Product Description

At a time when globalization and technology are dramatically altering the world we live in, is education reform in the United States headed down the right path? Are schools emphasizing the knowledge and skills that students need in a global society--or are they actually undermining their strengths by overemphasizing high-stakes testing and standardization? Are education systems in China and other countries really as superior as some people claim.
These and other questions are at the heart of author Yong Zhao s thoughtful and informative book. Born and raised in China and now a distinguished professor at Michigan State University, Zhao bases many of his observations on firsthand experience as a student in China and as a parent of children attending school in the United States. His unique perspective leads him to conclude that American education is at a crossroads and we need to change course to maintain leadership in a rapidly changing world. To make his case, Zhao explains what's right with American education; why much of the criticism of schools in the United States has been misleading and misinformed; why China and other nations in Asia are actually reforming their systems to be more like their American counterparts; how globalization and the death of distance are affecting jobs and everyday life; and how the virtual world is transforming the economic and social landscape in ways far more profound than many people realize. Educators, policymakers, parents, and others interested in preparing students to be productive global citizens will gain a clear understanding of what kinds of knowledge and skills constitute digital competence and global competence, and what schools can--and must--do to meet the challenges and opportunities brought about by globalization and technology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12587 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 229 pages

Customer Reviews

Re-checking education's true north
Yong Zhao (2009). Catching up or leading the way?
Education in America and Australia is at the cross-roads.
The Australian federal Labor government is enamoured with Joel Klein's New York style approach to high stakes testing that has been the staple in Taiwan and China for years. Yong Zhao (2009) warns that "East Asia pedagogy" leaves students short on the strategically important factors of innovation and creativity. Zhao thinks that it is strange that thinking countries like Singapore are changing their education systems to grow innovation and creativity, while the U.S. and Australia are heading the other way!

As Zhao notes, a key problem with a pure cognitive learning model is that it doesn't cater for all of the multiple intelligences. The result can be a class of students: high scores, low ability. The bureaucratic mandarin model that promoted such learning in traditional China, also had a big downside. Growing creativity, and culturing academic risk taking has enabled America, inspite of regular floggings in TIMMS and PISA, to develop more patents than anyother country.
My thought is that it is not one or the other style of learning, we need a balance of both! We need to ensure that everyone has enough learning to live in society happily, and we need to grow the innovation and creativity with constructivist and problem solving pedagogies also.
This book is well worth purchasing and it should be compulsory reading for educators and politicians. It sounds a timely warning to all educators that we all need to stop and re-assess the direction of Western education, as the assessment tail wags the education dog to death!

One of the best books on education ever written
Zhao presents the essence of his book in the preface:

" .... what China wants is what America is eager to throw away - an education that respects individual talents, supports divergent thinking, tolerates deviation, and encourages creativity ... In the meantime, the U.S. has been trying hard to implement what China has been trying to be rid of ..."

This book is not only a penetrating analysis of the current situation, but presents a very sensible analysis of globalization and how we need to prepare.