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【中文标题】上海的秘密
【原文标题】The Shanghai Secret
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【原文作者】THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
【原文链接】http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/opinion/friedman-the-shanghai-secret.html?ref=china&_r=0
每次我来到中国，都会听到对这个国家未来的两种极端看法。最近，一些全球投资者在“看衰”中国，信誓旦旦地说总有一天这个强大的经济引擎会停止运转，就像房地产泡沫最终会破裂一样。坦率地说，如果我看衰中国，并不是因为房地产泡沫，而是因为逐渐吞噬掉越来越多城市的严重污染。乐观人士持另外一种态度：准备好，中国才刚刚起步，我们现在看到的只不过是过去30年来对基础设施和教育的密集投入所付出的代价。我不敢冒然押宝，只能采取冷眼旁观的态度。但是如果你想寻找一些证据，证明为什么乐观人士的观点并不匪夷所思，你或许可以参观一所上海的小学。
与我同行的是“为美国而教”项目（译者注：一场在美国成功运作19年的教育运动。旨在聚集一批来自一流大学各个专业的优秀毕业生，安排他们在欠发达地区以及城市中心师资薄弱学校任教两年让全国的儿童、特别是贫困社区的儿童获得平等的受教育机会。）的创始人Wendy Kopp，和一个模仿“为美国而教”的Teach for All项目的领导人，这个项目在32个国家成功运作。我们计划访问中国几所最高端和最低端的学校，目的是揭开一个秘密——上海的公办中学是如何在2009年PISA（国际学生评估项目）测试中成为世界第一名的。这个考试在65个国家中衡量15岁的人群把他们所学到的东西应用在数学、科学和阅读上的能力。
上海蔷薇小学有754名学生，从一年级到五年级，还有59名教师。参观完这里之后，我想我已经找到了秘密所在，那就是：
没有秘密。
当你坐在课堂里，或者与校长和教师沟通，你看到的是对所有基本要素不顾一切、残酷无情的关注。这些基本要素既是造就一所优质学校的必要条件，也是整个学校体系思想、行动一致的成果。这些要素是：对教师严格、深化的培训；互动学习和持续的专业发展；家长全面参与孩子的学习过程；学校领导层对最高标准的坚持；奖励教育和尊重教师文化。
上海的秘密只不过是，它在更多时间里，在更多的学校中贯彻了更多的基本要素。以教师发展为例。蔷薇小学校长沈珺在十年时间里，让这所学校从一个水平一般的小学转化为一个高水平的学校——尽管这里有40％的学生来自教育水平不高的农民工家庭。她说，她的教师每周70％的时间用于教学，30％的时间用于专业水平的提高和备课。后者的数字远远高于普通的美国学校。
26岁的滕骄是这里的英语教师，他说学校每天早上8:35上课，下午4:30放学，他每天一般会上三堂35分钟的课。我旁听了他的一节三年级英语课，整个教学过程精心规划，几乎没有一分钟被浪费。他说，一天中的其它时间被用来备课、网络学习、团队交流，邀请其他教师来听课，听取改进意见，或者去旁听明星老师的课堂。
他说：“你可以看到有那么多的教学技巧可以应用到你的课堂中。”教育专家认为，在所有改善学校教育质量的方法中，没有任何一个方法——不是课堂规模、新兴的科技，也不是教学时间的长短——能比得上让教师有时间请同事来观摩课程，提供建设性反馈，深化他们所教授课程的知识程度收获更大。
滕说，他的工作还包括“家长培训”。每个学期，家长要来到学校三到五次，学习电脑操作技巧，这样他们可以更好地上网帮助孩子完成作业，跟上课程进度。29岁的鲍丽娜也是这里的英语教师，她说她每周都会通过电话或者互联网与每个学生的家长沟通两到三次，目的是让他们了解孩子的学习进度。“我会告诉他们学生们在学校表现得如何，”她接着提到了这里的一个重大文化差异，“我会和他们说，如果孩子表现不好，不要打他们。”
PISA测试负责人Andreas Schleicher说，2003年的时候，上海整体的学校水平还处于中等。“十年之后，它已经开始领导全世界，而且各个学校之间的差别并不大。”他也把原因归结于，在美国，一个教师的大部分时间都用于教学；而在中国最好的学校里，教师的一大部分时间都用来向同事学习，以及个人的深造。因此，在上海这样的地方，“整个制度能够在普通人身上激发出惊人的潜力”，而且“能让最好的教师站在最具有挑战性的讲台前”。
中国依然有很多教育水平一般的学校，也有一些问题需要解决。但是好的地方是，在美中教育界都认可的、最能奏效的基本问题上，上海利用系统的方法、坚持不懈的态度，在十年时间里走到了阅读、科学和数学方面的世界前列。哦对了，校长沈珺还对我说：“这仅仅是一个开始。”
评论：
Mr. Teacher：
请允许我站在一个普通美国中学的角度提出一些看法。这并不是抱怨，只是一个比较。真的，我爱我的工作。
1，在每年4月份或者5月份之前，我和大部分家长几乎没有任何沟通。给他们的留言条、电子邮件，甚至电话都没有答复，他们也不来参加家长会。
2，大部分情况下，我唯一留的作业是阅读20分钟，大约只有一半的学生会完成。我之所以不留其它作业，是因为那完全是无用功。如果我定期留作业，很多孩子不但没有收获，而且还会跟不上课程进度。这时候家长和校长就会来找我，问我为什么让孩子的成绩这么糟糕，我做错了什么，该怎么改进。
3，我每天教5堂课：3堂语言艺术、1堂自然科学和1堂数学。在一个语言艺术课堂上，一个六年级的男孩在阅读十二年级的书，还有一个六年级男孩在阅读二年级的书。我被要求给每个孩子单独制订平等的学习计划，也包括所有中等水平的孩子。
4，在我的学区，基本上没有专业发展的机会，因为根本没有相关的资金。
5，孩子们为所欲为。我的学校没有课后留校制度，停课算是放假，开除是非法的。几乎没有人留级，尽管成绩糟糕。
6，我在暑假期间有一份兼职，也是教书。
