<p>Sure..go ahead and compare the 'average' American school v the 'average' Chinese school. I am giving you 100:1 odds they are more intelligent.</p>
<p>The "average" school? Would you really like to compare that? Do you know what schools in rural China are like? Or in poverty-stricken areas?</p>
<p>The problem is you are measuring by how well they do on a standardized test mostly, especially in the areas of math and science. There are other intangibles that you can't really measure. For example, why is it harder for a Chinese male to get a girlfriend? In many cases, they lack confidence. They lack charisma. They aren't as social. They don't take much risks. Why is American the wealthiest nation on earth? Why are they more developed technologically? Why do they have better living standards? They are problem-solvers, innovators, and risk takers. Sure Chinese students study better and are more knowledgeable in certain areas of the academia, but there is a trade-off.</p>
<p>Also I think its kind of hard to compare the American system of education to the rest of the world. Im not sure how education works in China, so Ill talk about France, a country that I am very familure with.</p>
<p>In France they essentially divide up where you are going at a very young age. You either go to trade school or a college prep school. At the CP school you get a very intense liberal education about lots of things. It seems to me its almost like the first two years of the American college system. They then go to colleges and then almost immediatly specialize in a degree, much like the second two years of American College.</p>
<p>America, as I stated before does it quite diferently. We all go to the same kind of High School(with a few exceptions), where we recieve relatively a relatively week liberal arts education. Its more like they are giving background information to help us if we choose to go to college, or enough information to be a good citizen if we dont. Once we get to college our first two years are not spent specializing in a degree, we study many diferent thinks at an intense level.</p>
<p>This I think accounts for a lot of diferences in performance between students in the US v. The World(or at least France). I have many French cousins, family freinds and have been to many diferent French schools. When it is all said and done, I think I will have recieved an education just as good as them, if not better because most of their colleges are horrible.</p>
<p>How about the observation that wicked does not seem to be capable of understanding that simply being able to regurgitate facts is not "intelligence."</p>
<p>I personally like Howard Gardner's theory that 8 different intelligences exist: musical, bodily kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.</p>
<p>As Gardner said, do not show me how smart you are, tell me how you are smart.</p>
<p>Another theory that I like focuses on practical and emotional intelligence. Are you socially apt, and have you been successful in your endeavors?</p>
<p>lol talk abt a stupid topic and post(sry but honestly how can one really fairly compare when u urself are leaning towards one)....UH SO MY thoughts are:
the America and Chinese student should learn from each other, (at least their respective languages and culture).
aLSO Americans cannot be stereotyped as ppl hu put their feets on their desk
AND some of them (my classmates) DO work harder than Chinese students
AND chinese students can party crazy and chill with guys( at my school in Shanghai at least)</p>
<p>How bout this, China and America both win! Both sides should stop talking and see who has a better life in 25 years. It's really pointless to compare because few people have had solid experience in both cultures (non-Internationa Chinese schools and American public/private schools).</p>
<p>As someone has already mentioned, the overwhelming poverty in China-- and the fact that some 70% of Chinese live in provincial villages/farms-- and also censorship due to communism= an automatically poorer education than an American one. I'm not saying that's true for all Chinese schools or all American schools, but overall the latter provide FAR more resources than the former. </p>
<p>Think about it: almost anywhere in America you have access to internet (and the ability to search about whatever you want). Anywhere in America there are libraries (on a range from topics, and uncensored). You have a general guarantee that your teachers are college-educated. You have a guarantee that there will be some local/state regulation of your public school. A general American student has FAR more opportunities than a general Chinese one, and the quality of education-- the funding, the resources, the preparedness of teachers-- is almost always FAR greater than a Chinese education.</p>
<p>They are really incomparable.</p>
