A Chinese father: It turns out that this is Australian education

I spent two years with my children through the transition to education in China and Australia, and I tried to think about the similarities and differences between the two. "I want to divide education into three parts: family education, social education, and school education." No one can escape any of these three parts of education from falling to the ground, enrolling in school, and entering society, and for a person's life, these three parts are indispensable and inseparable.

But don't underestimate Australia, a lonely island country, which is said to be a barbaric land of exiled British robbers, thieves, and hooligans, with only more than two hundred years of civilization history, it is reasonable to say that it is not rooted in the right seedlings, but people have never left since the 1960s.

What's more fatal is that Australia is the world's top student in almost all aspects of scientific research, sports, culture, art, medical treatment, etc., and there is no partial subject, don't forget that until today it has a population of 24 million, proportionally removing the old, weak, sick and disabled, this talent rate is really not generally high, all of this must be related to a strong education.

Family

What I have reflected on the most in the past two years is family education. We Chinese probably the most important people in the world to education, but unfortunately we have made education one-sided, narrowed, utilitarian, we have almost put all our energy on cultural classes, test scores, academic rankings, we feel that scores are the only indicators to judge the quality of education, and the high test scores are ugly.

Please ask yourself, what parent will put their child's mental health, children's interests and hobbies, and cultivate their children's tenacity and ability to resist blows in the first place? How many parents will reflect on the impact of their homeschooling on their children's lives?

But anyone who has lived abroad for more than a year will easily come to a conclusion:

"Foreigners all have a face that has not been bullied, foreign children are very confident, and people abroad pay attention to etiquette. On the contrary, we all have a bitter and vengeful face Chinese, and Chinese children and adults generally lack self-confidence, especially in public and in the face of foreigners. ”

Compared with the developed countries, the citizens of our five-thousand-year-old civilization generally lack universal etiquette. Why? I thought that the influence of the family was crucial.

There is an old Chinese saying: "The face is born from the heart." A person's inner feelings of joy, happiness, distress, hatred, etc. can be clearly observed from his (her) facial expression, and adults may know how to disguise, but they can pretend for a while, but they can not pretend for a lifetime. Therefore, judging a person's state of mind, looking at the face, looking at the eyes, is accurate.

Almost two-thirds of the time spent in the process of children's growth is spent at home with parents, so family education and parental influence will undoubtedly bring great subtle influence to children. Every move of parenting, every word and deed will leave a huge mark on the child's life.

In our culture, listening to parents, being beaten by parents, and taking it for granted, the independent personality of children will soon be worn away in such an atmosphere.

We like obedient children, we call it "obedience", do not know that behind this "obedience" is the erasure of the child's personality, the child becomes a promise unconsciously, how can it be truly confident when it grows up? We also refuse to tolerate the persistence of children when they disagree with themselves, let alone the stubbornness of children, which is called "wings hardened and disobedience" in many cases. But we all know that behind this is the dictatorship of parenthood and the lack of family democracy, so we should not complain that our Chinese are habitually obedient in the face of international competition.

We always consciously or unconsciously treat our children as if they were "private property" - "You were born of me, you have to listen to me", and we never thought there was anything wrong with this. There is no reflection on the fact that we have never given our children "respect." Think about it, in the period when the outlook on life and values were established, how could two-thirds of the children who were in a state of being suppressed have a relaxed face and a face that had not been bullied? This is the bitter fruit of our family education for ourselves and our descendants, and I am pessimistic about this, even if everyone is aware of it now, there will be no generations that will not really change.

Australian parents are surprisingly patient with their children, and in more than two years, I have only seen a young father whispering to his three-year-old son on the street, and apart from that, all I see is the equal dialogue of loving companionship and kindness.

Some people will say that we Chinese parents will also be patient, and it is not all criticism. But the two are compared, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, we are three hundred and sixty days of criticism, five days of encouragement, while Australian parents are three hundred and sixty days of patience, encouragement, and five days of reprimand. Think about it, which child will frown and which one will smile often.

