BANGOR, Maine — More than 6,000 miles from home, Chinese students in Maine high schools are finding that the United States’ system of learning is worlds away from education in the People’s Republic.
Reflecting on their first year of education in the United States, Chinese students from John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor and Orono High School said they made the right call in coming to America, even if it means they might not be learning as much as they could be learning at home.
In China, high schoolers trudge through long days of rigorous coursework that stretch from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at most schools, with a short break in the middle of the day to eat and rest. When students go home, they chip away at piles of homework and thumb through stacks of books in an attempt to keep on top of assignments.
Contact between students and teacher is largely kept to the classroom, where dozens of students listen to their instructor’s lecture with little to no chance for participation or input. Avoiding disrespect is a major concern.
Competition among peers is intense, the high schoolers said. Students in schools with enrollment numbers sometimes as high as 6,000 push hard to learn as much as possible before taking one of the most important tests of their lives — the gaokao — a standardized test taken during the last year of high school that almost single-handedly determines what, if any, university a student qualifies to attend.
Test scores in recent years suggested there may be benefits to the Chinese model. In a 2009 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development survey, China registered top scores globally in reading, math and science, while the United States scored 17th, 31st and 23rd, respectively.
While most of the Bapst and Orono students said they felt their peers in China were probably learning more at a faster rate, they still feel they made the right decision in coming to America.
“I think Chinese high school students have more knowledge about math, physics, chemistry and biology,” said Tony Zhang, a 17-year-old Bapst student from Shijiazhuang, China. “In America, I think we learn much less than we learned in China, but we have fun in class; we enjoy our time.
Zhang, who spent one year in a Chinese high school, said the Chinese method of education was “very stressful” for students who are constantly in competition with their peers to earn a spot in a good university.
Shuang “Amber” Zhang, 18, a Bapst student from Tangshan, China, said some Chinese students believe American students are saddled with less work and get less value and knowledge out of their education.
“Actually, they’re wrong,” Amber Zhang said. “The American schools and Chinese schools are just focused on different things.”
While Chinese schools are focused on following strict curriculum and student memorization, “in America, you also need to work really hard — do lots of work by yourself and be more creative and plan your time really well. It’s hard in both countries,” Amber Zhang said.
American schools have the added benefit of allowing students to deviate from required coursework to study topics that interest them, join a club or play sports.
Orono High School senior Tim Mo of Changsha, China, said he has take advanced placement math courses, as well as classes at the University of Maine because of the flexibility the American curriculum offers. He said he even studied Spanish to add a third language to his repertoire.
“In China, you’re focused on a task-oriented education,” Mo said, “but here you’re more interest-oriented.
“I don’t think either education is superior to the other one,” Mo said.
One of the Chinese students in Bapst’s international program plans to help start up a school newspaper, according to international program director Craig Butler. Others have joined everything from robotics clubs to basketball teams.
Many of the students said that their year in American schools has helped them develop confidence and interpersonal and communication skills they might not have learned as easily under the education system in China.
The concept of “free time” is relatively foreign to a Chinese high schooler, students said. When they do spend time with friends, there’s often an open textbook on the table.
“Back in China, I would study from early morning to late evening and I’d barely have time to do what I like,” Zehua “Flora” Yin, a 16-year-old Bapst student said. “But here, you are the director of your own life.”
A large majority of Chinese students said they will enroll in American colleges and universities. Mo said he was accepted into eight universities this year and has chosen to attend the University of Minnesota next year.
Universities in the United States are held in high esteem in China, and Chinese parents, who for the most part are only permitted to have one child, want the best education possible for their children.
Sending children to the United States for high school is appealing to Chinese parents because it allows their child to get acclimated to American culture and practice the language before starting college, according to Orono High School Principal Jim Chasse.
That ideal melds well with Maine’s schools because Maine has one of the oldest populations in the nation and could face declining pools of potential in-state students to draw from in the future.
Both Bapst and Orono plan on growing their international programs in the future.
Orono, a school of about 360 students, has an international program of 18 students. Half of them are from China, according to Chasse. A recent recruitment trip is expected to bring 15 Chinese students next school year, with the ultimate goal of bringing in 30.
Bapst just wrapped up the first year of its international program, which saw 40 students this year, and all but three were from China. Butler said he expects 52 international students next year, but the school will be reaching out to other countries as well.
In recent years, more and more Maine schools have turned eyes to China while seeking higher enrollment. Lee Academy will host 100 students this summer for four-week Advanced Placement or college-level courses. Wiscasset High School and Stearns High School in Millinocket, among others, also have thrown their hats in the ring.
Mo said, given the chance, he wouldn’t change his decision to come to America.
