The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria [91]
I went to elementary, middle, and high school in Mumbai, at an excellent institution, the Cathedral and John Connon School. Its approach (thirty years ago) reflected the teaching methods often described as “Asian,” in which the premium is placed on memorization and constant testing. This is actually the old British, and European, pedagogical method, one that now gets described as Asian. I recall memorizing vast quantities of material, regurgitating it for exams, and then promptly forgetting it. When I went to college in the United States, I encountered a different world. While the American system is too lax on rigor and memorization—whether in math or poetry—it is much better at developing the critical faculties of the mind, which is what you need to succeed in life. Other educational systems teach you to take tests; the American system teaches you to think.
It is surely this quality that goes some way in explaining why America produces so many entrepreneurs, inventors, and risk takers. In America, people are allowed to be bold, challenge authority, fail, and pick themselves up. It’s America, not Japan, that produces dozens of Nobel Prize winners. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, until recently Singapore’s minister of education, explains the difference between his country’s system and America’s. “We both have meritocracies,” Shanmugaratnam says. “Yours is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. We know how to train people to take exams. You know how to use people’s talents to the fullest. Both are important, but there are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well—like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas where Singapore must learn from America.”
This is one reason that Singaporean officials visit U.S. schools to learn how to create a system that nurtures and rewards ingenuity, quick thinking, and problem solving. As the Washington Post reported in March 2007, researchers from Singapore’s best schools came to the Academy of Science, a public magnet school in Virginia, to examine U.S. teaching methods.17 As the students “studied tiny, genetically altered plants one recent afternoon, drawing leaves and jotting data in logbooks,” the Singaporean visitors “recorded how long the teacher waited for students to answer questions, how often the teenagers spoke up and how strongly they held to their views.” Har Hui Peng, a visitor from Singapore’s Hwa Chong Institution, was impressed, as the Post noted. “Just by watching, you can see students are more engaged, instead of being spoon-fed all day,” said Har. The Post article continued, “[In Singapore], she said, the laboratories are fully stocked but stark, and the students are bright but reluctant to volunteer answers. To encourage spontaneity, Hwa Chong now bases 10 percent of each student’s grade on oral participation.”
While America marvels at Asia’s test-taking skills, Asian countries come to America to figure out how to get their kids to think. Top high schools in Beijing and Shanghai are emphasizing independent research, science competitions, and entrepreneur clubs. “I like the way your children are able to communicate,” said Rosalind Chia, another Singaporean teacher on tour in the States. “Maybe we need to cultivate that more—a conversation between students and teachers.” Such change does not come easily. Indeed, Japan recently attempted to improve the flexibility of its national education system by eliminating mandatory Saturday classes and increasing the time dedicated to general studies, where students and teachers can pursue their own interests. “But the Japanese shift to yutori kyoiku, or relaxed education,” the Post says, “has fueled a back-to-basics backlash from parents who worry that their children are not learning enough and that