Focus on US Immigration and US Education: In response to the widely discussed content regarding the deepening of educational reform from the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, Wang Dinghua, Director of the Department of Basic Education I of the Ministry of Education, recently provided a detailed explanation of some policy details for future educational reform at the China Education Society's Wancheng Education Reform Experimental Zone work summary meeting. Among them, the item "every high school student will have their own independent class schedule" has attracted attention. Wang Dinghua said: "Since the distinction between arts and sciences will gradually be removed, everyone will have to study all subjects. To avoid excessive burden, one subject can be cleared at a time, rather than concentrating all tests at the end of three years."
What exactly does "high school students having an independent class schedule" look like? Let us first take a look at US high school students who already have independent class schedules.
Dancing, filming DV, various group discussions... discovering one's own interests and passions through different courses.
After finishing his second year of high school at Guangzhou No. 1 High School, Bruce transferred to a public high school in Wisconsin, USA, to continue his third year. At first, Bruce could not adapt to going to different classrooms for classes every day. "I always thought that I would only have to rush to different classrooms for classes when I got to university. I didn't expect that US high schools would already be similar to universities."
As the end of the term approached, the classmates around him were very busy, but not all were busy with studies. Classmate Tony was reviewing for exams while filming short life videos with classmates in his group, because he was determined to become a director and make movies in the future; filming two short life videos every semester of high school was a requirement he set for himself. Linda insisted on going to the dance studio to practice dancing every day after finishing her homework at school; the approaching final exams did not disrupt her beloved dance plan at all. Jimmy would participate in various group discussions every weekend, running around all day, seemingly tireless.
"Unlike in China, the third year of high school in the US is not 'black' at all. Students, just like in the first and second years, live a rich and colorful life. They study when they should, play when they should, and participate in the clubs they should." Bruce said that in fact, the third year of high school in the US is also very tiring and not easy. "However, this kind of tiredness is not the kind of desperate study tiredness we have in China. Their tiredness is to cope with studies, club activities, and daily life. Some of them, in order to apply for universities, have to start studying AP courses (Advanced Placement courses) and also start writing application essays, etc., but they are not purely busy with studying and exams."
What Bruce admires most is that the various types of tiredness of his classmates are not imposed by teachers and parents like in domestic high schools. "That kind of tiredness is autonomous, because US high schools have a great degree of freedom. The school will not force you to study. If you are very motivated and really want to do something well, you will involuntarily let yourself learn many things and participate in many activities. US high schools have high requirements for student autonomy, while domestic ones tend to have teachers and parents pushing them to study. I think the consciousness of learning has nothing to do with race, country, or atmosphere; it is a personal realization. In China, there are few opportunities to develop one's own autonomy."
When asked what to do about those students who do not study consciously, Bruce said: "There are many choices of one's own on the road of life. If you choose to be lazy and choose not to work hard, everyone must take responsibility for their own choices. I believe that those so-called unconscious students will also have their own points of interest. In US high schools, good grades are not the only standard for judging whether a person is good or bad. It is not necessarily true that good grades mean a good student. Everyone will discover their interests and passions in high school. At the very least, most of the high school students around me are like this. My impression of them is that everyone is burning with their own passion, but this passion is not only in studies."
Bruce, who is now a freshman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, finds that US students are generally much more sensible than Chinese students, which is the biggest difference between Chinese and US students in his opinion. "I think it is because they have experienced many things. Perhaps their high school life is more colorful than ours. They have experienced many things that are not just exams, so they are generally more sensible than us, more mature in their conduct, and have more life and social experience. Moreover, their truly excellent students are not just good at studying. My current roommate was in the top 5% of his school in high school, but he is not a nerd; he is also very crazy when he plays."
70% compulsory courses + 30% elective courses; compulsory courses are also divided into fast classes and ordinary classes.
Not long ago, Harvard graduate Nancy (Xie Yinan) mentioned in a lecture at the Shangwen Hall of the Guangzhou Book Center that when she was in high school in the US, because she insisted on playing the piano in the afternoon, she chose to finish all her school courses in the morning. She might not have expected that her casual remark at the time, "US high school students can choose courses freely and have their own independent class schedules," would make the Chinese students who were listening quietly to her speech suddenly let out a "wow" and cast envious eyes at her.
Nancy attended a better public high school in San Francisco, USA, which is also ranked in the top thirty in the United States. According to her, they have compulsory courses and elective courses in high school. Compulsory courses are not stipulated by the school, but by the local California government, accounting for about 70% of all subjects. For example, in high school, all students must take mathematics. "We cannot choose compulsory courses ourselves, but we can freely choose the teacher and time for this course. And each compulsory course is divided into fast classes and ordinary classes. Students in fast classes have excellent grades, and they can choose to learn deeper content. In my high school, students in fast classes in the 11th and 12th grades (equivalent to the second and third years of high school) study at a difficulty level equivalent to university AP courses. To enter a fast class, one must pass an exam selection."
In addition to compulsory courses, the remaining 30% or so of courses are elective courses, including music, art, photography, some extracurricular activity courses, and other optional cultural courses. For example, in high school history, the compulsory courses are world history and US history, but some students are particularly interested in history and can choose European history. In terms of elective courses, students generally choose courses according to their own interests and university admission requirements. Nancy said: "US universities are paying more and more attention to the humanistic quality of students. For example, some students want to major in mathematics in university, but many universities will require you to study Chinese, history, and other elective courses during admission, or will require you to have taken at least one year of art-related courses in high school, such as art, dance, photography, etc."
Regarding students' autonomous learning ability, Nancy said that there are also relatively lazy students in the US, and some students will also be relatively confused, not knowing what courses to choose. "At this time, you can consult the school's curriculum advisor. The advisor is generally a good guidance teacher for students. Some students with very strong autonomous ability may have already discussed with the advisor in the second year of high school which activities to participate in and which courses to take in order to apply for a good university."
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Take at least 5 courses every day, freely choose to take morning or evening classes.
On the first day of each semester, US high schools will announce the class time for each course, and students can choose the class time according to their actual situation. Generally, you can choose morning or evening classes. If you choose morning classes, you have to attend classes at 7:30 in the morning, and evening classes generally start at 9:00. The school stipulates that you must take at least 5 courses every day. Every course must be tested after completion, and the test papers and grading are done by the instructor. The school has autonomy in examinations. US high schools, like universities, use a credit system. After all subjects are completed, they will be converted into GPA (Grade Point Average). When applying for universities, GPA scores are as important as SAT scores. 4.0 is the full score for GPA. To be able to apply to a relatively good university, the GPA generally needs to reach 3.8 or above.