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PISA education tests: Why Shanghai pupils are so special (From The Telegraph of UK, by Tom Phillips) For the second time running, pupils in China’s financial capital have been world beaters in maths, science and reading. Here's why. Every day, Lucy Dong and her best friend Amy Zhu wake at 7am – 7.10am if they are lucky – munch through their breakfast of steamed buns and noodles, and head off to what may be the best schooling system in the world. The 10-year-olds, who are natives of Shanghai, China’s sprawling financial capital, study in 35-minute bursts from around 8am to 4pm, with a small break for lunch – and a class meeting – sandwiched in the middle. Outside school hours, the girls’ lives are a blur of extra-curricular activities: English class, flute class, drumming class, handwriting class, calligraphy class, Taekwondo training, modelling lessons and choir practice. Over the coming years, as they chase their respective dreams of becoming an astronaut and a poetry reciter, Lucy and Amy’s lives are unlikely to be easy. But they will at least be part of an education system that appears to be paying great dividends. This week, Shanghai was crowned – for the second time – the champion of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares the maths, reading and science skills of some 510,000 secondary school students around the world. Shanghai’s students came top of the global class in maths with an average score of 613 (up from 600 in the last PISA tests of 2010). That was 119 points, or the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling, above the average, and placed Shanghai 25 places above Britain, which had 494 points. Shanghai also came top in reading (570 points), just ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore, which joined it on the podium in all three PISA categories. Britain languished in 23rd place with 499 points. Shanghai was also victorious in science (Britain came 21st) and excelled when it came to “top performers”. Twenty-five per cent of its students were placed in that bracket, the PISA results showed. Some experts question the value of comparing cities and countries. Others point out that Shanghai’s relatively well-funded schools and well-paid teachers are not representative of the Chinese education system as a whole. Average pay for a Shanghai teacher is 4,400 yuan (£441) a month compared with 2,000 yuan in some cities in the southwestern province of Yunnan. Even so, the latest results are likely to see more and more educators flock east in search of the mega-city’s magic formula. Prof Kong Lingshuai of the College of Education at Shanghai Normal University has studied the city’s PISA successes. He says that the secret is a mix of “traditional elements and modern elements”. The former relate to the high expectations of “tiger” parents, and a belief instilled in Chinese from a young age that effort is crucial to gaining a good education. “Chinese parents pay great attention to their ’s education in the hope that their sons will one day become dragons and their daughters phoenixes,” says Prof Kong. The “modern elements” include Shanghai’s willingness to constantly adapt its curriculum and teaching practices; its focus on improving under-achieving schools by pairing them with those that excel; its openness to foreign ideas; and the introduction of performance-related pay. An obsession with training has also been key, says Prof Kong. As of last year, new teachers have to undergo a standardised, one-year training course before starting in the classroom. Once qualified, they are required to complete at least 240 hours’ training in their first five years. Teachers are also encouraged to attend each other’s classes to promote a culture of “idea sharing, exchanging and positive competition”. Outsiders often dismiss China’s education system as a pressure-cooker-style frenzy of exams that places too much emphasis on rote-learning and does little to stimulate creativity. But in Shanghai at least, that may be starting to change. Authorities are attempting to move away from testing that relies too heavily on memorising facts and figures, and some schools are also giving students more time to play, rather than just study. Gao Xinhong, a Shanghai student who became a minor local celebrity after getting the highest marks in this year’s “gaokao” university entrance exams, says the schooling system is becoming more flexible. “The greatest part of Shanghai’s education system was that it gave me a broad perspective compared to other Chinese cities. Shanghai’s education is good because it does not treat grades as the only thing for a student,” she says. Zhu Yi, the father of 10-year-old Amy Zhu, agrees. “It is much better than before. Schools in Shanghai now focus on the all-round development of students,” says Mr Yi, a 44-year-old sports instructor. He points to an ancient Chinese dedication to learning when asked to explain the city’s PISA successes, but warns: “Education is cultural. It can’t simply be copied or borrowed.” Prof Kong says cultural factors have been central to Shanghai’s PISA glories but suggests western students hoping to catch up with their Asian peers would do well to take on some extra homework. “The number of hours Chinese students put into homework is several times higher than their western pals,” he says. Wang Huichun – a 40-year-old nurse who is the mother of Lucy – says that even Shanghai’s over-achieving students need to work harder if they are to keep succeeding. “[My ’s] school is more interested in the arts than it is academic performance,” Ms Wang complains, in true “tiger mother” fashion. “There is not enough homework. It worries me a little.”  I leave no trace of wings in the air, but I am glad I have had my flight. ---- Rabindranath Tagore |
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This has been as you say, something well reviewed and test taking has come up short on many of the things which require thinking things through. Script training and following scripts does not bring the advances that business seek. But even in very simple things, In various locations among the few I've been... Often times the people have to go to the manager to make simple decisions, because they are trained to follow a strict criteria, anything outside of that, the result is they seek out the manager. As I said before, when I first went over seas, and tried talking to people, they did not carry forth a conversation... you have to ask continual questions, one after the next or the exchanges simply comes to an abrupt halt. I was fortunate to have met some women, who evidentally had interacted with more western people, because they were comfortable making a conversation flow and they could follow it even when dealing with multiple variables. I not only found them to be very enjoyable to communicate with, they had a great sense of humor and liked to do a lot of various things. I did meet a number of Thai women who were very interactive in conversation, Some Japanese women who equally so were very interactive in conversation. One girl I met from Mainland China, was very talkative and quite enjoyable. One from HKG was also very engaging and brought her friends who were equally quite engaging in conversations. What was really interesting is, when we;d go to some place for entertainment, they seem to be more relaxed and much more expressive about many things and they enjoyed laughing and making funny things to laugh about .... What I did find is, when it comes to foreigners, they do have concerns that you have respect for them and their systems within their culture, and they are very willing to tell you want not to do in public to help you avoid trouble and tell you how not to bring questionable attention to yourself. They also know where to take you, so that you don't have troubles with locals, who are not as open to foreigners. As to all this trip about sex, I did not find that to be an issue, because they are women and they know what they like to do and what they want to do.... and when it private they will share doing what both enjoy doing. They certainly don't like foreigners to try and force or pressure them to do anything they have not made up their minds to do. They know you are on vacation, and they are not going to put themselves in a situation where you go home and leave them with a problem they can't fix.
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There is a difference in cultures, so what is often discounted is to factor in the truths of how people learn. For many Decades Chinese and Asian Style Education was about 'Rote memory process learning. ( In a place that does not promote free speech, and in cultures that seek the sameness of person-hood, it was not structured to learn the same as Western Schools, where for one, this is a nation of Free Speech, therefore, "who", 'what", "when", "where" 'why: and "how". was for many many decades the methods of learning in the Western system. Every since the Western system adopted the "Rote Memory Training", kids not only have lost interest in school, but they don't see any point to memorizing a list of things, which meaning are not discussed in the concepts of "who", 'what", "when", "where" 'why: and "how". American made a big mistake trying to measure American educational achievements based on Asian test taking methodology. and they made a bigger mistake trying to turn American Schools into Rote Memory Training Programs, for the sake of test scores. America kids will never adapt to like it, nor will they adapt to do well at it, because in a free thinking society, education has to be taught to expand the mind, explore the "who", 'what", "when", "where" 'why: and "how". When we get back to those basic ingredients of a free and free speaking society value basis, then the quality of American Youth education will again soar. How, this nation was so unaware to be twisted by international test scores measurements is where things went off track. when the nature of such is not on any level of par with one another. There was an article from some Chinese organizations in 2008-2009 which stated boldly that, 'high test scores did not translate into improved work performance'... The article stated that China was looking outside of the test score measurement system to fill many position, because industry did not far well by choosing and filling position based on test scores derived from rote memory training and programing Rote memory programming is designed so they "can remember" a list of things, but creative decision making was lacking, as was independent thinking and making adjustments based on independent thought and decision formations. Therefore it was a detriment to the business culture. People were trained to only rely on the higher up to make decisions or rely on higher up to make suggestions for change. The article was very explicit in discussing the short falls of test scores, it addressed the cheating, the payoff, bribes and such, but it went on to talk about a continual need for operational decision making. Which was not a part of "rote memory training programs'. Now, if the industry came to this awareness in some of Chinese Industry, then the ultimate question is, why would America be blind enough to pursue rote memory training programs...???? People forget, this is not a Nation as are many other Nations, not driven by free thought, and free expressions. What was that old saying, people were like nails in a board, if one sticks up, the rest should rush to hammer it back down to the measure of the rest. Mao's programming was not about individuals excelling, it was about commonality of sameness. Today, if you talk to a western person and make a statement, the western person will keep the conversation going. Where many Asian, will either answer the question in simple terms and that's it, if you want to talk further, you have to ask more questions. then if you ask question, then rather than freely speak, they want to know, why do you want to know, if they don't like why you want to know, the conversation ends abruptly. If they are not comfortable thinking outside the box, the conversation ends abruptly. When America became a Corporate Driven Model, it promoted rote process, because it wanted people to follow strict instruction and not make decisions. Since that time, corporations fail like a stack of dominoes fall over on one another. The tech people realized this, that's why some of the bigger Tech Giants, are not so highly interested in university clone trained people, they are interested in free thinking people. Unless they want them to be strictly word for word data entry persons, or to do some repetitious task. These are very big CULTURAL differences within the Educational Sectors. China and other Asian Nations is a very good at mass replication of products, but they are not very strong in being innovators with such a high level. China and other Asian locations have a very big network of espionage to steal corporate ideas, infringe on copyrights and infringe on patents. China even tried to put in place some expectation that Western Corporations being required to turn over technical secret and confidential material... I think this matter is still one of great issue. Trying to measure the youth of the world as being all common, simply does not put forth a fair programming of measurement. Each nation should be smart enough on its own to know this, but for some reasons, seems the higher people get on the PhD levels the more simple minded they become to try and claim something simple which is in other ways quite distinct and different in how variables are factored. then other times, we see PhD's put forth the most common evident thing that most know by plain common sense, and try and proclaim it as being some ground breaking surmise. 
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