education in asia

[clay dube]

In addition to discussing how best to teach about Asia, perhaps we should also be discussing education in Asia.

We should include teaching techniques, success stories, and information about problems. This first post is about a problem. The great emphasis on education and success on high-stakes exams has led to innovative uses of new technologies to cheat and to catch cheaters.

Here's a Christian Science Monitor story about the problem:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0609/p01s02-woap.html?s=hns

[Anonymous]

It's tough enough trying to keep students from cheating in my classroom, but I can only image how hard it would be to enforce honest test taking in universities and high schools. The kids these days have lots of gadgets and ingenious ways of cheating. I think there will always be somebody getting away with cheating of some sort. When the students are expected to be so smart and work so hard it's no reason why they cheat. If they are smart enough to be the best of the best just to get placed in a university, then I'm sure some are clever enough to cheat with out getting caught.

[Anonymous]

Are there more pressures on students in Asia to be academically successful than there are in the United States? Here, if you don't make it into college because of low test scores or lack of resources, there are still oppotunities for success. Do the same opportunities exist in Asia? I have heard the student suicide rates are higher in Asia than here. And I am under the impression that the pressure to succed is more intense there. But I am interested to know what happens to the ones who either don't make it to the University, or choose not to pursue a University degree.

[Anonymous]

I don't know for sure how pervasive it is in truly modern China, but for students whose parents are from a Confucian ideal where education is prized and succeeding is an honor to your family, it would appear that the thought of cheating would be more tantalizing for them when the pressure is getting to them or the subject is more difficult.

As a teacher in my own classes, I notice that the kids whose parents care more about education are more likely to be caught cheating. I think that is because they feel the pressure at home, while the rest of the kids either feel no pressure at home, or minimal pressure at home. At school, at least at mine, it is NOT cool to care for your own sake about your education. So kids have to deal with the emotional pressure from their friends at the most important time in their lives AND the punitive measures of their parents when they do not succeed. Some of the students give in to both by having fun with their friends, and not studying, but then cheating when they have the opportunity. Hopefully, whether they are caught or not they learn the reasons why cheating is bad.

In China, they do not appear to have friends telling them how lame and nerdy they are if they care about their grades. So the pressure is all on success and honor. I think that would make it even more tempting.... but mostly only in the cases where it was too much pressure or stress on a particular student. I don't think they all go around cheating.... still case by case. It just might up the percentage a tiny bit. What do you think.....?

[Anonymous]

I was just reading this article:
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=41421

I find it very interesting because there are similar controversies here. Of course, we are luckier in that the government doesn't implicitly control the media and people don't get fired for expressing basic opinions. However, there is still some question over what does and doesn't belong in our textbooks and why.

I have heard complaints about forced multiculturalism (like for instance, why in the world is Ruth in the 6th grade content standards for History in Judaism? Just because they wanted to fit the woman bill... is the answer you will get from many people). Some people want more details and less fluff, others want less fluff and less details, leaving those to the teacher and explaining in a way students can actually understand the basic concept of what they are learning. We have controversies in Middle America about including Intelligent Design and Evolution in textbooks, and we argue over how brutally we should explain how Americans treated various different people over our history including American Indians, Asian and European Immigrants, African Americans, etc.

Again, this is something that really shows how similar this culture is that seems so foriegn to our non-Asian students. I always like to show how the differences can be enthralling, yet there are always elements that show we are all related somehow, sharing many different things with other cultures.

While people in China are still risking their careers and who knows what else to get out the truth perhaps they will eventually fight their way to a democratic society. Something they haven't had last in their country when tried in the past, but with modernization and the ability to communicate with other cultures, perhaps they will... if they want it. It's interesting because there are so many people in China. The people we see the most are the government or educated and live in the cities. But there are many many people that live in the villages. How do they feel about things like this? And... does anyone know if they all get an education? Is it limited? Or free government education like here. I thought it was not limited until college, but I could be wrong.

[Anonymous]

I find that the more advanced we are, the more advanced our students are going to get. Cheating has taken on a whole new perspective. There are teachers here who use a web site where it can verify whether a paper has been plagiarized. This is in response to the students who can pay to download a paper from other web sites. Some even let you tell them what elements need to be in the paper and they write it up for you. Very ingenious. Cheating has probably been around as long as school. I think it is sad that these students are so anxious about succeeding that they will risk everything. We are beginning to raise a generation of students that suffer from stress before they've even started life. Some of my students have crazier schedules than I've ever had, even in the midst of working and going to school. I think that we should name them gen stress.

[Anonymous]

These technologies and strategies that students are using are so out there. It just keeps showing how important that one exam is or how much pressure students have to face. Should something new or different be done to handle the situation?