“It’s not only the knowledge that changes me,” he said.
I’m not sure it’s fair to these kids. They’ve been taken out of an ascending school system in China and placed into our inferior system.
Well, at least they’ll learn about bouncy houses.
And yet the article states that China looks at our universities with high esteem.
I don’t believe our university’s are the problem. It’s the k-12 that we’ve barely mastered beyond third world countries.
While many students here may not get the best math and science educations, the reasons are not because advanced math isn’t available, but partly because many of those students don’t aspire to be strong students. Though we must consistently seek to improve the ways we educate our children and to inspire them to do their best, our education system is much better at helping students become creative and critical thinkers, something that most “test-focused” education systems like those in China do not do well, or at all. Teamwork is also something that we are generally better at teaching.
Heartfully agreed with – by an educator!
sure, most of the grad students are foreign, along with most of the teachers, its basically just like at home but nicer
I wish the foreigners the best with grasping the concept of “free time”.
When they get it figured out , please let me know all about “free time”.
I’d love to try it out.
This “working for a living” sure is getting old.
whats a matter? Those 50 hour weeks getting to you? Americans have more lesisure time than most
“China registered top scores globally in reading, math and science, while the United States scored 17th, 31st and 23rd, respectively.”
This paints a clear picture of where this country is heading. Without top tier math and science students we struggle to turn out the best scientists, engineers and doctors in the world like we once did. Our innovation and cutting edge technology will eventually be a step behind if we can’t turn our education system around.
You don’t get it, what have the Chinese invented lately? At one time they had free thinkers and inventors, but those days are gone in China.
They are great at copying but not great at thinking out of the box and inventing things.
That is where Americans dominate and will continue to dominate.
You may hate the USA but there are plenty of folks who do not put our country down.
Move to China if they are so great in your mind.
I love my Country (US) but our Cars stink, our Beer stinks, our Gaming systems stink….We have Apple though.
Actually, China has Apple: http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/21/why-arent-apple-products-made-in-america/
“Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States. In China, it took 15 days.”
You misinterpreted engineer. An engineer in China holds a whip and may execute on site. Most of us no longer support slavery, you must be from the south. We should not support it in other countries either.
“employees and labour organisations blamed a combination of factors for
the workers’ deaths: low wages, long working hours – sometimes up to 16
hours a day – and inhuman treatment. Workers at the campus, some
claimed, were not even allowed to talk
during working hours. Like many other similar factories, Foxconn, the
world’s largest electronics manufacture, is staffed mostly by nongmin gong (peasant workers) because they are cheap.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/16/foxconn-suicide-china-society
“Most of us” continue to consume Apple products, materially supporting this system and sending our money overseas. So China has Apple and our money.
Hey now, many of our local micro brews are pretty good and rate right up there with German and European beers. Just because people choose Bud Light (for some reason that escapes my taste buds) doesn’t mean we don’t have good beer.
Marketing and price about the only reasons people drink it.
Yes, but virtually everything Apple sells is made in China. :-)
The Xbox is fantastic, our micro-brews are among the best beers in the world, and our auto industry has gotten much better in recent years.
I’m not putting our great nation down, but it’s ignorant to say that China isn’t stomping us in education levels. We OWE money to the Chinese government because we can’t handle our own debts.
We can’t let our patriotism keep our head in the sand. Based on results, it’s obvious that the Chinese methods of education are superior to ours. That is, unless we like have second-rate scientists, doctors, economists etc.
Shoveling and jamming info into kids heads 12-14 hours a day leaves little room for creativity.
You might want a genious from China operating on a family member but if something goes wrong and they need to quickly develop a procedure on the fly, a creative thinker might be the way to go.
Help us out, what recent inventions or developments, other then copying our products, have these brains from China made?
wishful thinking there jake, there are all kinds of develpments in many fields that are taking place in china, and in american universities with chinese researchers. Once they get rid of the govermental restrictions, they will overtake us in many fields, while we are voting in flat earthers, birthers, and “intelligunt disiners”
Jake, I respect and share your opinion on many posts. However, as a graduate from a quality engineering program and working in the field around the world, I have seen it first hand. Yes, the Chinese are still well behind us and will continue to be for the near future but we can’t overlook that China is graduating advanced engineers at a 10:1 ratio to the US. A majority of these graduates want to work, help and advance their country and compete globally. The foundation for these minds begins at the early stages of school and the instinct to compete against one another and strive to be the best. This is where our liberal school agendas and curriculum’s are falling further and further behind.
