Individualism vs. Collectivism


In a world where every country aspires to be the at the top in their school system, we see the best and the worst immerge. In America, the dream of the politician is to have test scores that rival that of China, and yet, we never come close. What is it we are missing? In the article "The Myth of Chinese Super Schools" the author, Diane Ravitch, points out that we are missing a billion-dollar fraud industry, pushing children to attend school from 6:30am till 10:30pm, and only allowing those who pass the exams to become a part of the ruling class. This is how we need to change our country to become like the great testing nation of China.

Of course, becoming like China will be no easy feat, we need to make sure to squash individualism and creativity, but that seems like a fair sacrifice to become the best testing nation. Don't worry, we will surely make it up in Nobel Peace prizes and industrial inventions just like China has in the last 50 years. Oh, right, they haven't accomplished those things or much of anything else of great significance. Who can we look to that has done all that? Oh ya, our precious United States of America.

As you can tell, I am not thrilled about testing in our schools. I have just conducted test after test on 1st and 2nd graders and have seen the emotional and mental toll that it takes on them. The time that we spend on testing is disgusting and only furthers this government-induced illusion of us needing to become like the great Communistic Party of China. We are American and we need to drop this dribble and focus on what makes us great, individualism and creativity.

Comments

  1. M.HumanMay 26, 2022 at 3:26 AM

    I see you feel strongly about testing. I also found that article very interesting on the Myth of Chinese Super Schools and agree with you on this fallacy of teaching to test. However, it is important to note that collectivism and individualism has unique strengths.

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  2. Fernando RojasMay 26, 2022 at 11:08 PM

    Fracaso en el futuro pude ver tener estudiantes sin creatividad. Hemos aprendido en las lecciones de Tesol muchas cosas que hacen únicos a nuestros estudiantes. Colectivismo, individualismo, monocrónico, policrónico, etc. Entonces, ¿es correcto evaluar a estudiantes de treinta y tantos países con las mismas métricas? Todos responderán de acuerdo a su entorno. ¿Qué piensas?

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