Book Report: “The Learning Gap”

I mentioned the recommended reading list, and today I am going to discuss “The Learning Gap: Why our schools are failing and what we can learn from Japanese and Chinese Education” by Harold Stevenson and James Stigler. The authors have compiled the results of their academic publications on studies of American, Japanese, and Chinese elementary schools into a book for the lay-audience. They left out the more technical aspects of their findings, and instead give more general descriptions and conclusions of their work. They begin by giving evidence that American school children do in fact perform poorly on basic skills tests compared to children in Japan and China – i.e. The Learning Gap. Let's assume we can all agree with this premise and move on to trying to understand what makes education in these countries different, which might explain why Japanese and Chinese children are out-performing American children.


Cultural Attitude and Perception
A lot of Stevenson and Stigler's findings focus on cultural attitudes and how education is perceived in each
country.
Americans...

• do not always place great emphasis on education, or agree that a child's education is the most important priority for their children. Emphasis is often put on other activities, such as sports and
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  socializing outside of school.
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  believe that errors or mistakes = failure, and failure must be avoided at all costs. You should not acknowledge a mistake or a wrong answer, but only correct answers matter.
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  feel that making mistakes or errors can lower a child's self-esteem, therefore expectations for the children get lowered, so that they can avoid making mistakes.
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  believe that success is largely determined by one's innate ability and natural aptitude for a given skill (like math or reading). Not everyone is able to achieve the same level of success because of the limitations imposed by nature.
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  separate children by their ability level in math or reading from very early ages (tracking) thinking that children will be more successful if they are working at their own pace. This means the “smart” kids get smarter, while the “slow” kids will always be behind. often
• teach what I consider “cook book style”, that is, to solve a problem like this, you do A, B, and C, without always explaining why or demonstrating to the children the deeper reasoning behind a particular method.

Japanese and Chinese...

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  make a child's education the most important priority in their children's lives. Parents and teachers have high expectations and are very involved.
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  believe that hard work and effort are what leads to success. If a child is struggling with a subject, like math or reading, they can still succeed by working hard. Poor academic performance is not an indication of stupidity, or lack of ability, but rather is shows the student was unprepared, and needs to work harder.
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  believe errors or wrong answers are effective learning tools. They show areas that need improvement, and can also be very effective teaching tools when learning a new concept.
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  encourage students to figure things out on their own and solve problems, even if this leads to mistakes and incorrect answers. This gives children a deeper understanding of the material.
• believe that all children can learn and achieve a high level of performance, regardless of natural or innate ability. They do not separate or track children according to skill level.
  

Ideas for Big Picture Education reform

The authors also discuss some of the broader, systematic differences between American and Asian education systems, and make suggestions for broader education reform. These include increasing the time American school children spend in school. In Japan and China, students spend 240 days in school, versus only 180 days in the US. The Asian children also spend more hours of the day in school, although not all of it is class time, some of it is devoted to clubs and extracurricular activities, as well as frequent recess periods. Instituting these two reforms in the US makes perfect sense to me, more days in school = better educated children! Longer school days make it easier for working parents. More recess = kids who are better able to sit still and pay attention in class. It seems to make so much sense, why aren't we doing it?

There are additional suggestions regarding teacher training, and how resources are used in our schools. In Asia, teachers only spend about half their day teaching, and use the other half to plan, prepare lessons, and share ideas with other teachers to better improve their teaching methods. The Asian schools do not employ more teachers per school than American schools, but rather they have larger class sizes, and the teachers take turns. American teachers get little to no time to plan and prepare lessons, maybe 1 hour a day, and do not often have a chance to interact with colleagues to discuss and share ideas. American teachers often major in Education, and get only a few months of supervised student teaching experience before they are considered qualified to teach. Asian teachers more often major in a particular subject, such as math or history or literature. They are then given extensive on-the-job training and supervised and mentored for longer to become the best teachers they can be.

So these are all “big picture” reform ideas that need to be taken up at the state or at least school district level. What can an individual teacher or parent take away from this book, and do to improve the education of their students?

Individual Actions for Parents and Teachers

Well, the trouble with trying to institute changes and reform at the individual level, is that it is often hampered by the constraints of the current system. In order to significantly improve teaching methods, this would require bigger changes in how teachers are trained, and how much time they are given to prepare their lessons. Ideally, they will have lessons that are clear, efficient, and focused. They will be able to engage the students in class and to challenge them to think critically.

I think the thing I ultimately took away from this book in terms of things an individual teacher or parent can do, it in terms of how we portray and prioritize education. Teachers and Parents can adopt high standards and hold students as well as themselves accountable. Every child is expected to achieve, and they will be given appropriate support in order to do so. Instead of focusing on a child's innate ability alone, let it be known that hard work is the key to success. Teachers and parents need to find better ways to communicate with each other. Parents can do this by being more involved and making sure their children are present, prepared and participating in their school work. Teachers can help to provide parents with better resources and make sure they are available for students who need extra help.