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Educators should not get carried away by games
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AS a post threshold teacher of science in the UK, I now return to my native land to offer British A-level teacher-training courses to Chinese teachers. It feels like a dream to me to be building a bridge between the two countries. Training teachers to teach with a global view has been my desire for many years.
Chinese secondary schools are very diverse these days due to regional economic differences. Bilingual schools, for instance, were absent in my day. Students now follow British IGCSE, IB & A-Level syllabuses, as well as the Advanced Placement (AP) program provided by the United States and Canada.
The size of classes is small, and school facilities are outstanding. Students come from economically fortunate families, most of them from the newly-formed middle or upper classes. Teachers are young and ambitious, speak good English, and are keen to get on with their native English-speaking colleagues. Students, for their part, are diligent, hard working, polite and well disciplined.
The role of education is driven by a complex set of political and economic processes under the theme of globalization in the 21st century. The growing integration of economies and societies due to the greater flow of goods, services, capital, technology and ideas, has increased economic inter-dependence among countries, increased mobility, and created opportunities for all nations.
Reflecting on England, an article in the TES suggesting “Learning through Gambling” drew my attention. It claimed that “Gambling pupils scream with excitement as they learn” and “Classroom learning can generate the same thrill as gambling or riding a rollercoaster, when an element of chance is introduced, a new study suggests.”
“Does this take the students-centered learning strategy one step too far?” I thought to myself. Yes, indeed, it is our teachers’ duty to engage students, make lessons fun, and reward them when progress was made; but do students have to be praised and awarded for every little bit of work they do? Aren’t they supposed to work hard to complete their work the best they can? Do they have to be stimulated in learning? Where is their intrinsic motivation? A lot of young people do not need extrinsic motivation to apply themselves to tasks.
Such a notion for learning offers students little faith in their own independence and misleads the general public into thinking that all students have to be rewarded and stimulated in order to learn. It suggests that learning itself has no pleasure to bestow other than rewards and excitement. This fundamentally devalues the purpose of teaching and learning and turns deeper inquiries into short bursts of tasks and activities in pursuit of excitement and stimuli. I am truly worried about the directions in which British education is heading, especially when the idea and claim come from a scholar funded by the Welcome Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation.
What is the purpose of learning?
Education becomes meaningless if it does not help to create better human beings. The end is geared to get students learning “stuff” needed to pass exams, no matter what method is used.
Do we want people who are clever enough to perform tasks, capable of using modern technology to generate economic capital, but not clever enough to appreciate the cultural achievements of the past and act upon them?
Too much praise
Learning through gambling? Too much verbal praise and rewards while learning has become less meaningful and less appreciated by students. Being tough on kids does not seem to be the British way, and too much attention on them tends to have a negative effect.
While Westerners often conceive struggling as a sign of weakness, Chinese consider struggling as a sign of strength. It illustrates the spirit of not giving up easily, of continually exercising and practicing until one masters the subject. “Struggle today, strengthen tomorrow” is the philosophy that makes Chinese students tougher. Besides this, respecting knowledge and those who possess knowledge, as a social cultural norm, has contributed not only to students’ academic success, but also to their positive attitude and behavior in classrooms.
Strong traditions
The reason why British schools are popular with Chinese is their strong educational traditions. According to Confucius, “treating others the way one would like to be treated oneself,” can be seen through the prism of British politeness and good manners.
Therefore, Confucian principles also reside within the British traditional values that are greatly admired by the Chinese. We must understand that one reason why so many Chinese spend a fortune sending their children to British schools is because of the strong attraction of traditional British culture and values, not learning through gambling.
As globalization continues to shape our world, different cultural values and beliefs are getting blended with each other, necessitating teachers to teach with a global view, equip students with knowledge, skills and the right attitude to compete in the increasingly competitive global market.
The author is a post threshold teacher of science in the United Kingdom.
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