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A Comparative Study on Chinese and American Elementary Education

---- Focus on different teacher roles in elementary education

Preface
Elementary education, which is the most important stage of education in ones whole life is related to the future of each country. There is a huge gap between Chinese and American elementary education, which directly leads to the differences of the quality of education, and the gap of the cultivation of talents between these two countries. Comparing the basic differences in these two countries elementary education system will not only help us to find a way of solving the problems in our own elementary education system, but also could provide scientific and rational ideas on how to reform and improve our country's basic education system. As there are many different aspects in the comparison of Chinese and American elementary education, I have decided to narrow down the angle of my research, and focus it on the different teacher roles in both countries education system. As we all know, the teacher plays a very important role in classroom teaching. Students interest and effectiveness of learning directly depend on whether the teacher can take on the proper role of managing the class or not. Besides, as upcoming teachers in teaching Chinese as a second language, we should know what the real American elementary education is, and what we should prepare to do to become a qualified teacher there. So through this paper, I want to explore the issues of the different roles the teacher takes in Chinese and American elementary education. After my in-depth analysis and research, I hope to find out the existing problems of Chinese elementary school teaching and provide suggestions for teachers who are going to teach Chinese overseas.

Analysis and Comment


According to the objective above, I searched some books and resources on internet about the issue. Apparently, there are many scholars who have done their researches on the overall comparison of Chinese and American elementary education, but there is one specified point that rarely be mentioned about, that is the different roles of teachers in both country. To better understand and investigate this issue, we should know the current general situation of their elementary education first. Recently, the U.S. government has paid much attention on the development of education, which also raised the reputation of their elementary school teachers. Some states even legislated that teachers should be considered as public servants instead of employees. Teachers have all the rights and duties that public servant enjoy. It is true that professor Wang Juefei has told us: to be a teacher in American should have

bachelor degree, and go back to school for one or two years education professional training. America has already executed the teachers certification system and the employment system. For a long time, teachers salary is the lowest among other kinds of jobs. At elementary stage, nearly all the teachers are women, mostly married. So America is facing a serious shortage of teachers in some areas. In recent years, Chinese elementary school teacher, along with the rising value of educationis becoming the most admirable job in China. Chinese teachers are mostly graduated from normal colleges and universities. The ranks of teachers in the quantity, quality and teaching skills has improved greatly than before, Although China implementing the new curriculum reform, the serious gap between the present situation of teaching and the new curriculum requirements is still existing. The imbalance of teaching staff development between urban and rural areas also remains. Teachers' salaries have obviously improved in latest years. Now the national is pushing teachers' qualification system and the employment system as well. Based on the status quo of teachers in both China and America listed above, let me state my ideas and opinions on the different roles of teacher act in Chinese and American elementary education. In my point of view, we could divide the teachers role into two main parts: one is the teachers role besides teaching, which we can further divide into two types, one is the role they play in managing their classroom and students, one is their preparation works before teaching; the other is the teachers role in their actual classroom teaching. 1. Different Roles in Management Work 1.1 Classroom Decoration American classes are always found creative and the decoration of each classroom is always intriguing. Each classroom arrangement is made by the class teacher and that is his/her duty to make the classroom special and lovely. My friend Mandy, who is working as an elementary school teacher in America, showed me a photo of her decorated classroom: on all four walls including the blackboard you can find student's pictures, drawings and texts. The ceiling is adorned with colorful paper strips. She also made colorful knowledge cards and sticked them on the wall. We could see that every corner of the classroom is her painstaking effect. The student-centered arrangement of classrooms brings students an enjoyable learning atmosphere. Student will treat their classroom just like their home and learn things more easily and freely. On the contrary, Chinese elementary school teacher don't have to worry about the classroom's decoration. It is the school or the government that should take up this job. That's why Chinese elementary classrooms are always made of the same stereotyped decoration. We could only see a little ornament on the wall: most of them are awarding papers and favorite quotations. The corner is lumbered with brooms and mops. All of

the classrooms give us a solemn and serious impression, which probably will let students get nervous easily and feel sick of learning. 1.2 Student Management American teacher paid more attention on the cultivation of their students person American teacher paid more attention to the cultivation of their students' personalities and characters, stimulated the students' desire to learn and prepared them for their future careers. They develop the students' creative consciousness and nurture their inner talents, emphasize on group work and team spirits. In America, children are encouraged to think independently and express themselves. Elementary school teachers rarely beat and scold students, even if they make mistakes. They have a relatively loose class management. So students can freely lie on the floor and eat things, and even can laugh loudly in the class. In China, children are always required to obey the rules and observe the disciplines. And teachers should be the rule makers. Each class has its own evaluate and inspirit system to promote or punish students. They have a rather strict class management. Students should never do the improper actions on the class. Compared to American elementary school teacher who values intellectual creativity, Chinese teacher pay more attention to students academic performances. All their student management is toward this purpose. 1.3 Other manage works Besides the daily management, the elementary school teacher in America should also take charge of the job like clean the classroom, set tables and chairs, wait until the parents come and pick up their children, etc. In China, these are all the students own affairs. The only thing teachers care about is how to make their own belongings clean and tidy. 2. Different Roles in Teaching Preparation 2.1 Teaching materials preparation America has no national curriculum standard, so that each state, county or district could compile their own curriculum standards. Sometimes, teachers take the responsibility to make the course or curriculum design of their own class, and the design should follow the self-ordained curriculum standard. American elementary school teachers have the rights to design and choose the book they are going to teach, and they are allowed to pace their teaching to their students' abilities. Every local district and teacher has the freedom to decide what to teach and how to teach with a considerable degree of autonomy. But at the same time, American elementary school teachers bear more responsibilities and challenges.

