Different Values of Educational Ideas between Western Countries and China - Essay Example

Different Values of Educational Ideas between Western Countries and China Name Institution Professor Course Date Introduction Education is the basis for developing a nation. Both Western countries and China consider education a major component for advancement. As a result, these nations exert a lot of efforts to grow contemporary education. These nations understand that education is the living skills, information and knowledge in life. Both Western nations and China view education system as a podium utilised as a reference by educators to educate learners in insightful, informative and communicative way. However, the Western educational philosophy is pluralistic and open and it allows learners to display their characteristics more boldly. The Chinese educational philosophy is influenced by Confucianism while students are more subtle, emotionally expressive and show more humility. The focus of this paper is on the reasons of disparities in educational ideas of China and Western nations and effects of these differences on the development of the society and judgement of talents. Reasons for Differences in Educational Ideas Traditional Ideology and Culture It is undeniable that different regions hold different background and culture. The Western educational philosophy consists of two schools which include modern and traditional. The western education philosophy has its roots in Judeo-Christianity, Rome and Athens while the Eastern educational philosophy has its roots in Taoism, Islam, Mahayana Buddhism and more importantly, Confucianism. Looking on Western nations and China, both nations hold distinct disparities in their way of establishing and shaping a person in terms of attitudes and skills. Education in Chinese society is highly esteemed and the value of education is derived from Confucian idea that a person who excels in education can become an official. Chinese consider attending school as a duty to honour their family and parents. The culture and ideology of modern China is a sublimation and continuation of conventional Chinese culture and ideology. To comprehend the modern-day China and its educational ideas, one must look into China’s cultural bloodline and correctly acknowledge the cultural soil that foster people in China (GU, 2014). Confucianism helps in understanding the national traits of Chinese people. Confucianism plays a crucial role in Chinese educational culture and in enlightening functions that facilitates cultivation of worthy personalities. According to Li and Huang (2014), China holds its own distinctive cultural tradition and Confucianism is the key representative. However, the education of mathematics has been adapted from Western education ideas but still deeply rooted in Chinese cultural tradition. From a historical view, scores of foreign thoughts and ideas have been incorporated through Chinese cultural traditions. In the 1950s, the theory of Kairov’s education was introduced in China. This theory has been popularised and disseminated in China and many colleges and universities use this theory. The Kairov’s theory that originated from the Soviet Union holds a lasting effect on Chinese education. The Chinese educational ideas and values are linked to ideology, cultural tradition and value. Kariov’s educational theory coincides with the traditional culture of the Chinese. Chinese students value conventional Chinese educational thought. Confucianism holds lasting and powerful impact in Chinese learning culture because most Chinese learners accept major aspects of conventional education conceptualisation. Chinese students uphold major conventional ideas of learning, attitudes towards learning and teaching modes (Contazzi & Jin, 2013). While the Chinese education ideas are derived from Taoism and Confucianism, the Western educational ideas are derived from Rome, Athens and Judeo-Christianity. Both the nations employ different ways of shaping and developing a person. As a result, different cultures hold different philosophies which lead to distinct ways of doing things particularly in educating people. Based on their culture and traditional ideology, Westerners emphasize active learning while the Chinese adapt passive learning (Huo & Nanakida, 2014). Western thinkers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle supported rational thinking while Chinese obtained skills directly from religious teachings, Taoism and Confucianism (Elliot & Grigorenko, 2013). For Chinese, education is viewed as a river while culture is the source of the river. The Western nations and China hold different social cultural and specific expression of given social ideology and values in education. According to Zhang and Zhang (2011), students’ management in western universities is learner-service oriented. Western students hold powerful sense of self-independence and individuality. Students associations in western countries are more advanced compared to those of students in China. Cultural values between Western nations and China form a huge gap. Social Environment Social environment entails the immediate social and physical setting where people live. The social environment is as a result of interaction amid different nations and people of different nationalities and races. The interactions centre on their cultural values and different materials. According to Bray and Adamson (2007), there are basic disparities in ideas and values regarding learning and ability between Western countries and China. These disparities derive from different opinions of the relative influence of social environment and heredity and different views of what it means to be an adult or child in society. It appears that interactionism, founded on the interpretation of daily social experience influence the Chinese educational ideas and values. In Western nations, students are allowed to boldly demonstrate themselves and do what they want to do. As a result, Western nations do not rely so much on books but on critical thinking. On the contrary, Students in China are humble and are not as direct as American students (Bray & Adamson, 2007). The Western countries’ social environment is welcoming and can be adapted and sustained anywhere while the social environment in China is rigid. China educational ideas and values focus on passive learning while Western educational values and ideas focus on active learning. In Western educational ideas, teaching