<p>China in this argument is at an inherent disadvantage. It's actually not fair to try to say one is better than the other. </p>
<p>You also can't use issues with putting feet up on chairs or showing up late to class as indictments against the quality of American education. Basically the issue here is not how one culture chooses to learn, but how they are taught. And at the moment, overall, the Chinese do not have the resources, technology and modernity in order to teach and provide for students the way the Americans can. </p>
<p>You also can't use a silly "Where is Iraq on a map" argument as indictments against the quality of Chinese education for the same reasons. Most Chinese don't own nifty, glossy, updated maps. Almost any American has access and money to buy a map. You can find a three dollar map in any pharmacy, bookstore or grocery store in America. Or you can just go on the internet and find millions of maps. </p>
<p>The Chinese are simply at that inherent disadvantage, because in general they're overwhelming poorer and more provincial and live in a censored society.</p>
<p>So stop attempting to compare the two. The quality and amount of education that most American schools can provide far out weigh the Chinese.</p>
<p>"Second, American students may have little respect to their teachers .For example ,sometimes ,students will put their feet on the desk in a teacher's class .But in China ,none dare to do so."</p>
<p>While this example does sound like something out of Blackboard Jungle or something else to that effect, I have found that alot of my fellow students are incredibly disrespectful in other ways: texting in class, not being prepared for class (but volunteering their opinion nonetheless), coming late, leaving early, going to the bathroom (class is 90 minutes long! can you really not hold it? what are you, 2?!), not turning off their phones, talking to their neighbors, passing notes, etc.</p>
<p>It was recently so bad in one class that a professor had to threaten to call campus police to have a student removed. </p>
<p>If you can't contribute to class a substantive, meaningful way--or at the very least sit through it respectfully--then you should seriously re-examine why you are in college/uni in the first place and whether or not you should be there. I think it's indicative of a larger problem: too many ppl going to college, without critically examining whether or not it is an appropriate choice for them. Everyone should have the right to go to college, but the old adage applies: "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".</p>
<p>And yes, I'm American.</p>
<p>Addendum: When American students show this sort of disrespect it can be indicative of a number of things.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A lack of respect for one's self. This should be self-explanatory. When one is disrespectful or fails to contribute/utilize one's education to the fullest extent, it demonstrates a lack of respect for one's own welfare and indicates a sense of entitlement. </p></li>
<li><p>A lack of respect for one's professors. Such students view professors as authority figures--in a bad way. This is partly because teachers in the American primary and secondary educational system are forced into crowd control/enforcement roles, rather than the role of educator and ally. Instead of respecting a professor's accomplishments and experiences, and viewing them as a potential ally and valuable resource, such students see their profs as authority figures to be subverted. </p></li>
<li><p>A lack of respect for one's peers. When one fails to contribute to class, or interrupts it in an unconstructive manner, the entire class suffers. It is effectively stealing time and money away from one's fellow students.</p></li>
<li><p>A lack of respect for one's education. Many take it for granted, regardless of whether or not they are well-to-do or are paying for college/uni themselves. Many students also see it as something they "have" to do, rather than something they "want" to do. They take classes to get a grade and a diploma, not to critically examine the material.</p></li>
<li><p>If students who exhibit such behavior do have respect for themselves, their profs, their fellow students, and their education, then they are unaware of how best to demonstrate it. Putting one's feet up on a desk, to me, is less offensive than being unprepared for a seminar or socializing during class.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Now there are many lazy students in the US but that is because they have a choice to do so. Someone who choses to be lazy is only hurting himself in our culture. We want everyone to be successful but in the end it is a personal goal that determines success. In China, it is still a communist country. Everyone must push themselves to their full potential for the good of all and those who do not are not respected and are failures.
