Edumacation

Our perspectives of the institution of "school", our centers for education, regularly change throughout our lives. When I attended kindergarten I enjoyed myself, playing with the many toys and engaging in such activities as apple picking and spelling my name with three letter O's. When I became older and entered middle school I viewed school as an obligation that needed to be completed, a nuisance beside playing sports and discovering the opposite sex much like our very own Professor P.

 Later on as I moved to China and attended high school, I discovered a completely different perspective towards education. I observed many students who endured 14 hour school days from Monday to Friday, with the students still required to attend many other classes on Saturday and Sunday as well. Every student was required to take every class subject, often 2-3 times a day on different days of the week. I couldn't believe the intensity and ruthlessness of this rigorous lifestyle that left the Chinese students stressed and exhausted at the end of each day. Seeing the hardship that the Chinese went through compared to the relaxed and encouraging environment of learning which I enjoyed in Canda became a hallmark for some of the major differences which I observed between the West and the East. I silently asked myself how these young Chinese students could function with so much pressure without having the chance to enjoy their youth. I still wonder at that.

Reading "Our English Syllabus" strongly reminded me of that time in China and the thoughts I had. A part of the essay that especially stuck out to me was where Lewis writes on the difference between education and vocational learning. Lewis writes:

"The purpose of education has been described by Milton as that of fitting a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices both private and public, of peace and war.

While

"Vocational training, on the other hand, prepares the pupil not for leisure, but for work; it aims at making not a good man but a good banker, a good electrician, a good scavenger, or a good surgeon. You see at once that education is essentially for freemen and vocational training for slaves."

In my opinion, Lewis could have been directly describing the differences between the education systems of the West and China and he would have been absolutely correct. From my experiences, at least for junior, middle, and high schools, the main focus of the education is to train and help to develop independent and creative individuals of society. The students are instructed in educational morals, the arts, and are encouraged to be creative and to pursure one's dreams, goals, and talents with the end result of becoming a "good man" as Lewis puts it. China, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite whereas the main mode of attaining knowledge is through memorization. The students are not encouraged to ask questions, are not encouraged to be creative, and are taught to live in practicality rather than on whims and desires. Instead, the students are instructed to read, remember, and then recall all of the information that was provided in class and their learnings methods are very procedural. I cannot think of a better example of vocational training in Lewis' terms than the Chinese educational system, for the students priorities lie precisely in finding good and stable work.  On a side note perhaps this may explain why not only Chinese, but Asian people are so talented in Math, a memorization of formulas and procedures, as well as rarely putting up their hands to answer the questions of their professors.

As I've observed these two very different perspectives and methods of education, I cannot help but question how the differences between these two methods of education will manifest themselves for this next generation as the West has it's priorities in education to be consistent with Lewis' preference while China has done the exact opposite. Very curious indeed.