R. Karch：
不管在中国还是在美国的人，都有一些关键因素决定他们是否可以成功，就是美国无法提供优秀、人们负担得起的教育，即使是在小学阶段。Friedman对中国这个优秀榜样的关注，至少是向前迈进了一步，虽然让人觉得讽刺的是中国还不是一个民主国家。可惜的是，他的真知灼见必将会落入被美国甚嚣尘上的商业喧闹声吵聋了的耳朵里。
尽管美国的科学技术突飞猛进，但中国人和美国人心灵之间的巨大差距，解释了为什么那么多中国人愿意去做教师，那是因为这个职业所带来的崇高荣誉。美国人走的是一个相反的方向，他们只会听口号、参与社会运动，因此丧失了最基本的理念：不要问你得到了什么，而是要问你付出了什么。
美国需要更多的教师，也需要各个领域更多的专业人才。他们之所以停滞不前，是因为他们的思想被引导只顾挣钱。生活水平之所以不高，是因为美国公司昂贵的产品价格掏空了同胞的腰包，房地产就是一个例子。有意义地贡献社会，或者至少愿意这么做的人在美国却备受指责。这必须要有所改变，这样人们才能互相学习，才能有时间学习，就像中国的教师一样。
Alex Ellsworth：
韩国的教育体系在国家上备受推崇，被奥巴马视为榜样。作为一个在韩国教书、生活的人，我完全明白“秘密”是什么。
韩国人实际上对他们的教育制度非常不满：超大的班级、机械性的学习方式、对私立填鸭式学校的过度依赖。
在与我的年龄比较大的学生交谈时，我经常说，韩国并没有世界上非常杰出的教师，也没有出色的课本和课程安排。但是韩国学生在世界性的评测中总是遥遥领先，为什么？
两个关键因素：父母和期望。西方人倾向于关注个人专长，东亚国家则认为学生应当具有全面的能力。所以如果你在某个课程上表现得不好，原因很简单，就是你努力得不够。
尽管很多对进入常春藤高校和韩国顶级学校的期望最终都会落空，但是设定远大的目标，并坚持不泄的努力毕竟还是有收获的。
这个社会认为奥运会银牌和铜牌就是失败，所以我认为这就是你的秘密，就在这里。
Dave H：
我从内心完全赞同这些基本要素，坚持加风险，就是优质教育的关键所在。
上海聚集了中国最聪明、最富有野心的人。即使这里的学校和教师与其它城市并没有什么不同，我也期望上海会取得更高的分数，原因很简单，这里的学生更有可能从他们雄心壮志的父母身上继承更好的智力基因，得到更好的支持、压力和榜样效果。我不大确定上海是否可以成为一个模版，套用在其它政策允许的地方，主要是因为这里的成功或许主要是当地人口自我选择淘汰的结果。
回到这里，尽管美国的制度和教师也不错，但问题是我们的年轻人根本不重视教育，父母也不会出面帮助孩子（即使是那些相对幸福的家庭）。教师与学生每天只见面几个小时，学生们的校外生活对他们的学习成绩产生了重大的影响。
Aikenhd：
Friedman先生说的太对了，没有所谓的“秘密”，只有持续不断的、合理的计划来保持高质量的教育，基础是公认的最重要的因素——教师。没有威胁，没有奖励，只有重视高素质教师的整体职业技能发展。这种思路在培训工程师、医生、飞行员上大行其道，教师也没有例外。我们需要把教师当作一个高技能的职业，而不是当作一个高级保姆。
我是一个有30多年教龄的老师（也是一名教师辅导员），我参观过北京和中国其它省市的小学。它们或许并没有都达到上海的标准，但是它们的态度和方法都和Friedman先生描述的一致。课堂气氛活跃，学生们爱提问题，积极思考，与所谓的死记硬背天差地别。
我没有参观过美国学校（但知道差异非常大），澳大利亚的学生在PISA分数上比美国学生稍高一些，但是我们的小学教育质量也需要大幅度提高，以尽早赶上中国。
William：
说一次测验的结果就是衡量教学是否成功的标准，实际上是在把教育简单化。说一个孩子是成功的，仅仅因为他/她可以填写一张汇总了被灌输内容的表格，也是站不住脚的。我们的大学不断证明，标准测验中再高的分数也不能代表独立思考和创新能力。实际上，美国所有的大学几乎都会给新生补习数学和语言的机会，即使是那些在入学考试中取得高分的学生。
把课程标准化，并且缩短教师与学生相处的时间，会让学生变得更加自私，缺乏坚强、独立的性格特征。我们只要看国会的新成员，就会发现美国从50年代前的个人教育转化为主观性教育的结果，后者可以神奇地塑造一个完美的人类。
Mary：
这位姐姐每天教200名学生，我不相信她每周都会利用“空余时间”给所有的家长打电话。让我们来看看，她时不时要上课，要吃午餐，经常有学生来请教问题，她还需要查看邮件、出席会议、回复家长的邮件。下班之后，她要批改英语试卷，因为所有的教师都被要求尽快反馈学生成绩，这意味着她的周末都搭进去了。我当然也同意，那些基本要素都必须在课堂上被传达，那么这位姐姐不能教语法和拼写，可是她教了。（孩子们难道天生就会了吗？）
如果你对亚洲的学校了解更多一些，你或许会知道，所有的教师的电话都必须7×24待机，以便任何与学校有关的人联系他们，而且对于干扰私人生活的行为束手无策。他们任校长摆布，就好像身处封建社会。难道这就是我们效仿的榜样吗？
Jim Wohlleb：
另外一个问题是，上海的学校（也包括Friedman先生）用什么标准来衡量教育质量？是仅仅看数学、阅读和自然科学的国际测试成绩吗？他们是否衡量学生和毕业生在社会上的表现如何？这些人是否会基于合理的事实做出决定？在面临一个怯于改变的繁荣未来时，是否还能享受个人健康的生活。
Jonathan：
我是上海人。上海有着吸引人的教育体系，最好的学生都被纳入城市里顶级的学校中。差学校里大部分都是农民工子弟，他们的父母文化不高，被当地人歧视地称为“外来人”。你所居住的校区决定了你的学校是否优秀。其实和美国并没有多大差别，但整体水平还是高一些。
上海学校的班级规模大一些，缺少美国学校提供的良好食宿。与其他东亚国家的学校差不多。
Mariposa841：
由于在国外受过教育，我自然能够感觉到美国的年轻人不管在家里还是在学校都缺少管教。或许外国的教育制度过于严格，但这的确能让学生具备对生活的正确态度，比如尊重老人、个人的动力和遵守制度。外国的“管教”在这里被称为“虐待儿童”，我有时候不得不摇摇头。
Shawn：
我曾经嘲笑那些认为中国迟早会超过美国成为世界超级势力的人。但是现在，看到美国所发生的一切——完全缺少求知欲、无处不在的胖子、糟糕的政治，以及一塌糊涂的经济，我开始觉得中国取代美国的速度比任何人想象的都要快。中国前进的速度简直就像美国衰落的速度一样快。
Margaret E.：
记者们至少需要旁听100节课，才有资格说教我们国家的教育该如何改进。他们应该在学校待一整天，观察学生上学时的面貌，记录他们的早餐，阅读他们的家庭作业。了解出勤和行为表现记录可以让你深入了解学习环境。与家长交谈并对周边环境有详细的了解，就可以知道教师无法控制的因素有多么复杂。我建议Friedman先生和Keller先生试着教几节课，或许他们会有新的感触和我们分享。
Stafford Smith：
教育是广义的文化传播。中国是一个纪律性社会，人们有不断进步的动力。恕我冒昧，我们的国家不是。记住，没有所谓的致命武器。
Bill GCA：
那么我觉得，我们只需要把每个学校、每个教室的老师增加一倍，一切问题都解决了。
哪儿能看到中国政府预算赤字的官方消息？
Specialeducator：
看看我理解的是否正确：那里没有教师的数字考核制度；教师既可以与同事合作，又可以在上学时间备课。而且，我在文章中没有看到一句话与考试和学生喜欢上学的内容有关。然后他们就在一项全球测试中称霸世界？听起来真不错啊，简直不像是真的。这是在非人性、执迷于考试的、数字说明一切的美国教师梦寐以求的工作条件。我不认为美国可以从亚洲国家身上学到什么东西。我错了，这篇文章中描述的学校会让比尔•盖茨和教育改革人士无地自容。
ChristineIthaca：
我是一名美国公立学校的教师，每天要上6节40分钟的课，几乎没有备课时间。我认为效仿上海模式会有很大收获。我认为，上海和芬兰在全球测试中领先的最大秘密，就是这两个国家，包括大部分欧洲国家，的学生在中学时期就参加会考。大约50%的学生会离开以上大学为目的的公立学校，转到技校。把上海和芬兰的PISA成绩与美国比，就等于把最优秀的50%和一整筐苹果相比。美国所有的学生就削尖脑袋准备大学入学考试（如果的确没有希望，就干脆退学），他们之所以要通过高等代数考试，就是为了一个文凭！少一些无用的数学和唯文凭论，会给没有上过大学的人一个成功的机会。
Jacksonoregon：
你说描述的就是起源于日本的课程研究。北卡罗来纳州米尔斯学院的Catherine Lewis已经做过深入的研究。
Michael Silverberg：
Friedman列举了一些我们已知有关教育的问题，但是忽略了一个最重要的因素——一个崇尚教育、尊重教师的文化。就像一些教师在这里的评论一样，美国没有这种文化。教育完全是功利的，教师只不过是我们聘请来的（廉价）员工提供这种服务，他们只会给出可以接受的分数，而无法让学生真正学习。至少一位教师提到过，如果学生不写作业、不学无术，这只能是教师的问题。管教他们！开除他们！提供更多的教育经费或许会有帮助，但真正的问题在于文化。
Cocomo：
我就在中国教书。
中国的早期教育毫不留情地扼杀孩子们的创造力。学生们永远不可以质疑权威，这就是他们至高无上的准则。有没有关系、有没有钱，基本决定了孩子的前途。大部分学生被要求穿校服，样式从英国贵族风格和中国传统服饰，到功能性和运动型的舒适轻便面料。学校里的学生基本都是一个国家、一个民族的血统。学生承受着巨大的压力学习，衡量标准是频繁的测验，因为中国的社会福利网络可以让他们的父母在50岁退休之后（没有人再愿意雇佣他们）不愁吃穿。与此相反的是，18岁以下的年轻人不可以工作（实际上，很多人到20多岁还没有工作）。大部分学生每周上学5天，然后是周末密集的补习，通常包括自然科学、数学、英语、语文、艺术、体育等其中至少两三门。家庭作业通常从晚上5:30持续到11:00，然后早上6点起床重复昨天的一切。很多有钱、有关系的人都会把孩子送到加拿大、美国、澳大利亚、英国（甚至德国和法国）去，因为他们知道自己的孩子在那里不会被灌注无用的知识，有机会接触自由的教育，获得国际性视野以及安全的空气和食物。
Christopher Walker：
在科罗拉多州道格拉斯郡，你可以看到对教师培训的大力投入、同事间的相互学习、持续的专业发展、家长全面参与孩子的学习、校领导对最高教学标准的坚持，以及崇尚教育和尊重教师的文化。我们的公立学校非常好。
当然你也可以看到一些学校董事会，试图破坏这一切。他们破除惯例，执行非法的代用券计划。但这是另外一回事了。
我是说，你并不需要到中国去寻找优秀的学区。我们这里就有，其实并没有什么秘密可言，一切都是文化使然。如果人们重视教育，一切问题都解决了。
KenMT Vernon：
我的孩子在上海出生，从两岁开始进入上海的学校。
中国传统上非常重视儿童教育，因为人们期望孩子将来给父母养老，所以家长都有望子成龙之心。教育被认为是成功的重要因素。
家长参与：家长在社交媒体上讨论家庭作业和校内活动，教师也会积极参与讨论。家长监督孩子完成作业，让他们参加各种补习班，包括语言、数学、艺术等等。各个收入阶层的家长都会牺牲时间和金钱给孩子提供各种机会。
管教：一句话，孩子们都被要求表现良好。
期望：学生们背负的期望是成绩优秀，标准被定得很高。这或许是关键的一点，因为他们根本不教最小公分母的概念。
优秀的成绩没有秘密可言。它与投入基础设施的金额无关，也与班级规模无关。他们只是更加重视教育。
Jayb：
我通常都会支持Tom Friedman。但是当我在中国教过3年书，并且娶了一个土生土长的中国女人之后，我必须说，文章没有提到几个非常重要的方面。首先，大约只有不到1%的中国人有特权进入文章中提到的那样的学校，很可能还不到0.1%。我还要说几句有关中国的低端学校，我们暂且称它们为中等学校。我敢肯定，如果任何美国父母有孩子在广西或远离上海的其它省份的农村小学上学，他们会发现这些学校远非中等学校。我在中国教书时，一个学期只可以给全班学生复印一次教材，因为这对学校来说成本太高了。我在两所不同的学校都遇到过这样的事，一次在四川，一次在广西。我的中国同事抱怨花太多时间在“会议”上了，这都是被上级要求迫不得已的官僚行为，对教师的业务水平毫无帮助。还有，忘了中国学校里的音乐和艺术类课程吧。
Belle：
我在中国一所小学教过2年英语，这篇文章过分赞美中国的教育体制了。班级规模庞大，通常一个小学班级有35名学生，基本都是死记硬背的教学方式。他们可以背诵课本中的整段文章，但是学习多年之后依然无法正常对话。
你不会看到有比中国教师更强调“应试教育”的地方了。即使是一、二年纪的学生，也被塞入很多只有考试才需要的知识。这篇文章没有提到，很多中国学生都在晚上和周末参加补习班。中国的孩子没有社交生活，他们的课余时间全部用来学习英语、数学、语文、书法、乒乓球和钢琴，更不用提需要花费数个小时才能完成的、毫无用处的家庭作业。
我教书的地方距上海有2小时车程，未婚教师都住在学校对面的宿舍里。学校对学生和教师的生活严格管控。初中学生从早7点到晚8点一直在上课，高中也是如此，还加上“可选择的”周日下午1:30到晚8点。这也是教师上班的时间。
我完全同意中国的确有可借鉴之处，比如同事间的相互学习。但是，中国孩子成功的最主要原因是家族和文化的期望。所谓成功，我指的仅仅是考试成绩优秀。
CSK：
你根本不需要到上海去了解优秀的教育制度，只需要去马萨诸塞州，那里的教育水平全国领先。他们采取的是教师工会和学校委办制度，这是教育之战的两大对立面。
Lisa Wilde：
Thomas Friedman的重点在于“美国的教师在学校的大部分时间都用来教学，而在中国最好的学校里，教师的一大部分时间都用来向同事学习和个人发展”。在我工作的公立学校中，大部分教师在每天9点到5点的工作时间里，都要上7堂35分钟的课，只有50分钟用来备课。在此期间，我们需要批改作业、联系家长和备课。我几乎都是在家备课，没有任何与其他教师和校长互动的机会，因为根本没有时间。我可以向你保证，如果美国教师也能像文章中描述的一样有充分的备课时间，公立学校的教育质量必将大幅度提高。
Dan R.Ann Arbor：
Friedman先生，尽管你偶然发现了一些优秀学校制度所共有的因素，你似乎没有考虑这个事实，中国有一个强大的职业教育体系，它在高中进行PISA测试之前吸纳了几乎一半的学生。你还没有提到，上海是个相对富裕的城市，这里的“低收入”与其它地方的“低收入”不同。当你剥离了收入因素和一半差学生的因素之后，上海的成绩也就不那么令人吃惊了。
我恐怕你是“中”迷心窍了，这种观点可以用来加剧美国的应试教育和委办学校之风，从而服务于强大的财政和出版利益。我希望看到你能写一些这方面的东西……一个真实的故事。
总之，你似乎想同事囊括教育体制和家庭因素两件事情。这两件事都很重要，家人需要做得更好。但是如果教育“改革家”把底特律学校的班级改成60人的规模，还不给教师培训的机会，那他们肯定是放弃了。
另外，你在“为美国而教”的人面前盛赞教师培训制度？你应该知道，他们在利用短期、未经培训的业余教师削弱正规教师力量吧。总之，我期望你能写一些有关我们真是世界的报道。
Ben：
我在中国读完了大学，并获得了学位。要解释为什么上海的教育分数在过去十年里发生了飞跃，我提出以下几点：
1，作为一个港口城市，上海更多地了解外部世界。
2，中国过去没有私立学校，但现在到处都有。教师在私立学校的收入可以达到公立学校的一倍，这让教师产生了一些提高收入和跳槽的动力。
3，上海的经济增长让学校可以聘请更多的英语母语教师。
以上对美国来说并不新鲜。那么为什么美国学校没有像上海学校一样取得好成绩呢？我认为有以下几点：
1，上海有一种特色学校体制，成绩糟糕的学生在高中之前被淘汰出去。
2，上海的学生面临更大的压力。白领工人与蓝领工人之间的差距在中国远远大于美国。如果一个学生没能进入大学而沦落为白领工人，他竞争的对象就是来自农村地区的农民工，这意味着贫困的生活水平。看到农民工的悲惨境遇，家长们无论如何要不惜一切代价避免发生这样的现象。
在美国，如果你没考上大学，你可以经营一个小生意，或者去做蓝领工作。你也可以过上相对体面的生活。
原文：
SHANGHAI — Whenever I visit China, I am struck by the sharply divergent predictions of its future one hears. Lately, a number of global investors have been “shorting” China, betting that someday soon its powerful economic engine will sputter, as the real estate boom here turns to a bust. Frankly, if I were shorting China today, it would not be because of the real estate bubble, but because of the pollution bubble that is increasingly enveloping some of its biggest cities. Optimists take another view: that, buckle in, China is just getting started, and that what we’re now about to see is the payoff from China’s 30 years of investment in infrastructure and education. I’m not a gambler, so I’ll just watch this from the sidelines. But if you’re looking for evidence as to why the optimistic bet isn’t totally crazy, you might want to visit a Shanghai elementary school.
I’ve traveled here with Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America, and the leaders of the Teach for All programs modeled on Teach for America that are operating in 32 countries. We’re visiting some of the highest- and lowest-performing schools in China to try to uncover The Secret — how is it that Shanghai’s public secondary schools topped the world charts in the 2009 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) exams that measure the ability of 15-year-olds in 65 countries to apply what they’ve learned in math, science and reading.
After visiting Shanghai’s Qiangwei Primary School, with 754 students — grades one through five — and 59 teachers, I think I found The Secret:
There is no secret.
When you sit in on a class here and meet with the principal and teachers, what you find is a relentless focus on all the basics that we know make for high-performing schools but that are difficult to pull off consistently across an entire school system. These are: a deep commitment to teacher training, peer-to-peer learning and constant professional development, a deep involvement of parents in their children’s learning, an insistence by the school’s leadership on the highest standards and a culture that prizes education and respects teachers.
Shanghai’s secret is simply its ability to execute more of these fundamentals in more of its schools more of the time. Take teacher development. Shen Jun, Qiangwei’s principal, who has overseen its transformation in a decade from a low-performing to a high-performing school — even though 40 percent of her students are children of poorly educated migrant workers — says her teachers spend about 70 percent of each week teaching and 30 percent developing teaching skills and lesson planning. That is far higher than in a typical American school.
Teng Jiao, 26, an English teacher here, said school begins at 8:35 a.m. and runs to 4:30 p.m., during which he typically teaches three 35-minute lessons. I sat in on one third-grade English class. The English lesson was meticulously planned, with no time wasted. The rest of his day, he said, is spent on lesson planning, training online or with his team, having other teachers watch his class and tell him how to improve and observing the classrooms of master teachers.
“You see so many teaching techniques that you can apply to your own classroom,” he remarks. Education experts will tell you that of all the things that go into improving a school, nothing — not class size, not technology, not length of the school day — pays off more than giving teachers the time for peer review and constructive feedback, exposure to the best teaching and time to deepen their knowledge of what they’re teaching.
Teng said his job also includes “parent training.” Parents come to the school three to five times a semester to develop computer skills so they can better help their kids with homework and follow lessons online. Christina Bao, 29, who also teaches English, said she tries to chat either by phone or online with the parents of each student two or three times a week to keep them abreast of their child’s progress. “I will talk to them about what the students are doing at school.” She then alluded matter-of-factly to a big cultural difference here, “I tell them not to beat them if they are not doing well.”
In 2003, Shanghai had a very “average” school system, said Andreas Schleicher, who runs the PISA exams. “A decade later, it’s leading the world and has dramatically decreased variability between schools.” He, too, attributes this to the fact that, while in America a majority of a teacher’s time in school is spent teaching, in China’s best schools, a big chunk is spent learning from peers and personal development. As a result, he said, in places like Shanghai, “the system is good at attracting average people and getting enormous productivity out of them,” while also, “getting the best teachers in front of the most difficult classrooms.”
China still has many mediocre schools that need fixing. But the good news is that in just doing the things that American and Chinese educators know work — but doing them systematically and relentlessly — Shanghai has in a decade lifted some of its schools to the global heights in reading, science and math skills. Oh, and Shen Jun, the principal, wanted me to know: “This is just the start.”
Mr. Teacher
Allow me to offer you a perspective from a typical American middle school. These are not complaints, just a comparison. Really--I love my job.
1. I often don't hear from many parents until April or May, if at all. They do not return notes, emails, or phone calls, nor do they attend parent-teacher conferences.
2. On most days, the only homework I assign is to read a novel for 20 minutes. Only half of the students will do that. I don't assign any other homework because doing so is an exercise in futility. If I assign homework regularly, many of the kids earn zeroes and fail the class, and then the parents and administrators come to me wanting to know how and why I am failing the kids, what I am doing wrong, and how I am going to improve.
3. I teach 5 classes a day: three classes of language arts, one class of science, and one class of math. In one of my language arts classes I have one 6th grade boy reading at the 12th grade level and one 6th grade boy reading at the 2nd grade level. I am expected to develop separate and equal lesson plans for each boy, as well as for all of the kids in the middle.
4. Professional development has been drastically cut back in my district because the funds for it simply do not exist.
5. Kids can do whatever they want. My school has no detention. Suspension is a vacation and expulsion is illegal. Almost nobody fails a grade, despite bad performance.
6. I have a part-time job during the school year and teach summer school.
R. Karch
There are overriding factors that explain major discrepancies in the abilities of a people, whether in China, or the U.S., to make progress in anything. Thus the inability of the U.S. to supply excellent and affordable education, even at the elementary school level. That Mr. Friedman is looking at China even to be a model of excellence, is at least a step forward, though it is ironic that China is hardly very democratic. Sadly, his insights may fall upon ears deafened by the din of commercialization which so dominates the U.S.
