Opening
Seven countries. This is the number of my educational exposure to
different countries. I went to a university in Japan and U.K. My kids went to
school in Singapore, Japan, and also attending to American school. Also here in
Taiwan, I have opportunities to talk to parents or kids who studied in either
China or Taiwan. My wife was a teacher in Zimbabwe. Based on my high exposure
of different countries’ educations, I would like to share two stories, to
contrast between Western and Eastern.
Body
The first story is about elementary school education. The very
first question, which being rendered in American school, grade one science is,
what is the difference between Hypothesize and Infer? Can anyone answer this?
The answer is, hypothesize is not based on facts, but infer is. In science,
everything is a hypothesis, not a fact until it is proven with an experiment,
in a way anyone can induce the same outcome. Once we turn a hypothesis into a
fact with an experiment, then we can forecast future or do some reasoning based
on the fact. This is “infer“. In science there is an order. 1) Hypothesize, 2)
experiment to turn a hypothesis into a fact and 3) infer based on the fact.
Other topics covered are, opinion and fact, cause and effect, compare and
contrast, so on.
In American school, there is a vivid focus on understanding
concepts and use the concepts to identify facts, instead of memorizing facts
for exams. The next story is about university education. I studied Economics in
Japan and UK. In Japan, professors say, “I understand Keynes”, “I understand
Marx”. What is wrong with it? In U.K. Professors say, “I will create a better
economic theory than Keynes”, “I will go beyond Marx”. Professors in U.K. are
oriented to challenge the current status quo and develop economics further. On
the contrary, some professors in Japan, their focus is trying to understand
what has been developed, translate them. As a result, professors in Japan take
those as authorities, respect them, and try to use their authorities to establish
their own.
I still remember in U.K. a professor told students, Economics is a
social science, there will be no absolute right or wrong, so write something in
exams, and then you might get some scores! His remake strikes me to realize how
much free space there are with social sciences, and it was a quite contrasting
with an authoritarian attitude of some in Japan.
Conclusion
The two stories highlighted the vivid contrast between Western and
Eastern education. The difference is not superficial, but fundamental, rooted
from the difference of culture and history. One is more focusing memorizing
facts, and the other is focusing on understanding concepts to find out facts.
Another example was, one is more focusing to follow the path of forerunners,
the other is more focusing on to create a new path. I believe these differences
in education will influence upon how people see the world, and it is important
to know about it for mutual understanding across different countries.
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