[Anonymous]

Yes, there is a lot of pressure from the family to get educaiton in Asia. Since I did my schooling and University in India, I can say that the question of going or not going to college does not arise. It is generally assumed that after high school (which is not an occasion for any fanfare the likes of which we have here in the U.S.), the student will obviously going to continue on to college. Parents go through a lot of sacrifice - like giving up smoking, cutting down on their meals, etc. to put their kids thorugh good private schools and then colleges. Most of the time, the students reciprocate the sacrifices of their parents by facing humungous odds to study.
Just a few months back, a son of a loborer making Rs.3000 (about $80 a month)in India, topped the all-India medical exam test. Once his achievement was in the news, lot of Indians settled abroad offerred private donations for his higher studies but instead he has opted to accept a bank loan and put all the donations he is getting from others into a trust account to fund the education of other students.
A guy who used to play soccer with us, came from not-too-well-off family and even though they lived in a major city, his home could not afford electricity. So this guy used to wrap himself up in comforters and use to do his homework and studying sitting under a street light even though it gets freezing cold in winter. His dedication did pay off and he has a good paying job now.
There are many other instances I know off where students dedicate themselvs in face of adverse conditions they are living in to get education. Japan, these days is pretty well off with all amenities, but I'm sure students in China still go through tough conditions to get education, assisted by their parents.
At times I share these real life stories with my students when they are whining - 'I'm not having any fun"! with the hope that it will motivate them.

[Anonymous]

That is something good to mention to students how education is so important to students in Asia and what they would do to do well. Maybe it can get some of them to realize not to take it for granted because of opportunities here.

[Anonymous]

I came across this article online from 'Times of India' and I think it is pretty interesting because kids normally don't go against their parent's wishes to this extent in India -

NOT ALLOWED TO STUDY, GIRL SUES FOLKS

17 Jul, 2006 1144hrs Times of India

Girl drags parents to court for studying further
JAIPUR: A 19-year-old girl in Rajasthan wanted to study further, but her parents confined her to the house. Determined to follow her dream, she dragged her folks to the court, where the parents realised their mistake.

"I wanted to study, but my parents compelled me to do household work and were planning to get me married. When I resisted, they beat me up and kept me in captivity for over a month," said Rubina Khan, who passed her Class 12 exam this year and wants to take admission in a college.

Not willing to forsake her desire, Rubina wrote a letter to the Rajasthan High Court and the director general of police.

Acting on the letter, the police conducted a raid at her residence and rescued her.

"We found the girl locked in a room. After we set her free, she said she wanted to come along with us to the police station, where she narrated her story," said investigating officer Rajendra Singh.

He added that the police registered a case against her parents and handed her over to her relatives in the Brahmpuri area as she had requested.

Rubina's parents told the police that she was not good at her studies but still they had sought admission for her in a college. She was rejected as she did not have the required marks, they maintained.

The case was also taken up by the high court, which ordered that all the arrangements be made for her study.

"The parents felt sorry in the court and the girl said she wanted to go back to her parents' house," said Singh.

"We are taking reports about the girl from her parents every day and things are okay now," he added.

Rubina said: "I am feeling very sorry that I took my parents to the court. But I had no other option, as I could not let my year go waste. I don't know if what I did was right," she said.

[Anonymous]

I think your post about students in Asia/Asian ethnicity students cheating because of pressure from their parents is quite apt. However, students in Asia too cheat though the percentage of students who make a genuine effort to study is camparatively much higher. Also, a minor motivator is to be academically successful from the point of view of 'saving face' in front of their peers. In contrast, in the US, failing the grades is just taking it in a stride without a thought about being 'embarassed' for not making the grade.

[Anonymous]

Here's an article on student's 'cheating' in Asia -

CHEATING RIFE IN VIETNAMESE EXAMS
By Bill Hayton
BBC News, Hanoi (Jul 17’06)

Young people feel huge pressure to succeed in the modern world
Tens of thousands of students in Vietnam are taking their college entrance exams on Monday, in the midst of a debate over the level of cheating.
Newspapers have printed dozens of examples of dishonesty, and police have uncovered sophisticated networks.

One teacher even went as far as videoing his own pupils to expose their activities.

Stung by criticism, the government has denounced cheating as a disease and announced action to tackle the problem.

But the pressures to cheat - ranging from parental expectations to the system of awarding scholarships to top students - remain strong.

