Nazi Germany failed?" "If you were a senior adviser to President Truman, what would you think of the United States dropping an atomic bomb?" "Do you think that only dropping atomic bombs can end the war?" "What do you think is the best way to avoid war today?" ……

If I saw this kind of problem two years ago, I would definitely complain: this is not homework, it is obviously pre-training for running for the Senate! At this time, I began to know something about American primary education. It is through these questions that teachers convey a kind of humanitarian values to children, guide them to pay attention to the fate of mankind, and guide them to learn how to think about major issues from a strategic perspective. There is no standard answer to these questions in the classroom, and some of its answers may take children a lifetime to find.

Watching my 12-year-old son eagerly read and search for information to finish these homework, I can't help but think of the scenes when I studied the history of World War II: according to the years and events, I memorized the conclusions in the book, and some of them learned like the Bible. Otherwise, how can I pass the exam and have a bright future? At this time, I was thinking that in the process of pursuing knowledge, we often repeat the conclusions of our predecessors much more than our own thinking. Without your own thinking, it is difficult to have new creations.

When my son graduated from primary school, he was able to skillfully use the computer and microfilm system in the library to find all kinds of words and images he needed. One day, we argued about the foraging habits of lions and leopards. The next day, he borrowed videos of these two animals from the library and took me to watch and discuss. Faced with things they don't understand, children already know where to find answers.

The change of my son prompted me to re-examine the primary education in America. I found that although American primary schools did not instill a lot of knowledge into their children in the classroom, they tried their best to draw their eyes to the boundless ocean of knowledge outside the campus. They want their children to know that all the time and space in life are classrooms for them to study. Instead of asking children to recite a lot of formulas and theorems, they took pains to tell them how to think and how to find answers in unfamiliar fields. They never use exams to divide students into three or six grades, but try their best to affirm all the efforts of children, praise all the conclusions of their own thinking, and protect and stimulate all their creative desires and attempts.

Why do we only limit students' vision, thinking and even behavior norms to such narrow textbooks, classrooms and campuses?

I am really worried that under such confinement, letting children exhaust their infinite lives for the scores of several courses may not only make them lose interest in learning, but even make them "hostile" to education, and may also make them narrow-minded and broad-minded. A child who is a few points higher than the students around him will be rewarded, which will make them complacent and complacent. What position will these children who live for today's exam questions occupy in the process of human civilization tomorrow?

Do we really want to deprive our children of relaxation and happiness? Do we really want to isolate them from the wonderful real world in order to make them become talents?