Secret of High Scores

　　Chinese parenting has a worldwide reputation for placing a heavy emphasis on education， and accordingto a recent global ranking， the results are unparalleled.

　　Shanghai， the financial hub of China， took the mediaspotlight as it secured a No.1 ranking in mathematics， scienceand reading in the Program for International StudentAssessment (PISA) tests. The 2012 test results werereleased at the end of 2013 by the Paris-based Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

　　The tests were based on surveys of more than 500，00015-year-olds in 65 countries and regions. As early as in2009 - Shanghai’s first time participating in the PISA - thecity scored top marks.

　　International educational delegations have arrivedin Shanghai one after another to learn from the city’sexperience in secondary education in recent months. Forexample， a British delegation of head teachers and educationexperts led by UK Education Minister Liz Truss visitedShanghai in late February as part of a fact-finding missionto discover why Chinese students are so far ahead of theirBritish counterparts. She found out that Chinese teacherspossess a “can-do attitude to math” which helps drive upstandards and gives young people the skills to succeedglobally.

　　During her visit in Shanghai， Truss reached an agreementwith Chinese education authorities. In the agreement，England will bring in math teachers from Shanghaithis autumn to raise local performance. Up to 60 Chineseteachers will provide British pupils with master classes.The UK is one of the leading countries in education，especially at university level. However， when Shanghaitopped the PISA test in math， UK was ranked just 26th.These low math abilities even follow into adulthood.According to a report by the BBC， the UK has launcheda campaign to raise adult math skills， with warnings thatpoor numeracy is costing the UK economy 20 billionpounds ($33.4 billion) per year.

　　Work hard and score high

　　An important part of the reason why Chinesestudents can do well is that they have a strongmotivation to succeed， said Chu Zhaohui， aresearcher at the National Institute of EducationSciences.

　　Since the 1980s， Western researchershave argued that China’s exam-orientededucation would discourage creativity instudents. But Chinese students have unexpectedlyperformed better in many international mathcontests than their peers in Western countries. Thesecontradictory facts confuse many educational experts.Some say high math scores should be attributed to theChinese teaching method and curriculum， while otherexperts believe it is largely due to the high importancethat Chinese families attach to children’s education.

　　Gu Lingyuan， a researcher at Shanghai Academy ofEducational Sciences (SAES)， analyzed the PISA results，noticing that for math， the primary and middle schools inShanghai break down mathematical concepts in a stepby-step fashion that has proven to be effective. Through aset of well-planned curriculums， math teachers are goodat guiding pupils to attain knowledge and advance theirlevel.

　　China takes a different approach from Western countrieswhen it comes to teaching math， said Gu. Westerncountries focus on mathematical logic， for instance， whileChinese teachers focus on algorithm and calculation.These two schools of thought have their own featuresand result in two different teaching methods.

　　In teaching mathematics， Chinese teachers followa simple formula： repetition， repetition， repetition. Themethod is effective at helping pupils to learn， yet itincreases the burden of homework as well. Accordingto the PISA report， Shanghai students on averagespend 28.2 hours in the classroom per week，ranking ninth in the 65 countries and regionssurveyed. But they spend the longest on homework- an average of 13.8 hours every week，almost three times the report average of 4.9hours. Math homework occupies the bulk oftime spent learning outside the classroom.

　　Furthermore， Chinese schools emphasizeclassroom discipline. Students tend to followinstructions carefully and behave them-selves. It is widely recognized that Chinese students arehard workers， and this high self-discipline helps studentsconcentrate on efficient learning， Gu said.

　　However， in the opinions of some UK educational professionals，the Chinese method might not be adaptable toBritish pupils. James Dathan， the head of math at NestonHigh School in Cheshire， told the BBC that the Chinesemethod of “learning by rote” would not help childrenengage with the subject. “Math is something that shouldbe inspired and passionate and showing them where it isin the real world，” Dathan said.

　　Vivian Ma， a math teacher at a Beijing-based internationalschool， told ChinAfrica she is not surprised thatShanghai students beat their British peers in math.

　　“In the UK and other European countries， elite educationprevails. Unlike our compulsory education， only thebest students will go on to further study math in the UK.Though not all students excel at math， those at the toptend to command positions in math research globally. Themodel of higher education in Western countries is worthlearning from，” Ma said.

　　Education reform

　　Apart from hard work， there is a strong reason Shanghaistudents perform best in the PISA.

　　Zhang Minxuan， President of Shanghai Normal University，said to China Daily that the performance of Shanghai’sstudents in the PISA report reflected the achievementof education reform in Shanghai in recent years.

　　Zhang is also the leader of the Shanghai PISA program.“The PISA assesses students near the end of their compulsoryeducation in knowledge and skills that are essentialfor every student in modern society，” said Zhang.

　　“It is not for what they know， but for what they can dowith what they know. In this regard， it has more positivemeaning and influence in education. We areglad to see Shanghai has received such goodresults，” Zhang said.

　　Zhang said the PISA results showed that thecity has managed to maintain a relative balancein terms of the quality of education， as the gapbetween students of low and high proficiencywas very small.

　　Some Western experts argued that as therichest city in the Chinese mainland， Shanghaiis able to devote ample funds to education.

　　While that may be true， the compulsoryeducation in Shanghai - just as in all of China- is geared to equip all children with skills in avariety of subjects， unlike the more specifiededucation system in the UK， Zhang pointedout.

　　“The PISA results remind countries that ifthey want to be competitive in the future， theelite education geared to only a small numberof people is far from adequate. I believe this isone of the major reasons why the UK educationminister is so interested in Shanghai’s education，”said Zhang.

　　Moreover， Shanghai has long been at the forefrontof educational reform in China. Education equality is animportant goal of Shanghai’s reform measures.

　　In Shanghai， there are a great number of children whocome to the city with their migrant worker parents. Dueto poor economic conditions and residency limits， mostmigrant children have to enter into suburban schoolsthat cannot compete with prestigious schools in terms offacilities and quality of teachers.

　　To improve education equality， between 2006 and2010， Shanghai invested nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.64billion) in school infrastructure in the suburbs to meetthe increasing demand of children from migrant andrelocated families， according to a report released by theShanghai Education Commission recently.

　　The report stated there were 1.19 million primary，middle and high school students in the suburbs in 2010，accounting for 70.4 percent of the city’s total number.

　　Infrastructure is not everything， however. Students’scores are largely related to the quality of teachers andschool management. For this reason， Shanghai has takena series of measures to sharpen the teaching quality of itssuburban schools.

　　Since 2007， all prestigious schools in Shanghai havebeen ordered to help build and manage schools in ruralareas in order to narrow the gap in education. The expertiseof suburban schools has made a difference in recentyears. For example， 51 percent of schools in rural areasof Shanghai have attained high marks during the latestassessment by local education authorities.

　　Shanghai also encourages prestigious schools to buildbranch schools in suburban or industrial zones wheremigrant and rural children account for the majority. Inthis way， children of poor families can share in the equalopportunity of quality teaching resources.