Hi-tech methods
Last month Do Viet Khoa was an ordinary school teacher in a small town south of the capital.
But then national television broadcast his video of students cheating in their high school graduation exams and eventually, after some delay and embarrassment, he was hailed as a hero by the minister of education.
There is almost an epidemic of cheating in Vietnam. In one province, which announced a 99% pass rate, mobs of students were filmed throwing answer sheets over school walls.
The government has since disciplined eight officials.
In the most sophisticated scam yet discovered, police rounded up a gang using long wigs and mobile phone earpieces to pass on answers to students in university entrance exams.
Educationalists say the problem of cheating is exacerbated by Vietnam's system of learning, which requires students to memorise huge quantities of facts and repeat them in the exam.
At the moment the desire of students to use almost any means to do well seems greater than the ability of education authorities to stop them.

[Anonymous]

I found this article about cheating on exams very interesting. I would love to share this article with my students. I teach in the Bilingual Business and Finance Academy at Venice High, where most of the students have the goal of attending college after high school. However, as many other posters have mentioned, the majority of the other students at the school could care less about their academics, so my students (who are mostly hispanic) are trying to get beyond the negative "schoolboy/schoolgirl" image they are labeled with for caring about their grades. In class, we've had Socratic seminars on this very topic, and I remember a time when one student specifically brought up the idea of how all Asian students are smart, and because of this, have it easier. At the time, there was one Asian student in the class, and he explained how he hated this stereotype. He explained that although in his culture it is seen as positive to do well in school, it creates tremendous pressure to live up to a certain standard. He felt that he wasn't as smart as many of his Asian peers, and that they looked down on him because he earned C's in his classes. Although this was pretty obvious to me, it was cool to see the lightbulbs go off in other students' heads that they were stereotyping.

As for cheating and the article, the Indian mother's comments were interesting, but since cheating has been around for so long, I don't think the "this generation just needs instant gratification" idea really holds up that well. It seems to me, also, that in many ways, the U.S. is starting to move toward the levels of standardized testing and rote learning that this article criticizes China for. My students take in one year the high school exit exam, three secondary performance assessments, the SAT, ACT, SAT IIs, AP exams, and the CSTs. Many question why schools focus so much on scores, especially the SAT. I think sharing this article with them would be interesting, because it's as if Asian students are admitted to college based solely on their scores.

[Anonymous]

Another good article from the Christian Science Monitor: "China Goes to College in a Big Way" by Amelia Newcomb. http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0729/p01s01-woap.html?s=widep

As with China, it seems that college students in the U.S. are facing similar problems upon graduating from college. Even though this article shows that college enrollment in China is increasing (and outpacing the enrollment of students in the U.S.), getting a four-year degree seems to be decreasing in prestige. It's not a "golden ticket" to opportunity any more, and many students are seeing it as just a stepping stone to success. It does seem sometimes that more choices and opportunities breeds more uncertainty.

[Anonymous]

Article/radio broadcast: Life in Rural China: Village Schools Battle Dearth of Teachers, Resources
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5413877

A few months ago, I heard this story on NPR. In fact, we discussed it in class, and I was reminded of it again after seeing a Chinese movie yesterday called Country Teachers. The article details the struggles of rural Chinese teachers who are uncertified. It's extremely difficult to lure certified teachers to these remote, ill-equipped schools, so for years, the schools have taken whichever teachers they could get. Now, however, the Chinese government plans to fire the 300,000 rural Chinese teachers. There is no deadline for the firing, but younger teachers are scared that they will lose their jobs since the tests to achieve certification are so difficult to pass. Another issue is that the government doesn't have enough money to pay the salaries of certified teachers.

When I first heard this story back in May, I sympathized with the teachers, but now I can identify with their plight a little more, albeit not on quite as serious of a level. It seems like this is part of China's "No Child Left Behind Act!" Did George Bush help draft this plan?! I was certified in Iowa, a state known for valuing education, yet when I came to California, I had to take all kinds of additional classes and pass the CBEST in order to teach. After fulfilling these requirements, I received my Professional Clear Credential. I should be finished, right? No. Now, because of the provisions of the NCLB Act, my government, like China's, says I'm not qualified to teach. Why? Because I lack a CLAD certificate to teach English Language Learners. Like China, LAUSD is dealing with the problem of what the government considers "unqualified" teachers. China has 300,000 of these teachers; LAUSD has about 8,000. Also like China, LAUSD has no real deadline for dealing with the problem, but wants to teachers to take classes and/or pass tests at their own expenses to become certified. Supposedly, these tests are quite difficult to pass, but I seriously doubt they're as difficult as China's. Again, although not as severe as in rural China, LAUSD has trouble attracting and paying highly qualified teachers because of its reputation and lack of resources. From hearing this radio broadcast, I further realized that this is a universal problem and that the people making the decisions have good intentions, but are usually not the educators themselves.

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