Op-Ed Contributors

Learning different ways of thinking

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-28 08:05

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama highlighted the importance of education by stating that to win the future for the United States, "we also have to win the race to educate our kids".

"America has fallen to 9th in the proportion of young people with a college degree," he said, highlighting the fact that the quality of math and science education in the US trails behind many other nations.

Meanwhile, the US media continue to debate Amy Chua's narrative of her role as a tough mother in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Only now, the debate is not simply about whether mothers should enforce almost unbearable discipline; but about the future of the US as the world leader.

According to Annie Murphy Paul of Time magazine this is because Chua has aroused a serious debate in the US because of "our fears about losing ground to China and other rising powers and about adequately preparing our children to survive in the global economy".

I believe we Chinese should have the same discussion, not because we are in a race, but because we need to get our children ready to compete on the world stage.

We have come a long way to achieve what we have so far. China is now the second largest economy in the world. As for education, it now has the largest number of college students in the world, and is ensuring nine-year compulsory education for around 99 percent of school-age children. However, despite the dramatic progress we've seen and experienced, I think we should address the same fears as the US, now Obama has brought the race to educate our children into the open.

Over the past few years, we've heard a lot of praise: young Chinese workers are said to be among the best-trained in the world. Gillian Tett in a recent article in the Financial Times noted that Chinese students studying at Columbia University raised a series of questions during a debate over the world's economy, a sharp contrast to some Japanese students, who "hovered silently on the margins, half-unseen".

This is in stark contrast to 20 years ago when Howard E. Gardner, Harvard University professor of psychology attended some 100 music and art classes in China during a project to compare Chinese and American arts education. "Not one child asked a question," he said. "Chinese children must repeat what they had been told."

Gardner's observations raised questions about conventional Chinese education, which stressed rote training in basic skills and how conducive it was to nurturing innovativeness and imagination among children.

According to Gardner's research, children have their own way of seeing things and stimulating creativity and imagination in their first seven years is very important for their later development.

Even today, we continue to question our ability to instill innovativeness in our children.

China should take note of the fact that Chinese students still rank low in a global education chart in innovation and creativity. Despite our rapid economic growth and despite our pride in the four ancient inventions, we are still working hard to make our own brand names known in the international market.

More than 20 years ago, I interviewed a young American who had studied in a Chinese elementary school for four years and then returned to the US to pursue further studies. She later enrolled in Harvard University.

Reflecting on her schooling in both China and the US, she told me she'd benefited from both, as her Chinese school helped instill discipline while the American school trained her in creative and independent thinking.

Her experience may point to a win-win way to educate our children.

The author is assistant editor-in-chief of China Daily. E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn