September 4th, my husband and I held a couple of flowers with big excitement and sent our first daughter to the school bus stop first time in our lives. Our daughter, who is five, was also super excited for her first school day. In the meantime, the five-year-old children in China wake up with very stressful heart and start their painstaking school day, which will be following by 2-4 hours after school tutoring and 2 hours homework. The education way in China was ever very popular all over the world. We call it traditional way. There are a lot of difference between the traditional way and the new way. If I have to use one word to label the traditional way, I will say the traditional way is training, but not learning.
The traditional way requires a lot of memorizing and practicing. I call it training-like education. The spirit of the training-like education is to pass over the best knowledge of previous generations. It worked very well when people lived in a steady, slowly developing age, especially the Agricultural Times. However, after the Industrial Revolution and Information Revolution, our world changes much faster than ever. Our children are living in a fast-changing world. The future world requires them to manage and distinguish a great capacity for data, to think deeply and critically, to ask questions and solve problems… How could educators equip our children with these skills only with traditional lectures instruction and everlasting practicing? We have to equip our children with better ways and give them ability to keep learning. I call the better way learning-focus education.
What’s the difference between training-like education and learning-focus education?
1. The goals are different.
Training-like education focuses on passing over the knowledge of previous generations. It also focuses on the passing the tests and exams. For example, the main body of the history education in China is memorizing. Students have to memorize all the details, results and influence of the historical events. But students are not allowed to discuss the events or have their own opinions. If a student has different opinions, he or she probably won’t pass the exam.
But the goal of learning-focus education is to understand the world. For example, history education should allow students to understand how thing interact with each other, why and how something cause consequence like this. Through learning from the history, students are be able to make better decisions.
How could technology help the learning? The online resource explores the students to a lot of different opinions. It is good for them to hear different opinions first, balance the pros and coins, and truly understand the world and have their own opinions.
2. The center of the education is different.
The center of the training-like education is the educators. Students have to listen to and follow the teachers. Since the only way that the students get the knowledge is listening to the teachers, students are usually hard to have achievement beyond their teachers.
The center of the learning-focus education is the students. Educators know that every student has his/her own potential. Educators help the students reach their highest achievement.
How could technology help the learning? Frankly, it is impossible to ask one teacher to teach differentiation in a classroom have 20-50 students. But the technology could help the teacher. Teacher could split the students into different group and give them different activities. Some activities could use computers’ help. Then the teacher will be able to explore the students to different level of studying.
3. The brains we develop are different.
Training-like education requires a lot of memorizing. This education develops the memorizing part of our brain very well. As a result, the students who are good at memorizing usually become the successful students.
Learning-focus education is different. It requires students to memorizing, problem solving, critical thinking and questioning. It helps develop our students into powerful thinkers.
How could technology help the learning? Technology could easily engage the students and prompt them to solve the problems.
4. Time is different.
Training-like education is fast in the beginning, but need much more time latter for the students to practice and reinforce their knowledge.
Learning-focus education is slow in the beginning, but it’s efficient latter. Students remember what they have learned very well and the memory last longer.
How could technology help the learning? Technology helps engage the students.
5. Classroom climate is different.
Training-like education is usually boring and painstaking.
Learning-focus education will have much more fun.
How could technology help the learning? Technology offers interesting games, real audience, lively instruction, newfangled ideas and global resource to the students.
My husband and I feel lucky to send our daughter to the school in America. We are pretty sure that her childhood is not full of painstaking homework. But as an educator also, I don’t want to be satisfied of our education in America. The world is changing, fast; we have to keep improving, fast, too.
