COMPARATIVE EDUCATION

SUBMITTED TO : DR. ABID MAIK

Submitted by : Fatima Noor
BSF1601795
B.Ed Hons
5th semester (evening)
 Comparative education
Summary
The writer Xiuxia Feng tells the reformation of Chinese education system from “Great Cultural
Revolution” to “the recommended system of entrance of higher education” in December 1977. Students
were so encouraged and they began to make efforts in an all-time concentration of learning as it was a
positive movement to expedite the science and technology in China. But when we review and analyze
this system we come to know that there are some compulsory subjects that they forced all students to
develop at the same pace and it was impossible to groom the students individually. In 1990s, Chinese
Higher Education introduced credit system so that the students can select subjects by their interest and
optional subjects were also setup. But it was the test-oriented learning method in which they just have
to cram the information to get passed in the examination. Under this method the students’ background
knowledge is so narrow that they cannot be convenient and competent in the practice. Chinese still
have the traditional lecture method in which the teacher speaks and the students are supposed to learn
the content on books and notes by heart. Along with this Chinese education system have some good
points like strict management system of students’ eligibility, the respect and love between students and
teacher.
It is written in New York Times Magazine by Louis Menand “the democratization of higher education
is one of the American greatest accomplishment after the World War II”. In 1900 only 4% of high
school graduates attend college but the ratio is now 75%. They entertain diverse faculty e.g. white
women and ethnic minorities in colleges and universities so that the students will be exposed to wide
range of scholarly perspectives and to ideas drawn from a variety of life experiences, which prepare the
students for increasingly diverse world. The American higher education is considered as the best in the
World as their distinctive characteristic is Broad knowledge in which the teacher can choose the
content freely not having the National uniform education system but every state is responsible for local
education. And the American Higher education is still on the way of development in order to keep
balance of employment.
The Chinese emphasize on construction of knowledge, its accumulation, students training along with
respect of academic authorities. On the other hand US pays more attention on utilizing knowledge,
cultivating the critical spirit and the ability of knowledge development. The education administration
process differs a lot because the Chinese have layer upon layer test for entering the university, but in
US students are evaluated on the basis of their achievements in high school and they can choose their
major subjects according to their interest and hobbies. In US teachers help the students to construct
knowledge and encourage them to propose something new and different and students apply the theories
to the practice easily but the teaching method in China is still “force-feed type” as the teacher centered
classes give less chance to students to speak and discuss but only to learn and obey. The Chinese
Curriculum is based on “the professional education” and “the employment education” which is
separated from the social demand but in US they study for “service of economic development”, “the
scientific research” and “the teaching” setting the curriculum according to the current situation and
social needs. In America they believe that every student has the potential of development so they
evaluate the students on the basis of ability of innovation and solving question and check their skills of
imagination and creativity while the evaluating criteria in china depends on students’ memory and
description abilities. America lays strict emphasis on the moral education and character building of
students, e.g. honesty and citizenship so they organize the students to participate in social services i.e.
activities of saving drug addicts but these services are rare in china and they have deficiency in
humanity, efficiency and direction.
Chinese education system is switching from “education for exams” to “education for all-round
development” it means they will focus on the life development of student and also pay attention to
history and national conditions, this includes training of a student in accordance with their aptitude.
This system is also called as individual education. In this system students are taken as main body and
fully respecting the individuality and personality, and they will be train to have the rich spirit,
innovative and creative ability as a new generation because the progress and innovation in society
depends on educated people. The management will also pay more attention to the individual needs of
students and humanity and have rational and flexible consideration. The individual education also put
emphasis on awaking and transferring students main body consciousness, initiating and displaying
students’ creativity. The American universities’ target to 3 criteria for evaluation of students i.e. brain
qualities, moral qualities and the qualities of making contribution to school.
Century China Higher Education Exhibition(CCHEE) is held overseas every year which aims to
promote international communication and cooperation between Chinese educators and their foreign
counterparts along with to attract overseas students and teachers to study teach and conduct scientific
and technological research in China.
American higher education in 21st century is: social, political and economic challenge. American
colleges and universities are social institutes. The academic leaders rearrange their curricula to meet the
demands for multiculturalism. Universities focus on complex relationship between higher education
and the social and political forces that affect higher education.
In a word, China and America should take advantage from each other. They can improve the higher
education by opening it to the world, invite teachers from different countries to come and teach in their
universities and send their teachers and students to other countries to make them more experienced.
Everyone should be responsible for the education career with enough confidence and efforts.
 Suggestions for Education system in Pakistan
1. The Chinese system of teacher centered classes as they focus on theory and facts are important
in context of any field. Pakistan must have the system to make the students learn the facts,
history and knowledge by heart because facts never changes and facts are always essential. We
should have curriculum which include the theory as a major and teachers must have mastery in
the subjects so that they can give a lot of information to students.
2. The American system of evaluating students’ abilities by their skills and problem solving
should be implemented in Pakistan by adding the critical skills of students, check their practical
work, assess their class participation, communication skills, thinking level and personality
development along with the written paper. It will help achieving the aims of Education.
3. The American system of diverse faculty and broad knowledge should be encouraged. The
colleges and universities of Pakistan should hire various degree holders having different
backgrounds and different experiences from all over the country and abroad so that you can
make the students more productive as they gain knowledge wide range of scholarly perspective.
4. The curriculum should have some major aspects as economic development, social or moral
development and scientific development as the Americans have. In this regard we must add the
subjects according to the following aspects in every level and grade of education but the
complexity of information must vary from field to field. It will help us laying stress on ethics
and betterment of economy which we really need.