While in Chinese education has a highly centralized educational system run by the Ministry of Education and the central government, who formulate the elementary curriculum and teaching plans, decide the examination system and which books to teach. Teachers cant freely choose teaching materials by themselves, and they should follow the teaching objectives, course arrangement, teaching outline, teaching schedule which have been fixed by the heads of the teaching department. That means Chinese elementary school teachers only need to mind their own teaching business, which lacks creativity. 2.2 Course Preparation Perhaps the most obvious difference between Chinese and American elementary education is the different roles teacher act under the different teaching modes: In the United States elementary schools, a class usually has only one teacher, who is the teacher in charge. He/she will teach all the courses (including English, math, sports, etc) to the students. That means, once one become an elementary school teacher, he/she should be an all-rounder. Even though courses are usually not very complex, mainly are reading, music, arithmetic, physics, social studies and science, it is still a hard work for the teachers because they have to do the preparation of so many courses and have to focus on the knowledge of so many fields. But the advantage of this teaching mode is the teachers can fully understand their students, and the students will accept a general and uninterrupted education. Compared to American teachers, Chinese elementary school teachers preparation work is much easierthey only have to prepare one course and teach it well. Generally speaking, they will teach this course to two or more classes. The benefit of this teaching mode is teachers only take charge of one course which they are good at. It makes the teaching more professional and specialized. Furthermore, the students could have the opportunity of experiencing different teachers and teaching styles. My American friend Weiwei told me they felt bored when they learn all the courses from just one teacher in America. Besides, Chinese elementary teaching mode also saves time and energy. Teachers only need to prepare one lesson, and teach it to different classes. They not only save time to preparing other courses, but also could accumulate teaching experience in such a specific area. 2.3 Teaching Skills Preparation Chinese and American elementary school teachers stress different emphasis on teaching skills. Chinese elementary school teachers like to improve their actual classroom teaching skills such as how to teach this course well, how to make the student learn well. They also pay more attention to learning the managing skills, like how to make perfect class disciplines and how to make their student biddable and obedient.

While American elementary school teachers must learn how to make their students enjoy learning and their school life. One most important skill for them to acquire is to use the computer in their daily work. Like using the computer to record the attendance rate and ordinary achievement of the students, and using PPT in teaching and presentation. This will largely save their time in making the statistics of their students academic achievements and teaching props. 3. Different Roles in Classroom Teaching Chinese and American elementary education mainly differs in their classroom teaching. Generally speaking, American elementary education is student-centered education, while most Chinese elementary education is teacher-centered education. For many years, the teaching methods of American elementary education are towards how to inspire and guide students, and how to praise and encourage their students to learn and acquire skills. In American elementary schools classrooms, the atmosphere is usually very friendly, and all teachers have the teaching aims that the most important thing in the class is to make the children happy and interested. Teachers are taking the role of conductor, interlocutor and director in the class, and the students are considered to be the protagonist. Teachers discuss, communicate, debate, and study with their students while teaching. Teachers value their students individuality development, respect students' different views, pay attention to students' creative thinking, and cultivate their problem solving abilities. They try their best to develop the potential of their students. But everything has two sides. This teaching method leads to the problem of less rigorous classroom teaching and simple content and low demands learning, which obviously unfavorable to lay the knowledge foundation for the students future study. Besides, since the teacher has great latitude in teaching, different teacher may teaches in various ways and attitudes, which may directly results in the different levels and progress of their students learning. In China, elementary school teachers are deeply influenced by the traditional education thoughts and teaching methods. Teachers usually use the traditional methods of systematic lecturing which lacks practice sectors to teach the speculative knowledge in their classes. They emphasize the classroom teaching and students exercises. Although the students have solid professional knowledge and strong ability to learn, but they dont have their own autonomy and initiative to learn. They just follow what their teacher tells them and never express their skepticism. Teachers and parents put more pressure on students study .Homework is still a heavy burden on the students and most of the schools recognize the increase of their graduation rates as the most important goal to achieve.

Conclusion
From all the abovewe can see that the main difference of teacher roles in Chinese and American elementary education appears in their management work, preparation

work and classroom teaching. After the comparison, we could easily find out that American elementary school teacher has more manage and preparation work to do, and more roles and responsibility to take. They train themselves as all-rounder, praise and lead their students to ask, think, find out the answer and conclude their own conclusion themselves. By contrast, Chinese elementary school teacher can focus more on their classroom teaching skills and their own research and teaching areas. It is easier for them to collect experience and make the achievement in just one specific field. Which way is better or worse is not the important point. The important is how to realize the benefits of each way and take advantage of each other. Chinese elementary education has its own advantages, such as the effective learning outcome and solid foundation of the knowledge structure and more professional teaching on each subject. But teachers are too rigid and strict when they are taking teachers roles in the classroom teaching. So recently, there is a strongly appeal on the change in the role of primary school teachers in Chinese curriculum innovation. We hope Chinese teacher will become more student-centered and flexible in teaching in the foreseeable future. Many American and Chinese people realize today that the quality of the children's characters can help us build a better society. There is a research showed that if you really want to educate adults, you must start with very young children. So it is really necessary to know how to be a competent elementary school teacher! As for those who are going to teach Chinese aboard, it is even essential for them to know the differences between Chinese and American elementary school teachers, so that they can have a better understanding of how to be a qualified teacher in foreign countries. My research is just a start. I hope my views could simply serve as a catalyst, and I believe, more and more people will see the significance of this research and make more constructive research and results.

References

[1].[J]..2007.(2). [2].[J]. .2002.(2).

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