Zhao makes a good point in his afterword: “We all want to provide our children with an excellent education, but what that looks like divides us” (p. 199). Unfortunately, the United States is running backwards toward standardized testing, while the Asian countries are moving forward with less pressure on testing and more rigor on creativity. The United States is decent at embracing creativity at the younger ages. Zhao shares a story of a talent show that is “inclusive…encourages imitative and responsibility…sends a strong message to the community, the public, and the parents that our schools value different talents, that their children are all talented in different ways…last, the activity helps all the children to be proud of their strengths rather than focusing on their weaknesses” (48-49). Asian countries want more of this, while the U.S. wants less and more testing. The talent show can be compared to project-based learning in that projects show creativity and embrace the talents, not the weaknesses. It showcases what each individual is good at, not what each individual is behind at. The current trend in the American educational system is that we cannot teach this method because it cannot be assessed on a standardized test. No standardized, fill in the blank test can assess creativity, which is a sought after skill in the 21st century.
According to Zhao, some of the challenges in the 21st century include: securing job in global market, teach students how to interact with other cultures, and help students become global citizens. Students are no longer competing for jobs with people from the same area. The 21st century really makes the world flat in that anyone can be hired from anywhere with what technology has to offer today. In order to get the high paying, stable jobs, we need to also teach and embrace creativity, which a standardized would receive a mark of ‘beginner.’ Again, this proves that the U.S. is following behind, not leading the way.
Although the current American educational system does provide room for some creativity, there are problems. Some problems with American education system include: “inequalities between the rich and the poor; the outdated, irrelevant, and America-centric curriculum; the lack of qualified teachers; the disengagement of students; and the increasing faith in testing” (58). I think that some of these problems can be solved with project based learning. I think the government also needs to take a step back and let teachers lead students into the 21st century. The outdated curriculum is still being taught because of NCLB and
standardized testing. Testing needs to go away because, according to Zhao, standardized testing:
1.
Does not produce creative and innovation talents
2. Produces an economy built on cheap labor instead of technology
3. Creates low ability
4. Creates high demands on students may result in low self-esteem and suicide
5. Produces unhealthy children both psychically and mentally
6. Can cause cheating in order to achieve high standards
In conclusion, I fell that we as a country are far behind in that we are turning the clock backwards. “American education has been moving toward authoritarianism, letting the government dictate what and how students should learn and what schools should teach. This movement has been fueled mostly through fear-fear of threats from the Soviets, the Germans, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Chinese, and the Indians” (Zhao, 2009, p. 40). We are not catching up because we are devoting more money and recourses into standardized testing that clearly does not test every element that a student needs in the 21st century. We are going back into time, which is proven by the Asian countries, that excel at standardized testing, are completely revamping their curriculum by 180 degrees. “While the United States is moving toward more standardization and centralization, the Asian countries are working hard to allow more flexibility and autonomy at the local level” (63). It seems to me that the United States and the Asian countries are flip flopping, which would conclude that we are not only behind but behind while running backwards into the 21st century…
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