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1、英语国家社会文化A BRIEF COMPARISONBETWEEN AMERICAN AND CHINESE EDUCATIONBy 杨春升 010214425 Abstract: This essay gives a brief comparison on primary and secondary education between America and China from four angles, namely educational system, contents, administration and teachers.Outline: Introduction1. For t
2、he curriculum reform today2. For our vocational education Comparison1. Educational system2. Contents3. Administration4. Teachers Conclusion IntroductionThere was a saying that the combination of Chinese primary and secondary education and American higher education form the perfect system of human ed
3、ucation today. The limited space here and my limited knowledge make it possible only to have a comparison on elementary and secondary education.The significance to choose this aspect lies on the current curriculum reform and our role of will-be teachers. I hope this essay would shade some light on o
4、ur curriculum reform and give teachers and will-be teachers some timid allumination.Comparison1. Educational systemMost Americans start their pre-school education at the age of five. Children attend elemantary school for the next 6 or 8 years. Then they go to secondary schools for another 6 or 4 yea
5、rs. In China, children begin their pre-school education variably from 3 years old to 6 years old. In suburbs, some parents even cannot afford pre-school education. It takes 6 years to complete the primary school education and 3 years more to complete junior middle school. After that some students at
6、tend secondary technical school and some continue to take the 3-year senior middle school which prepare them for higher education.Both American and Chinese elementary and secondary ( senior and junior middle school) takes 12 years to complete.2. ContentsDifferent countries offer their youngsters dif
7、ferent courses, which are largely affected by the theories of their own educators.One of the most famous educators in American modern history is John Dewey. He was one of the founders of the philosophical school of pragmatism, a pioneer in functional psychology, and representative of the progressive
8、 movement in U.S. education. (李观仪等 1994：57) He advocated that schools should provide pragmatic knowledge to their students to help them survive in the society. Though the dominant role of his theory gave way to Essencialism in the 1960s, its affection is still ingrained. Almost every elementary scho
9、ol in the United States provides instruction in these subjects: mathematics, language arts, penmanship, science, social studies, music, art and physical education.Most secondary school offer the same “core” of required subjects: English, mathematics, science, social studies and physical educations.(
10、朱永涛 1998：83)In contrast, pragmatism is not so influential in China. In the past few decades, we generally followed those theories advocated by Russian educators, especially by A. C. MaKapeHKo and B.A. CyxoMLuHcKuu. They emphasized the function of collective. Today, while collective spirit is still a
11、 great component in ethical education, the trend has moved to Scientific Humanism. This teleology takes science as its basis and humanism as its orientation. Elementary school in China provides instruction in these subjects: mathematics, language arts, computer, social studies, music, art and physic
12、al education. In some relatively developed areas, English is also offered.Middle school provides the following subjects: ideological education, language arts, mathematics, foreign language (mostly English, also Russian, Japanese and so on), physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, physical e
13、ducation, arts and labor. It is obvious that the subjects instructed in the two countries are more or less the same and the Chinese students seem to have more courses to take. Thats partly why the Chinese decided to reform its curriculum in 2005. The authority tries to reduce the burden on the stude
14、nts.The Chinese government decided to set chiefly composite courses in elementary school, both separate and composite courses in junior middle school and mainly separate courses in senior middle school.3. Administration In the United States, public schools are under the control of the individual sta
15、tes. Each states decides their own policies on education and schools have the right to choose what books to be used. Public schools are free to all boys and girls while private schools charge their parents for several hundred dollars a year. In contrast, the Chinese government controls all the publi
16、c schools and decides the text books for them. Public schools in China are also free, but parents still have to pay for the books or other facilities. They pay several hundred yuan each semester, depending on the cities they lived. Private schools charge even more and are usually attended those well
17、-adjusted children who were unable to pass the entrance exams to public schools successfully.In the curriculum reform, the Chinese government will let the local government and schools decide part of the management according to reality in difference areas and various schools, which is considered to b
18、e a major progress in the reform.4. Teachers American teachers have to meet the local standards and get certain certification. Chinese teachers did not need any certification in the past, but today in most big cities, teachers have to gain certain qualification and to obtain teachers certificates. T
19、hat is probably the result of the economic increase, as well as the development of social culture, which provides more chances for people to be educated ConclusionFrom the above comparison, we can conclude that Chinese education has more similarities with American education than before. To learn from other countries is an efficient way to make our education industry meet the need of economic development and to cater for the peoples demand.Reference:1. 扈中平 李方 张俊洪主编 2000. 现代教育学. 北京: 高等教育出版社2. 李观仪主编 朱嫣华 何兆雄 章伟良编1994. 新编英语教程（5）参考答案. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社3. 朱永涛主编 1998. 英语国家社会与文化入门 下册. 北京: 高等教育出版社3