This is a great country and I’m proud to be apart of it. We are still the greatest country in the world and that’s why there are so many people knocking on the door each day to come in. I have a rewarding job that allows me to compete with these engineers and scientists to advance our countries military and domestic technologies. Seeing it daily though, I know what our next generation is up against and they will have their work cut out for them.
Your points are respected. One question. You mention Liberal school agendas, how does a liberal agenda hold back kids in Math and Science? Are you saying that liberal political views are being used to brainwash kids in those two subjects?
Thank you Jake_007 I’m glad somebody gets it. I’m not even going to read the rest of the comments.
Im from maine, and we have a governer named lepage who is right in there pushing for the good old days of slavery and anti worker rights.
Oh, my god–Jake, *you* don’t get it. Who says they have to invent squat to ‘dominate’? And BTW, they are dominating, by dint of sheer hard work, numbers (1 in 4 people on the planet is now Chinese), and inventing, manufacturing and selling virtually everything we buy these days, including the computer you’re likely sitting at. If you still really think the USA is “dominating” at anything, you have your head in the sand.
And they dominate our economy; matter of fact, those “uncreative” communist Chinese own our economy.
But, they mentioned creativity. Americans have time to be creative. Congress has the right to pass laws to promote the progress of arts and sciences, what better way than to encourage creativity. It takes creativity to cone up with new innovative ideas.
Only problem is that if someone is outside the box they can also be called crazy….. In this day in age and limited because of such concerns.
Its hard to be creative when you watch tv, play video games, and surf the internet all your waking hours – hard to be creative when your a”screen junkie” engaging in mindless activities as so many of our students do all day. The Chinese students are excellent role models also – they actually “study”.
China succeeds economically because she has one priority, economic development. We could do the same if we lowered our standards for freedom and quality of life but that ain’t gonna happen in a western democracy.
Yes, I’m sure there are some things American education can learn from the Chinese system, but it is absurd that anyone would hold up that system as a ideal model of what our schools should become. According to this article, Chinese schools are stressful anxiety-filled places in which students are expected to absorb information with no time for fun, creativity, the development of confidence and social skills, or pursuit of individual interests. The entire focus of Chinese schools seems to be getting the right test scores, getting admitted to the right college, presumably so they can make a lot of money later. What is the chance that a young person who is allowed no free time and no opportunity to follow their interests and who is taught to compete, compete, compete will ever be able to experience happiness later in life? Will be able to be a good boss, co-worker, spouse, and parent?
Schools are a reflection of culture. Wouldn’t it be ironic if a country (ours) that places such a great value on leisure time, individual freedom, and the pursuit of interests did not allow its students to partake in any of those things?
Yes, I want American students to work hard, but I want them to play hard too. In order to be healthy, kids also need so unstructured time that is theirs alone.
Education is about the whole person; it’s not just about test scores, and its not just about making money.
Yes, we can learn some things from the Chinese system, but to put a system designed to train people as workers in a repressive communist society up on a pedestal as a model for us does border on the ridiculous.
Why would a Chinese family send their child here for an education unless it is some type of punishment.
Maybe they are spies and are here to find out what NOT to do when it comes to the education system.
We need to be doing better in math and science and our students could learn a thing or two about having respect for their teachers. A lot of that is probably political here as one political party seems to enjoy demonizing teachers — children pick up on that. But still, we are obviously doing something right considering the amount of innovation that comes out of this country.
That’s a bit of a stretch. Most of our scholastic problems are due to an over-coddling of our children. And yet somehow you manage to make a partisan comment.
GROW UP
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY
I AM NOT A CONSERVATIVE
ACT LIKE A CHILD, BE ADDRESSED AS A CHILD
YOU’VE PROVEN YOU HAVE NOTHING OF DEPTH TO ADD TO THIS OR ANY POLITICAL CONVERSATION BY DOING NOTHING MORE THAN APING THOSE YOU “THINK” KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON.
I WILL NOT BOTHER TO DIGNIFY YOUR INSOLENT REMARKS
SO DON’T BOTHER RESPONDING.
You don’t need to yell.
And I’m sorry, a bit of this is politics. There is an attitude in this country where it is acceptable to demonize teachers as “union thugs”, to say “those who can’t do teacher”, etc.
If adults don’t respect teachers, then why should the children?
Perhaps our Teacher Community is ALSO a part of the “problem” that we’re ranking so low on international tests?
Any system that places Tenure above Merit is doomed to fail over time.
I’m a BA Ed from UMO…
We as adults have failed a lot of our kids when it comes to respect. Kids won’t learn to be respectful and respectable if they aren’t taught. If kids aren’t respectful of teachers we can’t simply say they need to learn to behave better. We need to teach them how and why this important. Lead by example.
