HONG KONG - Last month's announcement that Shanghai students had outperformed the rest of the world in math, science and reading has sparked a surprising reaction in parts of this region: criticism of China's education system.
The strong showing by Shanghai's 15-year-olds on standardized tests - administered every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and considered a global benchmark of academic excellence - was largely expected, some experts say, and is the mark of a society that values discipline in education. But critics believe this strength may mask the Chinese education system's shortfall in producing innovative and creative students.
"What the Chinese are very good at doing is achieving short-term goals," says Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal of Peking University High School, affiliated with Beijing's Peking University, known as the "Harvard" of China. "They're good at copying things, not creating them."
Students from other Asian regions, including Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Japan, also ranked near the top of the OECD tests, administered in 2009 to 34 member countries and 41 partner countries and economies. Finnish and Canadian students scored high marks as well. By comparison, U.S. students performed average in reading and science, and slightly below average in math.
To put the results into perspective, "If (the U.S.) doubles its efforts, it would still take us decades to catch up to Hong Kong students" in math, says John Winn, chief program officer for the National Math and Science Initiative, a public-private partnership.
President Obama, in last week's State of the Union address, linked the need to improve U.S. competitiveness in research and technology with fixing deficiencies in the U.S. education system, saying the country's math and science education lags behind that of many other nations.
"If we want to win the future - if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas - then we also have to win the race to educate our kids," he said.
Still, a growing number of Chinese students are flocking to the U.S. to get educated. Most come for college, but some are also coming for high school.
During the 2009-10 school year, a record 128,000 Chinese students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, a 30% increase from the prior year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE), a group that promotes cultural-exchange programs.
"People coming to the U.S. are saying that we don't want to continue just being good test takers," says Peggy Blumenthal, IIE's chief operating officer. They want classes "that encourage them to think critically, to challenge authority, and be innovative in research across disciplines."
Despite the U.S. education system's weaknesses, one of its successes is that "we're producing students who will succeed at the university level," according to Blumenthal. "They may not be the best test takers, but (American) colleges are not just looking at test scores."
Singaporean Chua Chin Wei, a former high school physics teacher, says that students in Asia tend to be reserved in the classroom, and shy away from asking questions.
"We are very strong in the fundamentals, but we need to go beyond that to create and innovate," Chua says.
This characteristic is due to a "culture of deep respect for elders that often overrides critical thinking," says Peter Hill, the former secretary general of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.
But he believes it's wrong to dismiss Asian nations' strong academic performance as a mere product of students' ability to memorize information. More than a quarter of Shanghai's 15-year-olds were able to solve complex mathematical problems, compared with an OECD average of just 3%.
"It's not a matter of creativity and innovation," says Hill, now CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. "It's whether they're given free rein to exercise (them)."
By Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
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