The vast difference between the psyches of the Chinese, and Americans, even as technology has made such progress, can explain how so many people in China are willing to work as teachers, based on the prestige it brings. Americans have moved oppositely, in the way of listening just to slogans and current social movements; so have lost sight of something very fundamental:
It is not what you get, but what you can give.
America needs more teachers, as well as more professionals in various fields. They are being held back because they are led to think in terms of the money they can make. And the standard of living is held back by the high charges companies charge their fellow Americans, for example for housing. Meaningfully contributing to society, or even being inclined to do that, is reproachfully regarded in the U.S. This has to be changed. Then people can learn from their peers, and have time to study also, like they do in China.
Alex Ellsworth
As someone who lives and teaches in South Korea, a country whose education system has been internationally lauded and even praised as an example by President Obama, I have a good idea what the "secret" is.
Koreans are actually terribly unhappy with their education system: big class sizes, rote learning, overreliance on private cram schools.
As I've always said when discussing the topic with my adult students, Korea does not particularly have the world's most outstanding teachers, textbooks, or curricula. Yet Korean students are always at the top of global assessments. Why?
Two key factors: parents and expectations. While Westerners tend to focus on individual strengths, East Asian countries assume more universality of ability, so if you're not doing well in a subject, it must simply be that you're not working hard enough.
And even though many have hopes or expectations of entrance to Ivy League or elite Korean schools that are ultimately unrealistic, setting sights high and working doggedly certainly does pay off, overall.
This is a society in which a silver or bronze Olympic medal is viewed practically as a disappointment. So I think that's your secret, right there.
Dave H
I heartily agree that the basics, applied with consistency and dedication, are the key to good education.
That said, Shanghai is a microcosm of some of the smartest and most ambitious Chinese people. Even if the schools and teachers were exactly the same as in other cities, I would expect Shanghai to have much better scores simply because the students are more than likely to have good genes for intelligence and alot of support/pressure/example from their high-flying parents. I'm not sure Shanghai can be held up as a model that can be duplicated everywhere with the proper policy decisions, since much of their success is probably due to self-selection on the part of the local population.
Back here at home, while America's systems and teachers could certainly use help an even bigger problem is that our youth culture doesn't value education, and parents are often not present to support their kids (even in the lucky intact families). A teacher only gets the students for a few hours a day- students' lives outside of school have enormous impact on success in school.
Aikenhd
Mr Friedman has it just right, there is no "secret" but a sustained, rational, plan to obtain quality education based on the known most important factor: the teacher. Not by threats, or rewards but by focusing on developing the whole gamut of skills possessed by highly effective teachers. Its not a surprise that this works as its the approach used in training engineers, doctors, pilots etc.Teaching should be no different, but needs to be valued as a skilled occupation rather than enhanced child minding.
I'm a teacher of 30+ years (and teacher educator) I've seen elementary schools in Beijing and provincial China. They may not all (currently) achieve Shanghai's standards but the attitudes and approach that Mr Friedman describes are the same. Classes are lively, students ask questions and are encouraged to think - a million miles from rote learning !
I haven't looked at US schools (but know they vary greatly) however students here (Australia) do a little better than US counterparts in PISA testing, but the quality of education in our elementary schools needs to be greatly improved to match what is being achieved in China
William
The idea that one test is an indication of success in teaching is what is undermining education. The idea that a child is successful because s/he can fill out a form which only summarizes what s/he has been programmed to learn is deeply flawed. Our universities consistently report that even the best scores on standardized tests do not reflect the capacities needed for thinking independently and creatively. Virtually every university in the country has to remediate their freshman students in math and language, even those who have scored well in the standardized tests.
The idea that the lessons are streamlined and teacher student face time is shortened will lead to a society of self-serving, socially inept uncompromising adults. We only have to look at the newer members of our Congress to see the results of the US divergence from the practices of educating the individual before the 1950"s and since when we switched to educating to some subjectively arrived at standards, that would magically create a model human being.
Mary
A family member teaches 200 students a day. I don't think she'll be calling all the parents every week in her "free time." Let's see. She is booked with a class every period, but has 1/2 for lunch during which time kids come in with questions and she is expected to check her emails for the latest round of meeting dates, and answer any emails from parents. After work, she corrects a slew of English papers, because all teachers are now required to immediately return papers, which also means most of the weekend is gone. Meets are held after school. I would agree, however, that the basics do need to be taught in a classroom; this family member has been forbidden to teach spelling and grammar, which she taught. prior to the directive. (Children' are now supposed to intuit these things.)
If you read further about Asian schools, you might also see that teachers are expected to be on call 24/7 for anyone connected with the schools, and have no recourse for intrusions into their private lives and time. They are very much at the mercy of administrators in general in what sounds more like a feudal system. Perhaps this is what we are turning into, now that I look at it.
Jim Wohlleb
Another question is by what means do Shanghai schools (and Mr. Friedman) monitor and assess educational performance. Is it solely on the basis of an international test of math, reading, and science? Do they measure how well students and graduates perform as whole persons who decide issues on solid grounds and citizens who will enjoy personal health and success in the future booming economy on which he hesitates to wager?
Jonathan
I'm Shanghainese. Shanghai has a magnet school system. The best students are siphoned off to top magnet schools in the city. The worst performing schools have mostly migrant worker populations whose parents are barely literate in Chinese and are discriminated actively as "outsiders" by the local population. What school district you live in determines how good and wealthy your school is. It's not really that different from the US. Yet the overall performance is still higher.
Shanghai's classroom sizes are generally large and devoid of creature comforts found in the US. It is similar to other East Asian countries.
Mariposa841
Having been educated abroad I cannot help but compare the difference in discipline (or lack of it) among young people in America both at home and at school. Perhaps foreign education is too restrictive, but it does leave the learner with lasting attitudes toward life, such as generational respect, personal motivation and obedience toward rules and regulation. What is considered disciplinary abroad, is called "child abuse" here. I sometimes shake my head over it.
