Learning not to copy China

Could it be we worry too much about China?

I'd say so if that fretting is contributing to an erosion of our own strengths, an argument I'm hearing often.

Yong Zhao, an education professor at Michigan State, will speak about that Wednesday in Seattle. (Visit www.evergreenschool.org to register.)

He decries efforts to replicate the kind of education kids get in India and China with national standards and an intense focus on math and science at the expense of arts and the humanities.

He has a new book, "Catching up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization."

That's the choice. Do we want young people who know how to memorize and take tests, or do we want citizens who can think creatively and critically?

Zhao grew up in China, went to college there and graduate school in the U.S. He much prefers the American system, but sees it disappearing.

Not only does he prefer it, but he told me that while Americans are trying to educate like the developing countries, China, India and the others are trying to make their systems more like ours, because success now requires agility and creativity.

Zhao didn't like the federal programs No Child Left Behind or Race to the Top.

"Standardization makes everyone the same," Zhao said. "I spoke in Mercer Island once. Their problem is different from Chicago where (Secretary of Education) Arne Duncan comes from."

Rather than national standards, he believes local expectations should guide schools, and that parents should have more say.

And he says narrow standards ignore students whose strengths lie in other areas, particularly the arts.

"What about film making?" he asked. "Media is one of the largest industries, but where do public schools fit in?"

Students should be nurtured as individuals, but Zhao said too often, "teacher education teaches techniques and educational theories, but those don't work with human beings. It is the mechanization of education."

The U.S. has relied for its strength on individual entrepreneurs, Zhao said.

He said studies show students in some Asian countries know more science facts, but Americans shine at scientific reasoning.

Facts, you can look up.

"U.S. schools are better at teaching a general way of conduct as a human being, can you make good decisions," he said.

"China is facing a decline of morality because kids are just memorizing information."

For more of his ideas see http://zhao.educ.msu.edu/.

James Fallows, longtime Atlantic magazine writer, has been writing about the three years his family just spent in China and makes some similar observations.

In Seattle last week, he said we tend to overestimate the Chinese and underestimate ourselves.

He said that of the many Chinese scientists who've won Nobel Prizes, none was at a Chinese university.

American universities are one of our two main strengths, he said, and we let them wither at our peril.

The other strength is immigration. We still attract people like Zhao, who know they can do better here.

When I spoke with Zhao by phone, he was in D.C. attending a conference on Chinese language education, convened by The Asia Society, which is taking advantage of the attention to China for a good purpose.

It is helping increase the number of schools where Chinese is taught, but not just for the sake of the language. Americans need to think globally and understand the world better, so the society is helping schools that use language as a starting point to explore other cultures and broaden the thinking of their students.

They just selected 20 schools to support as part of the Hanban-Asia Society Confucius Classrooms Network of schools they believe will be models for others.

Two of those schools are local, the Beacon Hill International School and Tyee Middle School in Bellevue.

China has become for some what the Soviet Union and Japan once were, the boogeyman about to burst from the closet and bury us. That's unfortunate.

We should think about China, but not worry so much that we distort our own priorities.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.