Now is either one more intelligent? How is intelligence measured? China definetly proves themselves in math and science while the US is strong in innovation, the arts, and business. Although most business is imported from China, those who own these businesses are American. I also would like to point out that the Chinese space program and many of the scientific accomplishments that have been developing in China originated in America. Chinese have an overall drive that forces the to constantly improve while the US has become too comfortable in the leading position. It is more drive than intelligence that separates the two countries. It is also important to realize that generalizing the whole of America is harder than China because it is not a homogenous country. China has a government that strives for a common likeness in people while America is about the individual. So saying all Americans are lazy and dumb is obviously far from the truth but saying Chinese urban youth are hard working is not so hard. Of sourse I could be totally off the mark hear because I have nver been to China.</p>
<p>geniusgen, I agree w. you on many points, however, I do have some things to point out:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>China, historically, has also been v. heterogenous. This has been somewhat suppressed by communism, as well as Western "Orientalist" discourse. </p></li>
<li><p>The failure to contribute constructively to class does hurt the other students within that class. It does so by limiting the amount of information and learning the other students can gain from the class. In a seminar, students and professors become part of a little community, in which each is expected to play a role. While the goal is the education of each individual who has chosen to take that class, the insights of other students are an integral part of a seminar. When someone else talks about the reading when they clearly have not done it, they are not just hurting themselves: they are wasting the time (and therefore, money) of their fellow students and their professors, something I find highly offensive.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>china, your great country makes our happy meals possible
-stephen colbert</p>
<p>
[quote]
What about the fact that what..14%? of American students can point out countries on a map? How about the fact that they don't even know the Bill of Rights (watch jaywalking haha). I am fairly certain an average Chinese student knows much more knowledge (science, math, history) than the average American.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>China doesn't even HAVE a Bill of Rights.</p>
<p>And if you're basing your generalizations of a culture that you can't generalize (America... because it's so incredibly diverse) off of a stupid late-night TV show segment, then you, my friend, are a ****ing idiot.</p>
<p>oh man you guys..
I know the OP sounds like they are making ridiculous overgeneralizations but i don't think they are criticising and we're being a little defensive, n-e?</p>
<p>i saw a video once of what school is like in China.. and I have to say yes there seems to be a lot of respect given to teachers over there.. actually my ap biology teacher from last year went to china and he was gushing about how if you're a teacher you're really respected.. like how doctors here are respected. </p>
<p>well our culture's just more.. laid-back, i suppose. are american students lazier? i think we have a little less incentive to study as hard because of how the school system works in China, but there are people who are not lazy and people that are. </p>
<p>about putting feet on desks.. yeah my mom used to tell me how they couldn't even put their head on their hand with the elbow on the desk.. (i do this all the timeee) .. because it's seen as disrespectful.. and okay i dont know about your school but.. people sleep a loootttt.. and talk a lot. i don't really call that respect. so i'd agree with you there.</p>
<p>as for discussion vs listening.. it really depends on the specific teacher. for instance math.. not much discussion usually goes on.. i mean the concepts are pretty much strict concepts.. 1+1=2. . you wanna argue that? but then something like english.. opens up more room for discussion.</p>
<p>alrighty, i'm out. hope that clarifies some things ^_^</p>
<p>and to the above poster..
have you taken ap government? the american people in general.. are a very.. uninformed group of people when it comes to their own government.</p>
<p>All I can say for the original poster is to just come here and be yourself! Perhaps if people see you rising above the vulgar crowd they'll take on the best parts of your behavior!</p>
<p>
[quote]
the american people in general.. are a very.. uninformed group of people when it comes to their own government.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>To be fair to the American people, the American government is much more complex than the Chinese government. The Chinese government is quite simple. There is a dictator. You do what he says. He lets you live. That's it.</p>
<p>Everybody seems to be making sweeping generalizations about both sides. And they're definitely in the danger of being racist, ignorant, or just plain offensive. Let's just cool it and discuss things rationally, with the understanding that the situation is a lot more complex than "US is better than China" or "China is better than the US." What kind of impression would you like Chinese students to have of American students if they were to look through this thread? Again, let's stop making generalizations and actually discuss the differences between American and Chinese education. It's actually a pretty interesting topic and I'm interested in hearing about it.</p>
<p>i think their impression would be..
american students think they're all that.</p>
<p>anyways. =) i think memorization is stressed a lot more in china compared to here</p>
<p>If you put your feet up on a desk in my school you'd be severely punished......and to be honest I woundn't want to go to a school where one could do such a thing</p>
<p>I feel sorry for the Chinese.</p>