Comparing and Contrasting Differences in the Educational Systems of China and the United States

Abstract

Since the educational quality of China is still not developed enough nowadays, it would be better for China to learn from the United State especially its advanced educational system. From this perspective, it would be necessity to analyse differences in their educational system so as to develop some recommendations to future educational development of China. The research aim is to compare and contrast differences in educational systems between China and the United State. There are three main research objectives, the first is to analyze differences of teaching methods in their educational systems. The second is to analyze differences of educational policies and learning curriculum in their educational systems. The last is to analyze effects of attitudes of students on leading to differences in their educational system. The research method is to take the qualitative research. Researchers would review 5 papers that are of high impact and representative of the larger literature. These five papers would be selected to use further. In terms of results of findings, the first is difference in educational approaches. The American students embrace more freedom to select their curriculum based on their preferences due to cultural difference. The United States follow the individualism which emphasizing the democracy and freedom. By contrast, China follow the collectivism, which emphasizing the family bonds. So, there are more democracy and freedom for American students compared with that of Chinese students in their learning. The second is differences in the educational system. The American education pays more attention to the all-round development, but, the Chinese education emphases the intelligent development due to the Confucian culture. The third is differences in attitudes of students on studying. The Chinese students would like to achieve higher scores in their studying, but, the American students emphasize the innovation in their studying. Besides, the American students are allowed to freely express their thoughts and ideas in their studying, but, Chinese students are afraid about expressing their ideas in studying. This research contributes to putting forward to some insights and recommendations on improving educational quality in China by comparing and contrasting advantages and disadvantages of educations between China and the United State. Firstly, Chinese teachers could encourage students to actively and freely express their thoughts and ideas on learning so as to stimulate their interests and enthusiasms in studying. Besides, it would be better to enable Chinese students to embrace more autonomous rights on what curriculums they would like to learn in the future.