To this day, I still think that we have not done enough to encourage this matter, or that we do not know how to encourage children at all, we naturally have the ability to criticize and be harsh, without teachers, "you can take a better test if you are more serious" "Today is a good job, but... It's not better" These are all our usual sentence patterns. Encouragement, especially from the heart, "is really a gap in our culture, so it is difficult for us to raise truly confident children, because, in the eyes of parents, we are never the best, and even if you have done your best, Chinese parents will still point out that there is a "better" in the distance. "Australians will always try their best to find even the slightest advantage of the child consciously or unconsciously to light it up, we Chinese on the contrary, we are born with a picky talent, always pick the bones in the egg to find out the shortcomings of the child, but can not see any of the child's advantages." 」

What's more, we always have a "other person's child" in our mouth to make a comparison, and only compare it to the good, and only say "You see that so-and-so is more sensible than you, and the results are much better!" ”

Whether the Chinese are in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or living overseas for a long time, as parents, we are still far behind in encouraging our children, treating patiently, language cold violence and cultivating children's self-confidence, but what is more painful is that the vast majority of us have not yet realized or never admitted.

Social education

We often say that society is a melting pot and a touchstone. The impact of society on minors can never be ignored, and what is even more frightening is that if this society is pathological, even if the family and school education are as usual, the formation of values for minors' outlook on life and values will also have a subtle fatal impact. Social education is very broad, when a child leaves the family at any moment, she (he) faces the education and influence that society gives him or her. Personally, I think that Australian society as a whole is very positive.

1. Encouragement and tolerance

Tu'ao people never hesitate to smile at strangers in public, encourage, help and tolerance, we can always feel the warmth from strangers in an instant with a smile opposite to people's eyes, and the world is no longer cold.

We never have to worry about ourselves getting into difficulties, and if we fall down, there will be no one to help, because almost everyone around you will stop and help you. When we become the focus of attention, no matter what we do, whether it is good or bad, Australians will use a "Good Job" and "Well done" to high-five you and give you encouragement, and no one cannot feel the power of the palm from strangers.

The impact of this society on people is like a seed planted in everyone's heart, and one day, it will sprout and grow, and then blossom and bear fruit and pass it on.

2. Respect and individuality

I often wonder, why are there always many strange people and wonders abroad, and they are endless? When I put down roots in this land, this society gave me the answer, that is: everyone has a unique personality, and respect will let it free. In Australia, you can see a lot of people with disabilities, free, confident lives, working in every corner of society, but you can't see people's different eyes on them. You can do whatever you like without worrying about what others are saying about you. Not everyone can get a high score, get into college, not everyone is willing to take the road of reading, some people can't read, but naturally like to do carpentry, this society will provide you with everything to respect, protect everyone's innate talent, so you don't have to worry about anything, so you can make the most of everyone.

This society makes people understand that everyone is different and teaches people to respect each other, so you don't care about other people's eyes, and your personality will shine.

3. Sports and art

Australia is a country that is extremely enthusiastic about sports and art, but on weekends and after school, Australian parents will take their children to participate in various sports, all kinds of sports in Australia have a huge mass base, and various sound sports systems also support the country's body, so it is not difficult to understand why a country with a population of only 20 million is among the best in all sports.

Australians are also very fanatical about various arts, basically everyone will learn one or two musical instruments or art forms from an early age, if interested, it will last a lifetime, so throughout Australia, you can see a variety of folk art societies emerge in an endless stream, and the standard is extremely high, the general public has a very high average level of art appreciation.

Don't simply think that sports are just exercises for the body, sports have unconsciously experienced children's tenacity, perseverance and ability to resist blows. Don't think that learning music, art is just for one more skill, art, music brings you the mental and physical pleasure in many times can help you through the thorny journey of life.

4. Equality and justice

Hundreds of years of social evolution and democratic human rights have brought equality and justice to Australia, and there are no privileges here, so even if everyone's starting point is not the same, it can provide everyone with as much justice as possible to provide equal room for everyone to rise.

You don't need to cling to the magnates, and that's useless, because the power in the hands of the magnates is also precarious and is constantly and everywhere is stared at by millions of pairs of eyes, and you don't need flattery, that's not necessary. Because here is the belief in the equality of life, the Constitution vows to defend your right as a human being.

So, how much effort you put in, how much you gain. As much as you use your brain, you will earn as much silver as you want. It is said that Blue-collar workers (construction workers, electricians, hydraulic workers, etc.) in Australia have high hourly wages, but you have to understand whether you can afford their coolies? It is said that being a doctor in Australia is scary, and the high income of lawyers is scary, but you must also understand that they have stayed up all night and tested whether you are willing to try?