Shawn
I used to scoff at people who would say the Chinese would overtake the USA sooner rather than later as the world's superpower. Now, after seeing what's gone on in the USA, the complete lack of intellectual curiosity, the prevelant obesity, the horrible politics, and the general malaise of the economy I am beginning to think that the Chinese will overtake the USA much faster than anyone can imagine. The speed of change and improvement in China is almost as amazingly fast as the speed of the USA's decline.
Margaret E. Costigan, Ed.M.
Journalists need to sit in at least 100 classrooms before they preach about how education in this country can be improved. They should remain for an entire day, observe how children look when they enter, note how many had breakfast, and review their homework. Access to attendance records and incidents of inappropriate behavior will give insight into the learning environment. Interviewing parents and a long hard look at the neighborhood will reveal the variables which teachers cannot control. I suggest Mr. Friedman and Mr. Keller attempt to teach some lessons. Perhaps they will learn something and report back to us.
Stafford Smith
Education is cultural transmission in the broadest sense. China is a disciplined society with members who are motivated to achieve. In too many respects, ours is not. There is no silver bullet.
Bill GCA
So, I guess we should just double the number of teachers in each classroom, in each school. That would do it.
Is there any public information on the Chinese government's deficit spending?
Specialeducator
Let me see if I have this straight: In Shanghai, there are no ridiculous data-driven teacher accountability plans. Teachers are allowed to BOTH collaborate with colleagues AND plan lessons during the school day. Also, I also didn't hear one word in this article about standardized tests and obsessing over them in their schools, and yet they outperform the world on these very tests. Sounds intriguing. Almost too good to be true, except I know it isn't. It's the sort of working conditions that American teachers cry out for now in our de-humanized, test-obsessed, data-driven culture. I didn't think America had much to learn from Asian countries, but I stand corrected. The way school is described in this article should put Bill Gates and all ed reformers to shame.
ChristineIthaca
As a US public school teacher with 6-40 min. classes per day & little planning time built into my schedule, I can see that there is much to be gained by emulating the Shanghai mode,l however I believe that the REAL SECRET as to why Shanghai & Finland top the charts is that in both countries, as well as in most of Europe, students take a baccalaureate exam at middle school age and about 50% leave the college-track public schools and attend trade schools. Comparing Shanghai or Finland PISA results to US is comparing their top 50% to the whole barrel of apples here, where all students are herded to college prep (or drop out if it seems unattainable) & must pass advanced algebra just to get a high school diploma!! Bringing back "real world" math skills classes and local diplomas would give non-college-bound students an opportunity to be successful.
Jacksonoregon
What you are describing is the well known (and studied) Lesson Study that originated in Japan. Catherine Lewis at Mills College in northern CA has done extensive study of Lesson Study.
Michael Silverberg
Friedman lists the things we know about education but the ignores the most important one - "a culture that prizes education and respects teachers."
As teachers have commented here, that does not exist in the US. Education is seen as purely utilitarian In value and teachers are our (poorly paid) employees hired to provide it, or rather to provide acceptable grades rather than actual learning. As at least one teacher has noted, if the pupils don't do their homework and don't learn anything then it can only be the teacher's fault . Discipline them! Fire them! More money for education might help some but it is the culture that is the problem.
Cocomo
I teach in China
The institutions at an early age snuff any form of creativity out of the youth fast and hard. The students are taught to NEVER question authority...it is their way or the highway. There are MASSIVE differences between access due to connections and money. Most students are required to wear uniforms ranging from British school style to a more conventional, functional, and comfortable light material in a sports training style. The students are homogenous in ethnic and national identity. They students are pushed HARD to achieve based on quantitative testing because, well, there are social saftey nets in place to feed and house the parents when they are forced to retire at 50 (because nobody would employ them anyway)...and the opposite, anybody under the age of 18 cannot work (actually, many don't start working until their early 20's). Most students go to school 5 days a week followed by a weekend of intense tutoring in the sciences, math, English, Chinese, arts, sports...usually in combinations of any of the two or three. Homework work load is usually from 5:30pm to about 11:00pm...then it's up and Adam at 6:00 to do it all again. Many of those who can afford it and have connections will send their children away to Canada, the States, Australia, England (and to a lesser extent Germany & France) because they know their children won't be indoctrinated and will get a taste of freedom in education, worldview with a diverse student body, safe air/food.
Christopher Walker
Come to Douglas County, Colorado and you will also find a deep commitment to teacher training, peer-to-peer learning and constant professional development, a deep involvement of parents in their children’s learning, an insistence by the school’s leadership on the highest standards and a culture that prizes education and respects teachers. Our public schools are terrific.
Of course you will also find a school board that is intent on destroying all that by breaking the union and implementing an unconstitutional voucher scheme, but that is a different story.
The point is, you don't have to go all the way to China to find school districts that work. We have them here, and there's no magic bullet or secret sauce. It's all about the culture. If people care about education, it can work.
KenMT Vernon
My children were born in Shanghai and have been in the Shanghai school system since the age of two.
Children's education is culturally very important in China. Since a child is expected to provide for parents in their old age, parents have a vested interest in seeing the child succeed. Education is understood to be an important part of building that success.
Parental involvement: the homework and events of the day are discussed by parents on social media and there is an active communication network that includes teachers. Parents make sure their kids do their homework and enroll them in various extra curricular classes for language, math, art, etc. Parents at all income levels sacrifice their time and money to provide these opportunities for their children.
Discipline: kids are expected to behave properly, period.
Expectations: students are expected to perform. The bar is set high. This may be an important key, as they do not teach to the lowest common denominator.
There is no magic to the higher academic performance. It is not a matter of spending huge sums for facilities. It is not a function of very small class sizes. They just seem to value education more on average.
