Posts Tagged ‘education’
East Asian culture in the news
Why is Japanese culture resistant to Facebook? Why do the Chinese lament their high-performing educational system? Here are some interesting cross-cultural snippets from recent news items.
Creativity and education across cultures
In previous posts about education across cultures, it’s been noted that one of the traditional strengths of the American system is that it promotes creativity and individual initiative. What is interesting now, though, is that other countries are trying to replicate this U.S. model at the very time that Americans are going in the opposite direction.
Chinese education, American education
There are many differences in the educational systems of various countries. One of the largest gaps is between the Western and Asian styles of teaching and learning. Those differences were on display again in a recent story about Chinese guest teachers in the United States.
Unlearning conformity in Egypt
It’s common throughout the Middle East, Asia, and some other regions of the world for a culture to value conformity over individualism, and memorization over creativity in education. This topic is covered in a recent article I came across, which discusses how the educational style at the American University in Cairo differs significantly from the typical Egyptian classroom.
Differences between the U.S. and Chinese educational systems
There are obviously many cultural differences between the United States and China, which stem largely from the fundamental fact that one country has an individualistic view of the world and the other is a more group-oriented society. In the U.S., individual rights and self-realization are highly valued, while in China considerable importance is placed on hierarchy and respect for societal [...]
Walk to school, save the planet
That’s the goal these days in Lecco, Italy. Along with combating childhood obesity. It’s a simple idea, really – children who live within a reasonable distance of school should walk there on most days. The children get much needed exercise, the town cuts down on some traffic jams, and the planet gets a very tiny respite [...]
Sending American students abroad
Did you know that only 0.3 percent of U.S. college students study abroad? That’s a pitifully low number when considering that even two percent of Chinese students go abroad to study, and the percentage is much higher among some Europeans. With a little luck, though, the situation could soon be improving. A bill was recently introduced [...]
Why reading matters
Today, Barack Obama is being inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. Yesterday, though, there was a fascinating article in the NY Times about Obama’s reading habits. Written by the paper’s book critic, Michiko Kakutani, the piece explores how Obama has been shaped by the books he has read and, by extension, how books [...]
Reality beats tv for Indonesian educators
Here is another small example of the value of educational exchange programs. Several teachers from Indonesia had the opportunity to spend some time at a school in the United States and, according to this story, they came away from the experience with a much different view of the U.S. than they had expected. Three Indonesian educators entered [...]
Geography quiz
How well do you know your U.S. geography? Here is a unique geography quiz that doesn’t ask you to identify locations, but rather gives you outlines of each state and then asks you to place them onto a map. Then it shows you where the state is actually located and tallies your average error in miles. Maddening but [...]
The dumbing down of America?
Nicholas Kristof had a thought-provoking column in the Sunday NY Times about the dumbing down of America and what this says not only about U.S. culture, but also about the potential future of our competitiveness in the global arena. An excerpt… Americans are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution. Depending on how the questions [...]
“Gap year” comes to U.S. universities
It has traditionally been more common among Europeans for students to take a year off between high school and college in order to travel or gain other real world experience. This has been popularly termed a “gap year.” Now, it seems, the option is becoming more popular in the U.S., as well, so much so that Princeton University [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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