US does less with more in numbers game
The numbers just aren't adding up for maths and science education in the United States. Despite increased funding for education over the past two decades, US school students lag behind their counterparts across the Pacific in both maths and science performance, according to an Asia Society study.
Some of the answers to higher achievement, the report suggests, may lie with the mainland, which operates the world's biggest education system with a fraction of US resources.
'Although [the mainland] still faces enormous challenges in extending education to under-served populations in rural areas, maths and science education in its cities ... is of high quality and has lessons for the US,' the study said.
The report, Maths and Science Education in a Global Age, says the US and mainland systems mirror each other in key ways, from the degree of focus on core curriculum to the length of the academic year and the application of national standards.
On the mainland, authorities set national standards for maths and science instruction and 'textbooks, materials, teacher preparation, and professional development are all clearly aligned to these standards'.
The curriculum demands an understanding of core concepts in the mandatory subjects of biology, chemistry, physics, algebra and geometry. High proportions of maths and science teachers have specialist degrees, the process is exam-driven and the mainland school year is a month longer at the secondary level than in the US.
'In addition, Chinese schools do not expect a single elementary school teacher to teach all subjects; specialist science teachers are employed as early as third grade,' the report said.
In the US, curricula and standards can vary from school district to school district, and students are allowed to choose their level of learning.
'The United States has voluntary standards in both science and mathematics. Even though these standards have been prepared by prestigious bodies, there is a great deal of variation in the rigour and quality among these state standards,' the report said.
Stanford University mathematics professor James Milgram says the problems start with maths education in the primary grades.
'Not only is the content that is taught fractured and incoherent, but the teachers generally have only the most fragile understanding of even the elementary mathematical topics they are expected to teach,' Professor Milgram said.
'As a result, students usually do not have the math background to handle the science they are expected to learn.
'Today, students ... are not expected to know any of the more advanced material to any depth, and the fundamental, foundational material in algebra and geometry is hardly even taught.'
Professor Wei Yu, director of the Research Centre for Learning Science, a key laboratory under the Ministry of Education, said the two countries did have some complementary strengths and weaknesses, but it was a very complex process to compare the two systems.
'First you need to identify the goal of education - it's not only to have knowledge or achievement,' Professor Wei said. 'We should think about whole human development.'
She said standardised tests should not be the only basis for assessment and it was important for children to be exposed to hands-on, inquiry-based learning.
'In China, students work harder with more discipline and within a rigid system,' Professor Wei said.