Therefore, this fair and just society teaches people that "if you want to be noble in front of others, you have to suffer behind your back", so people will not envy and hate, people will not hate the rich, they will not conform to the crowd, this society makes people have a peaceful mentality, contentment and happiness, and sing to wine. ”

School education

This is actually the real education in our Chinese hearts, we ignore "family education" and "social impact", we only focus on "school education".

If you learn more about and deeply understand Australia's primary, secondary and university education, you will find that the students here are not easy at all, and they will only be more stressful than Chinese children and will never be smaller.

"The biggest difference is that Australian education focuses on making enough reserves for children's lives, while Chinese education only focuses on one college entrance examination and ignores the whole life."

Australia's primary schools are basically playing, but it is by no means aimless blind play, it allows children to play happily at the age of play, there is almost no pressure to learn a little thing, more importantly, imperceptibly let children like to go to school, reading and the most basic way to absorb knowledge, that is, reading. One of the things elementary schools will do is for every child to learn public expression and communication, a skill that runs throughout life.

Australia's six years of secondary school, it will spend a full three years for each child to find their own interests, and then either choose to go to technical schools to learn specific skills (such as TAFE, VET and other vocational training institutions), or dig deep into their own interests and enter the university to craft. Take a look at what you learned in the first three years of middle school. Every child has to choose music, art, food processing, film and television production, costume design, carpentry, mechanical processing, art appreciation, sports, mathematics, science and other courses, which are the prescribed courses of the syllabus, and some private schools will have more choices on this basis. It serves two purposes:

Give children all the basic life skills they need for their future lives in three years;

Second, use three years to let each child discover their own interests and hobbies and focus on polishing in subsequent learning.

Therefore, there will never be a child who has gone to college in Australia and will not make "scrambled eggs with tomatoes", and he or she will never wake up his parents in the middle of the night just to ask for a recipe.

Australian universities, graduate students pursue a wide in and strict exit, admission to university is relatively easy (although only 35% of high school students choose to enter the university to continue their studies), but to graduate is really to peel the skin.

If you compare the university exams, China's exams are actually much easier, more only need to memorize hard, and Chinese universities also pass the key points before the exam, but where to use some brains, put some effort, the exam is not a problem.

But Australian universities, postgraduate examinations are not so simple, the vast majority are open-book examinations, test papers are sent to you, give you two weeks to return the test papers, you will find that even if you go thousands of miles, you can not find the answer, the only thing you can do is to fully integrate what you have learned, at this time you will find out how important the reading and written expression cultivated from childhood are.

In short, education in Australia is more focused on infusing children with culture, while China focuses only on knowledge. Australia's education is trying to give children lifelong weapons, and China's education is only responsible for sending children through the college entrance examination. ”

So the result is that our education basically stagnates after entering the university, almost all children are tired of reading, because the high pressure endured by teenagers needs to be released, and at this time, parents will not choose to give up, because they believe in "send you to college, my task is completed", because they think "you are an adult, the future is good or bad depends on yourself", the future children will find, what a cruel realization: you love me, you care for me, you have been holding me to grow up, You don't even want me to try to take a small step on my own, but one day, you suddenly said, you are grown, you should go flying" But have you ever thought: you cut my wings short, but blame me for not flying? ”

And Australia's education has cultivated children's life skills early, protected children's self-confidence, respected children's personality, and made children deeply understand from an early age that "no one can help your life, fate is in your own hands", "everyone has different gifts, no need to compare, living well is happiness", so we can see that every Australian has a face that has not been bullied.

Education is sometimes a very complex subject, sometimes very simple, we must not be kidnapped and seduced by those who advocate the "Western education conspiracy theory", they will be wishful thinking to tell people that "Western education has unconsciously completed the stratification of society".

"I want to tell these people that in fact, social stratification will definitely exist where there are people, because everyone has different starting points, different talents, and different acquired efforts, but as far as education is concerned, subject to the ubiquitous privileges and the uneven resources of public education and the resulting educational corruption, the reality that Chinese education is extremely unfair. The children of poor families have been completely blocked in this system. ”

We ultimately want our children to live a good life, so he (she) is far from enough to take the exam, those things needed in life are the wealth that education should teach children the most, such as self-confidence, respect, survival skills, etiquette, nurturing, communication skills, and these, regrettably, Chinese education has been repeatedly ignored by us, and these are precisely the truth of Australian education.