Can education become “too soft”?
Wei Ji Ma | Posted on May 2nd, 2008 in Curriculum Development, Information Technology, Public Relations, Quality Education. 
Print This Post
Last week, I talked to an 8th-grade social science teacher from Staten Island, New York. She had been teaching for 25 years, but when I asked her whether she still enjoyed it, the answer was a curt no. Why not, I asked. “Because teachers are not allowed to teach anymore. I am not allowed to correct students’ spelling or use a red pen to mark mistakes, because that would hurt their self-esteem. Tests are so easy that everyone passes. Students come late, curse at the teacher, trash the school. Teachers are afraid and don’t dare to say anything, because if students don’t like a teacher, they will complain about her and most likely she will be disciplined, no matter what happened. Parents also tend to blame the teachers, telling them things like ‘If my child misbehaved, you must have done something wrong’. There is no more respect. I sometimes get students from other countries. When they have just arrived they are very well-behaved, respectful, and want to learn. Then they see that that is not how things are done here. After a few weeks, they are just like the rest. In the US, there is an overwhelming concern for the psychological well-being of the children, but at the expense of the quality of education. Teachers should be allowed to teach again.”
What do you think about this teacher’s views? Exaggerated? Can education become “too soft”? Can the US learn anything from China?
教育应当如此“软弱”吗？
上星期，我和一位来自纽约史泰登岛的8年级社会科学课老师一起交谈。她已执教25年，但是当我问她是否依然热爱自己的工作时，她却断然否定。为什么呢？我问道。“因为老师不再被允许教他的学生。我不允许改正学生错误的拼写，或者用红笔来改正他们的错误，因为这将伤害学生的自尊；考试是如此的简单，以至于每个人都能通过考试；学生迟到，辱骂老师，捣毁学校；老师们害怕，不敢说任何东西，因为如果学生们不喜欢某个老师，他们将抱怨她，她可能会受到纪律约束。不管发生什么事，家长们趋向于指责老师，并说： ‘如果我的孩子行为不端，那一定是你们做错了什么。’尊敬不复存在。我有时也会有来自其他国家的学生。初来乍到的他们举止端庄，恭敬有礼并且乐于学习。在经过几个星期的耳濡目染之后，他们就和别的学生一样。在美国，对孩子心理健康的关注占据绝对支配地位，但为此却付出了素质教育的代价，老师们因该再次被赋予教育的权利。”
你是怎样看待这位老师的观点呢？是言过其辞吗？教育应当如此“软弱”吗？美国能否从中国有所借鉴呢？
( 翻译：胡永宏 校阅：华振宇)
Modified
liguangdui (blog author) says:
Added on May 2nd, 2008 at %I:%M %p由“压迫式”的“打、骂、吓”突然到“糖果式”的“哄、慰、求”，表面上是由“硬”到“软”的教育转变，表面上是以人为本的、尊重所谓天性的人性化教育，实际上是走的是两个极端，犯的是相同的错误。两样都不能使得孩子自立自强，不能使得孩子真正成长，也不利于社会对孩子将来的需要。这似乎是当前国内很多搞新课改教育的又一个通病，一个就是新课改与社会现实脱节较大，浪漫主义气息较重；另外一个就可能算这个了，仍然是与养成其长远发展需要的能力和素质相背离。现在的教育有两种比较值得学习的方向：一个就是提倡教育与具体现实紧密结合，另外一个就是培养与“终身学习”相关的将来长远需要的学习和生活能力。希望我们正在探索的这些教育试验会尽量避免这些问题。
connie kong says:
Added on May 2nd, 2008 at %I:%M %pI think that teacher’s opinion on teaching and the education is perhaps just a rant (and sometimes, it is good to rant once a while). The American public education system is very different from her description. My first reaction for her comment is that in her search for solutions and causes of problem, perhaps she should begin with her own teaching philosophy and attitude. While her feeling is not uncommmon, it is nonetheless an exaggeration of what teaching is about.
Kiel Harell says:
Added on May 2nd, 2008 at %I:%M %pMy experience teaching in the lower Rio Grande Valley has been very different than the teacher quoted above. I do agree that teachers are not allowed to teach (anymore?), but I have found the reasons in my region to be very different. I have never been discouraged from pointing out mistakes or using red pens and self esteem is rarely discussed at my school. If anything, testing here is difficult for my students because the tests are not true assessments of the intended knowledge, but rather checks to see how well students can use test-taking strategies. In my district, the state exams are given such weight that administration pulls students out of instruction for weeks before the exams so that they can “practice” using released tests from previous years. We are wrapping up the biggest week of testing today and most of my students have not received actual instruction for a month. Assessment is a valuable thing because it shows us what students know; however, the results become less valuable when teachers and administration manipulate the results by having kids learn the tests. In addition to this, it makes my school a miserable place for children because they often aren’t learning. Something I am confident they would like to do.
I do have similar problems at my school regarding tardiness, disrespect and vandalism (amongst other things); however, I feel many of these problems are due to the fact that school is boring and irrelevant for many kids. Children are forced to be in school. If school isn’t enjoyable or valuable to them, then teachers and administration have to deal with all the problems that arise when someone is kept somewhere against their will. My school feels like a prison to a lot of my students and many of them are perceptive enough to point that out.
I would agree that students do learn bad habits when they enter bad schools. I think this is true of teachers as well. Many teachers at my school are fatalistic about education and they attribute the problems at my school to the student population we serve. These attitudes tend to poison new teachers that come into the system and ultimately prevent real change from occurring.
Stephanie Hakes says:
Added on May 4th, 2008 at %I:%M %pI grew up in suburban America and I actually can attest to the fact that these things happen rather frequently in privileged schools because the tax base of these communities is very high while teachers still get paid comparatively low and teaching is not seen as a respected profession in American culture as a whole. While many in the United States value education, the comprehensive system is based upon individual (people, states, districts, schools, etc.) autonomy. In education this means that are very few uniform standards of measurement for achievement especially on the federal level. This aspect is very different from Chinese education because in China a student’s success relies heavily on test scores. The means for comparing one student from another in the U.S. is based upon a variety of factors both empirical and qualitative and these are highly related to the demographics of the individual students. This is not so different from China where the privileged benefit greatly in the large cities and the rural population is not afforded many of the same/crucial resources to succeed. In the U.S., we have neglected our inner cities especially when concerned with education and I actually see a relationship between the inner city schools in America and the rural schools in China. I feel that in both cases we need to start on the grassroots level and get those people who are concerned with the well being of our countries to come together and stop letting the politics of money and power continue to corrupt these fragile populations. I feel this is what this particular teacher was trying to voice when she made the comments she made. It is complex on many levels. Although a positive attitude and a continuous drive for improving technique is powerful, our overall view of education and teachers needs so change on societal level. The U.S. needs to respect the institution definitively and culturally. This is definitely something the U.S. could learn from China.