The subject of ‘avoiding disrespect’ is in the context of the students having little or no interaction in the classroom. I am wondering if the issue is not so much about disrespect as it is voicing an opinion that might be different than what is being taught. Did they really mean to use the word ‘dissent’..? Interactive conversation in a learning environment, is not about being disrespectful. It’s about expanding thought and promoting critical thinking in order to see various sides of things, not just one point of view coming from a perceived person in authority, and being afraid to voice a different perspective for fear of being thought of as ‘disrespectful’.
I agree. One of the students at graduation yesterday said teachers are more like friends here. There’s a lot more interaction between students and teachers here.
This is what I was referring to.
>>and our students could learn a thing or two about having respect for their teachers.
Well there is a difference between that and disrespecting teachers. When there is an attitude where parents say “those who can’t do teacher” or that teachers are greedy union thugs (or whatever) children pick up on that.
If parents can only have one child in China, how can Americans be the oldest population that does not have enough people coming up to replace the generation? Wouldn’t China be in bigger danger in years to come with their shortage of people and preference for boys?
Biologically speaking it takes more girls to boys to maintain the population.
MAINE has the oldest population. Not America in general…
Maybe if our country placed more emphasis on education, jobs and the economy, we could actually compete with the Chinese and change our education methods, which are clearly lagging behind China. Instead, we talk endlessly in the media about celebrities and gay rights to actually get anything accomplished.
I attended Lee Academy’s graduation yesterday. I don’t remember how many international students graduated so I can’t provide numbers. One student is returning to her country (Germany). Every other international student is staying in the US to attend college.
This must be free schooling for the foreign sudents at the tax payers expence.
Big Bear,
These students pay handsomely to attend high school here. Tax payers do not contribute to the cost of their educations in Maine. They often spend a lot of money in local businesses, too. It’s a real boon to the local economy.
Hello big bear, that’s not actually the case. The families of these students pay tuition, much like college tuition, to attend high schools in Maine.
Thanks Nick, I did not know.
at 25,000 a year, it’s hardly free.
Do the basketball players that play for the high school team pay that much?
For the US tax payers 25K per year????
Actually each student pays 29,000 american dollars for 1 season at Lee –times that per 100 students per season–not a bad deal for lee–these students coming over here from China are not from poor families.
Nick McCrea says 25k you say 29k I will say 27k. But good deal thanks.
Please do not open another take out restaurant.
yes open a takeout, but sell real chinese food, not the american “ugh” available now.
The Chinese take the long view, planning for future generations. They realize that they need to learn all they can about America. These kids will be the nucleus of future analysts and diplomats. I hope that they will be in the vanguard of increased freedom in China in the years ahead. Time will show us.
Actually the saying is: “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach”. And that is not true in most cases.
“”Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach…and those who can’t teach, teach gym.” (quote from Annie Hall)
Our education system is just fine. The reason we’re always going to have low *average* test scores is that we’re one of the very few countries that educates everyone. If we only kept high achieving kids in school our test scores would be much higher.
Maybe that would be a good idea, but comparing test scores is like comparing apples to oranges.
Disagree – our educational system is becoming a farce, we simply install the latest and greatest experimental teaching theory every few years simply to look like we are trying to improve education – from an educator.
That hasn’t been my experience. I’ll give you that a lot of districts in Maine – particularly those with low scores – change things up fairly regularly. However, most of the changes that have come through while I’ve been teaching have been small tweaks to basically the same system rather than major pedagogical shifts. If you’re that bitter about things it might be time to take a sabbatical to reevaluate and renew.
I’m not bitter; just observing that recent radical paridigm and pedagogical shifts in education are failures and are simple a redressing curriculum without true substance to them; my Masters is in Educational Theory and the problem lies with “idealistic administrators” out to make a name for themselves; usually with poor results as they try to implement the “latest and greatest” educational theory that sweeps the country; personally I find much current educational theory to be subjectively evaluated bovine scat. I agree with your observation though, small incremental tweaks are the best way to improve an educational system, but administrators don’t quite grasp this in many districts – they are intent on full bore shifts implemented immediately – talk to some teachers from RSU 2 and the cohort schools of Messalonskee; they are engaging in radical paridigm and pedagogical shifts as rapidly as they can, which I see as a set up for failure for the districts, teachers, and most importantly – the students.
America actually has a good school system. Underfunded, yes, but the teachers today are highly educated, and in many if not all states they are required to have Master’s Degrees. I think we are lagging behind because of forced inclusion of disruptive students and little to no recourse for teachers when they have students that waste class time with attention-seeking behavior. The students needing so much attention from peers/teacher is probably a direct result of the breakup of the modern nuclear family and the lack of attention they receive at home.