Compare and Contrast seems to be a constant game I play in my head these days. What is the same? What is different? And I find that I am keep looking at the structure of the school days (understandably because I am at school 8-5) as my main point of comparison. In the US, we are constantly addressing the problems built into our education system. I have friends and family members who work in public or private schools and who repeatedly point out the many flaws in their environments. I also see the news reports about our low rankings globally when it comes to education and the fact that so many high school graduates can't read at a 7th grade level. And in those news articles, I feel like we constantly compare ourselves to other nations, particularly China, so now that I work in a school in China, I want to point out a few things. As a non-expert on anything related to education policy, ideology, or best practices, and as someone who has only taught here for a few weeks, I aim merely to point out differences in my experiences in middle and high school and what I am experiencing now. This is only one school in China, and I only went to two different middle schools, so these are purely experiential observations. They also are not judgements, and are first-few-weeks thoughts, I will consider more as I spend more time here.
First; the schedule. The students are in specific classes for 9 periods of the day, each period is 40 minutes long and is followed by a minimum 10 minute break. During one longer break, the entire grade goes outside for a 25 minute running exercise. (This is not their PE class.) They also have two added 5 minute breaks for eye exercises. This feels necessary because China certainly does have a childhood myopathy epidemic. At first, the 8 to 5 schedule seems never ending, but actually there is lunch from 12:30 to 1:00 and then an hour long break 1-2 where many students go home. Compared to block schedules or long class periods, I find the short 40 minute classes, long breaks, and larger number of classes (than I experienced) very interesting.
Second; the class sizes and behavior. I repeatedly hear that classes in the US are too large and behaviors are unmanageable (and I will always believe our teachers when they say these things.) But it makes me beg a culture question, because every single one of these classes has 50-55 kids in it. My experience, as a foreigner and as a teacher only one day a week to each class cannot accurately account for student behaviors in classes that teachers experience every day, but I can say that at the most, I have had students talking over me and one another or throw a paper ball. At the same time, in the breaks between classes the students go crazy. They are running and shouting and leave the class. Middle schoolers are maybe the touchiest people I have ever seen, and are constantly almost wrestling in the halls during their breaks. The teachers don't seem to mind as long as it is safe enough, in the hallways, and between teaching time, there's not much problem. The bell rings, and they are back in their seats quiet or they will get reamed out by their teachers, and made to stand in the back of the room, the hallway, or other punishments. I have to wonder what in the US makes our student behaviors bigger in a smaller class than 55. Do we just purely not value education as much from a young age? Do we focus more on controlling students than education them (dress coding so much students get sent home)? Are students here more likely to get in trouble at home or get kicked out of school for behaviors? I don't know, and I honestly don't know if the short extreme bouts of focus followed by extreme noise and crazy is good, because I would've hated the crazy times as a middle schooler, but it is interesting and very different from anything I've seen in the US.
Third; the structure of teaching. The students all have a homeroom teacher and a homeroom and they do not move classes. They stay with the same group off 55 in the same room for all classes (minus PE and things that aren't taught in a classroom.) The teachers move around. They bring a flash drive or their phones and connect to seewo (the Chinese version of a smart board combined with powerpoint maker) and can teach in any room. As such, the students leave their things in their classroom, have no lockers, and don't mix up which other students they take academic classes with.
Fourth; miscellaneous other thoughts. The students do not have cell phones on them. The students are responsible for cleaning the white boards, writing out homework on them, sweeping and mopping the school (is this a punishment? idk,) patrolling the hallways when classes are supposed to be doing their eye exercises, bringing their stacks of homework to and from the teacher's office, and generally much more administrative/managerial work than I had to do in middle school. The classwork (nonEnglish) that I have seen looks no more difficult than classwork in American schools. In particular, their math work does not appear to be way more advanced than the range of math classes we had in seventh grade. They ability group their classes. The grading/correction is done both by teachers and students themselves in red pen and all the assignments are done in black pen not pencils. (I wonder about theories of shame around incorrect answers.) Their after school activities and in school activities are varied; there's sports and dance and idk what else but kids are here until 8pm often times. I have heard from some of the other English teachers that they've taught in other schools that are different, so I am not extrapolating a single school to the whole country. There is certainly an association between this school and governmental structure, and it is often emphasized that a part of the education is as potential members of a socialist/communist society and that education in general is considered important and good by the government. Students don't change clothes for their running exercises. Their dress code is basically any white shirt and dark blue or black pants.
Again, these are simply early thoughts, but I am curious about many of the differences I have already noticed, and I've had a few conversations about how in China, extracurriculars are being increasingly emphasized in educational settings and valued by parents and students alike. So, questions of what is best for students are not just occurring in the US, and I certainly do not propose an answer, I am just enjoying seeing a different way of doing things and wondering which parts of their structures might work in our schools and which parts would not.