Jayb
I am usually right there with Tom Friedman. However, after teaching in China for 3 years and having a wife who grew up in China, I have to say that there are a couple of very important points left out here. First, easily less than 1% of Chinese have the privilege to attend a school like the one mentioned in the article. Possibly less than 0.1%. One of the couple of sentences regarding schools on the lower end in China, referred to them as mediocre. I am sure that if aalmost any American parent had a kid attending a rural school in Guangxi or one of the many other provinces away from Shanghai, they would view the school as being far less than mediocre. Where I taught in China, I was only permitted to make copies of hand outs for the entire class one time per semester, because it would have been too costly for the school. I experienced this in two different schools, one in Sichuan and one in Guangxi. My Chinese colleagues talked about spending lots of extra time at 'meetings' all right, but they were almost always described as a bureaucratic waste of time where nothing was accomplished while the superiors got to have power trips. And forget about music and arts being taught in most Chinese schools.
Belle
I've taught English at a primary school in China for 2 years, and this article is quite generous in its praise for the Chinese educational system. Class sizes are huge, usually 35 students in a primary class and students learn by rote memorization. They can recite entire paragraphs from their English book, but can't have a simple conversation after years of study.
You've never seen teachers "teach for the test" more so than in China. Even 1st and 2nd graders are made to cram for tests. This article fails to mention that many Chinese students attend extra lessons during the week and on weekends. Children in China have no social lives. Their weeknights and weekends are filled with extra English, math, Chinese, calligraphy, ping pong, and piano classes, not to mention hours upon hours of homework, to the point where it is of little benefit.
Where I taught, 2 hours outside Shanghai, unmarried teachers live in a dorm across from the school. The school has enormous control over both the students and the teachers lives. In middle school, students have class from 7am to 8pm and that is extended when they reach high school, not to mention an 'optional' Sunday from 1:30-8pm. Those being the teachers hours too.
I absolutely acknowledge that China is doing some things right, like peer evaluations. However, the main reason children in China succeed is because of parental and cultural expectations and despite most of what I've mentioned here. And by succeed, I mean do well on exams.
CSK
You don't have to go to Shanghai to see a high functioning school system. Just go up to Massachusetts, which continues to lead the nation in educating its students. And they do this with unionized teachers and charter schools, two apposite bogeymen of the education wars.
Lisa Wilde
Thomas Friedman made a major point when he wrote "in America a majority of a teacher's time in school is spent teaching, in China's best schools, a big chunk is spent learning from peers and personal development." In the public high school where I work, most teachers teach seven fifty-minute classes over the course of a 9-5 day, with one fifty-minute planning session. During the planing session we are supposed to grade, contact parents, deal with paperwork, and plan lessons. I plan virtually all my lessons at home, without the benefit of interaction with colleagues or administration, because I don't have time at school. I can guarantee the quality of public education would improve dramatically if American teachers were offered paid plannign time comparable to what was described in the article.
Dan R.Ann Arbor
Mr. Friedman - While you have hit upon a number of factors common to outstanding school systems, you seem unaware of the fact that China has a strong vocational training system that removes roughly half of kids from the PISA tests before high school. You also fail to note that Shanghai is comparatively affluent in China; "low income" there is not the same as low income elsewhere. When you control for income and the fact they are creaming the top half of students in international comparisons, Shanghai's performance doesn't look miraculous at all.
I'm afraid you're buying into the hype, which is used to fuel the U.S.'s testing and charter school mania, which in turn serves powerful financial and publishing interests. I would love to see you do a story on this . . . the REAL story.
That said, you seem to point to both education systems and family engagement. Both are important, and families need to do more. But when education "innovators" take Detroit to 60 students/class, and little teacher training time, it's clear they have given up.
And by the way, you're with Teach for America and praising teacher training? You do realize they are undermining trained teachers and unions with short-term, untrained amateurs, right? Again, I would love to see you do a story on that real story as well.
Ellen FrankQueens
I am writing in response to Thomas Friedman’s article “The Shanghai Secret.” You don’t have to go to China to see schools that work. For the past two months I have been an “Absent Teacher in Reserve” in the NYC School system. From the moment I walk into a building I can see if a school is effective. The most “highly effective” schools have full classrooms. Students go to class before the bell rings, there is no lineup of students arriving late or hanging out at the corner deli. Few if any teachers are absent. The principal is outside, greeting the students with a smile on his/her face. People are happy to come to work, students are happy being in school. There are many after school clubs. The daily announcements are filled with opportunities for students, from sports teams to academic teams. As an ATR, I am given an assignment in my license area. The teacher has left detailed plans. The students want to do the work and care about why their teacher is absent. The school has an active school library. The students come to the library and are working on assignments. There are no “uncovered classes” because a teacher has not been hired yet. The students do not have “holes” in their programs or are in the wrong classes. So far, I have seen schools that work and some that don’t. I recommend a visit to Queens Metropolitan High School, Queens Vocational and Technical High School or the Newcomers School.
Ben
I finished college education in China and got graduate degree here.
To explain why Shanghai educational scores jumped in the past ten years: I came up with the following:
1. As a port city, Shanghai are more informed about outside world.
2. In the past, China doesn't have a private school system. Now private schools flourish. The teachers pay in private school could be twice as much as those in public school. This creates incentive for teachers either because of better pay or the possibility to move to a better paid job.
3. The economic growth in Shanghai allow schools to hire more English speaking teachers.
For all the above factors, it is not new to US. So why US schools are not doing as well as Shanghai schools? the following is my take:
1. Shanghai has a magnet school system. The poorly performed students are filtered out before high school.
2. Shanghai students are more pressured to perform. The gap between white collar workers and blue collar workers are wider in Shanghai than here in US. If a student failed to go to college and ended up with a blue collar job, he is competing with migrant workers from rural areas. It would mean low living standard. Seeing the miseries of migrant workers, the parents would do anything to prevent that from happening.
Here if you failed college, you can be a small business owner or a blue collar worker. You can still live a relatively good life.
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狗仔卡
发表于 2013-11-10 22:14
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发表于 2013-11-11 20:13
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