is student-focused while in China, teaching is teacher-centred. Western education ideas include thinking skills, communication skills and problem solving skills. With respect to China, teachers are completely accountable for class effectiveness where students receive input from their instructors. Students in China are not encouraged or trained to voice out their perspectives or views. National Character The national character of Western nations is intricate to define because of its changing nature. The western nations tend to independently-minded and proactive of their freedoms and civil rights. The national character of Western countries centres on individualism. According to Masten and Hernandez (2012), individualism is deeply linked to Western culture. Given the increased immigration of people into Western nations, the populace comprises of individual from diverse ethnicities, religion and cultures. The national character of China, on the other hand, focuses on traditionalism and Confucianism. Confucianism is the greatest influence of educational ideas in China. The educational ideas of Western nations are influenced by the nations’ democratic values of equal educational prospects and education is considered a function of national development and personal development. On the contrary, based on Confucianism, Chinese educate all people regardless of their status but teach students according to their characteristics (Gu, 2014). The Chinese educational ideas favour moral sensibilities instead of certain intellectual skills. The Confucian educational philosophy is still the basis for Chinese schools (Li and Huang, 2013). Confucianism offers philosophical guidance and vision for teachers in China. The Effects of the Differences on Judgement of the Talents The Chinese educational ideas are different from that of the Western nations. Chinese educators centre on mechanical memorisation and book learning. Teachers in China uses test score as the only way to evaluate knowledge mastery. The teachers ask learners to peruse their books to complete their examinations. As a result, students gain knowledge through memorising. In this regard, it becomes very hard to judge and assess students’ talents. On the contrary, students from Western nations demonstrate a slower learning speed. Western educators hope that learners can comprehend the contents taught deeper and better through group work and discussion. More so, students in Western nations are given assignment and are required to conduct extensive research by their own (Yang, 2011). As a result, judging and assessing the talents of students in Western nations becomes easier compared to assessing and judging the talents of Chinese learners. This is because Western educational ideas and values centre in thinking skills of students where students learn individually. Chinese students learn through books and getting more information from books is not a good way of developing the thinking capacity and talents of a learner (Huo & Nanakida, 2014). The teacher-centred system in Chinese education makes learners to lose their potential to think on their own and develop their talents (Gupta, 2007). In Western nations students manage their own learning and such education centres on developing an individual skills through encouraging learners to be responsible, initiative an independent. In China, students are knowledge receivers and the do not practice self-discovery Developments of the Society Given that educational ideas in Western nations stresses on understanding or meaningful learning, while Chinese educational ideas centres on memorising or role learning, development in the two societies differs. The Western nations are more developed because of the creativity, innovation and skills of the learners while the Chinese society lags behind because the skills learned in schools are memorised. Memorisation does not support growth of skills because learners cannot link what they have learnt with novel knowledge that is needed for societal growth. In addition, the knowledge obtained through Chinese educational philosophy does not last long; hence it is not implemented in developing the society. Contrary, to Chinese educational ideas, creativity is highly promoted in Western nations, hence enormous growth in the Western societies. Given that Western students are given the freedom to explore their creativity, they become confident in expressing discoveries and novel ideas that promote societal development. With respect to China, the nation emphasizes conformity which throttles creative thinking. By sticking to conformity and originality, it becomes hard to produce graduates who are novelty and genius. Without such people, the society reverts to unfilled repetition. While conformity is excellent for morality, it is not good for intellectual and societal development. Western nation’s educational philosophy believes in motivating learners and promoting positive thinking among students. In Conclusion, education philosophy must facilitate cultivation of genius who would move the society forward. The Chinese educational ideas and Western educational ideas are affected by traditional ideology and culture, national character and social environment. In appreciating the issues and temperament of education, one should consider and appreciate the incorporation of academic roots to create the best means of knowledge. Given that Western educational ideas emphasize creativity and problem solving skills, these ideas foster societal development and easier judgement of talents contrary to Chinese educational ideas. References Bray, M., Adamson, B., & Mason, M. (2007). Comparative education research: Approaches and methods. UK: Springer & Business Media. Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L. (2013). Researching cultures of learning: International perspectives on language learning and education. UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Elliot, J., & Grigorenko, E.(2013). Western psychological and educational theory in diverse contexts. UK: Routledge. GU, Q.(2014). The work and lives of teachers in China. UK: Routledge. Gupta, A.(2007). Going to school in South Asia. India: Greenwood Publishing Group. Huo, L., & Nanakida, A. (2014). Early childhood education in three cultures: China, Japan and the United States. USA: Springer. Li, Y., & Huang, R.(2013). How Chinese teach mathematics and improve teaching. UK: Routledge. 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