Primary Sources—Introduction (c) Contemporary Chinese Education

One year ago on Round and Square (23 May 2011)—Remonstrance: English Definitions
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Introduction (a)—Education and Enculturation          Introduction (b)—Traditional Education     

Introduction (c)—Contemporary Education               Introduction (d)—Hong Kong and Taiwan

Introduction (e)—Butterflies                                       Introduction (f)—K-12, c.1985
Introduction (g)—Impassioned Communities            Introduction (h)—History, Language, and Culture, c.1985

[6]

One might ask what possible connection there can be between a traditional education in China and today's educational system. To be sure, all areas of the Chinese speaking world have made enormous strides in education, and the literacy rate has grown tremendously in the twentieth, and into the twenty-first, century. Current systems provide six years of primary school and six years of secondary school, taking a student through the equivalent, in years, of an American junior high and high school education). There are also state-organized university systems as well as (particularly in Hong Kong and Taiwan) vibrant private institutions. Beyond that, there are also thousands of institutions, large and small, that specialize in technical training.

[a] Portal RF

The curriculum has changed a great deal from earlier times, although a Chinese student still receives thorough instruction in history, philosophy, and literature through the middle school years. Science and math are also a very important part of the curriculum, and the various Ministries of Education in the People's Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan put a great deal of emphasis on building technical expertise. One thing that has remained consistent, however, is competition, and jockeying for position among students is intense. The stress on family members—from grandparents and parents to the students themselves—is equally great. There is also a signficant urban-rural divide in educational access. This figures as a much larger problem over the vast territory of the People's Republic of China than in Hong Kong or Taiwan. In all cases, though, rural schools have less flexibility in terms of attracting quality teachers, and even educational funding remains somewhat uneven.

Education in the Chinese speaking world today continues to place a decided emphasis on language and mathematical literacy, and this can clearly be seen in textbooks used in elementary and middle school. After that point, the system continues to emphasize the core skills necessary for students fortunate enough to test well and enter good high schools and universities. For many other students, however, the educational path after middle school is a great deal more vocational. Training schools and job-specific education play a very large role in the education of significant portions of the population, and are an integral part of the various economies of the region. Those schools do continue to teach a core curriculum, bu the focus is much more directly on job training.

[b] Middle school RF

[7]

Two subjects—language/culture (語文) and mathematics (數學)—dominate the educational landscape from first grade through high school graduation. To be certain, other subjects are integrated into the curriculum and comprise the dominant strands of instruction. These include English, science, and social studies at the primary level, and philosophy, history, geography, chemistry, and physics at higher levels. There are only two subjects for which anxious parents can buy a complete review course of important primary school themes in preparation for middle school exams, though—language arts and mathematics. The first day of school can be said to begin with them, and the last day of school will end with them.

Even though it is not the focus of this series, it will be worthwhile to look briefly at mathematical education. It is focused and workmanlike, and there is a basic assumption that students can "do math"—indeed, that the skills can be developed by any educated person. It is often remarked that Chinese students advance far more quickly in mathematics than American students. It is a fact that is almost beyond dispute, and the reason lies in relentless focus and persistence.

[c] Nanjing RF

That same focus can be seen from the first day of first grade in the language readers. After learning and refining their Mandarin pronunciation, students begin by learning to recognize several hundred characters in first grade, and learning to write about half of them. This variable pace continues well into one's education, and it is only quite late in the process that people are able to write almost everything that they can read or say. This is such a far cry from education in Western languages that the point needs to be underlined. Knowing how to say something in (Mandarin) Chinese is only tenuously related to knowing how to write it. once cannot "sound out" a character, except in the roughest sort of outline.

[8]

The educational process from first grade forward is a delicate balancing act between reading and writing. It is also a balancing act between regional dialects and Mandarin. It is one thing to be able to speak Mandarin grammatically; it is another thing to iron out strong regional pronunciations that create confusion when people with other home languages (as is common in all areas of the Chinese speaking world) try to communicate in Mandarin.

[d] Taiwan RF

In particular, Chinese language textbooks focus on a key series of pronunciations that cause great difficulty for speakers from some dialect groups, such as Cantonese or Taiwanese. There is a popular phrase—none too polite—to this effect: "I fear not heaven or earth; I only fear Cantonese people speaking Mandarin" (天不怕地不怕  只怕廣東人說普通話). Among the persistent problems are the pronunciations of words that start in "sh" and those that start in "s." An example is the number forty-four, which, in Mandarin, is pronounced "si shi si" (suh sure suh). For speakers of southern dialects, it often comes out "si si si" (suh suh suh). Other tongue twisters are the analogous zh/z, ch/c, and n/l. This is not a particularly difficult problem for foreign learners, but textbooks in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan focus relentlessly on the matter. The issue extends well beyond language and understanding. It is an issue of integration and identity, as well, and it is a point of pride for the educational system when a southern speaker, for example, perfectly pronounces Mandarin words and communicates in a wider social and cultural setting.

The emphasis on this point cannot be overestimated in elementary school texts in Taiwan, as we shall soon see. Hundreds of drills over all six grades aim to give native speakers of Taiwanese (learned at home over the course of the first six years) correct Mandarin pronunciation.

[e] Technology RF

NEXT
Education in Taiwan and Hong Kong
We'll take another introductory look at "southern" education in two areas that have had enormous autonomy in the ways they have shaped the curriculum over the past half-century.