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There’s much to learn from each other
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Every teacher in the world has his or her own teaching style and the same goes for every individual country’s system of education. Traditional Chinese teaching emphasizes hard work ethic, discipline, respect of the teacher and focus on test results. Western teaching styles claim to promote independent thinking, teamwork and problem solving skills. What the BBC documentary “Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School” has shown is the contrast between these two approaches. But is one system better than the other or is there a way of taking the best from both worlds?
Clearly, in a competitive world, excellent knowledge and exam results are vital to access to the best jobs and university places. However, in a changing workplace where few people stay with the same company and profession for their entire working life, the ability to analyze and adapt to new technology and challenges is indispensable. It is due to these factors that the paradox has arisen where many Western governments (the US and UK for example) are looking to learn from Singaporean and Chinese teaching styles, whereas more and more parents from Asian countries are sending their children to university in the West.
In international education rankings such as PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), China and Singapore regularly outperform Western countries, especially in math and science. Western education is seen to foster innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial qualities sometimes lacking in the Eastern approach.
What we believe in and have been putting into practice at the Shanghai Singapore International School for nearly 20 years is that the best results are to be achieved by combining Eastern and Western styles of teaching. We draw upon each other’s strengths to create a holistic education system focusing on discipline, diligent learning habits, high knowledge retention and great test results, while incorporating problem solving skills, collaborative learning, critical analysis and creative thinking techniques.
Coupled with our core values of the I4Cs (initiative, care, commitment, collaboration and communication), our students develop social responsibility, a global outlook and become world explorers while developing a life long love of learning.
We believe we must learn from each other, to emulate the academic rigour and discipline of the East, building solid foundations of knowledge, while stimulating individuality, creativity, diversity and flexibility in our thinking, to allow the next generation to become the next Jack Ma or Bill Gates.
(Chen Ying, Zhu Ruiqiu and Jana Jackson are SSIS teachers.)
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