Cultural Studies of Preschool in Asia vs. U.S.

[Anonymous]

I read this in the Sunday Paper a few weeks ago and thought it was very interesting. My current students are very hard workers, and they seem to only want positive feedback--"you did a good job." It seems difficult and complicated to give them critical feedback. I have been experimenting with how to make peer feedback more productive so that students give two "celebratory" comments and two "suggestions". This has been working in the privacy of a diad. I have had some success at having student critique their peers around public speaking--again with the balance/cover of "one positive and one suggestion." I love that the little kids in the article feel free to publicly shout our criticism--not even "feedback". I think this open attitude about accepting and giving criticism demonstrates that the real goal is not to be perfect (already), but to be always striving to improve.

I connect this to the ideas of Carol Dweck who talks about students' (or peoples') views of intelligence as either fixed or able to expand/grow. The growth mindset is a much healthier place to be for students. This also connects (since this class is on East Asia) to the "Tiger Mother" method of child-rearing. What I took from that book was that, though the method was rigid and ultimately unsuccessful with the younger daughter, the Tiger Mom pushed her daughter through eight hours of piano lesson because she believed she could succeed and she refused to give up. Ultimately, after an excruciating eight-hour slug-fest, her daughter played the piece and was proud of the accomplishment. I believe in the saying "if you believe, you can achieve" because so many challenges can be overcome by mind over matter.
edited by abrown on 4/6/2013

[Anonymous]

There are two points that I found interesting in this article. The first being the point on criticism and the other had to do with mentoring and empathy. The description in the opening paragraph about the criticism on whether the child should be labeled the Storytelling King and the ensuing commentary from American teachers points out a problem that I've noticed brewing in this country over the last few decades. This problem is the fear of criticizing or pointing out mistakes in our children. I feel that constructive criticism is good for people. As an educator, I am bothered by practices of social promotion for failing students, and overly protective parents that I believe do more harm than good for their children. I believe our culture has become frightened of hurting our children's feelings rather than have them learn from their mistakes. I have seen evidence of this in the classroom and in other areas like sports. I was reminded of T-ball baseball rules of no outs and having all of the children taking turns batting. These are just small examples but the paragraph with the quote of American teachers saying that they would be brought to tears if they received the same criticism seemed hyperbolic.

I did enjoy reading about the 5 year old child mentoring the 2 year old boy in how to use the urinal. I believe that schools should adopt a big brother/big sister mentoring system. In all of the schools that I work at, I have seen that students do not know each other. This is dismaying, not only does this erode any sense of community or unity, but this separation contributes to bad feelings, disrespect for people and property and isolation.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, saw this also, but thought it was funny how we as educators coddle American kids, that we paint a false picture of how well they are doing when they really are tanking their classes. Frankly no one has ever told them that their "poop" doesn't stink. I don;t have a problem with schools allowing for some constructive criticisms and opportunities for older kids to teach younger ones. I am not saying that we should adopt their ideals (as the article states), just saying that there might be some validity to these pracices. Looking at how kids are being taught, they need a little thickening of their skin, and a little less coddling, but that's just my two cents (sorry).

[Anonymous]

I would be happy if all children in the United States had equal access to preschool because we know that it will benefit them. I think the idea of criticism at an early age is smart thinking, but I also believe it would be important to mirror appropriate criticism and helping the individual improve versus tearing them down.

[Anonymous]

As the mother of a child who is about to enter preschool this fall, I found this article fascinating! My husband and I have had various conversations about what school was best for our child. While researching a few in our community we found that all of them focused on a play based curriculum like the article mentioned, something I am completely ok with. I think it is very important to allow children that young to learn through play, but it does make me nervous to learn that children in other countries are learning more complex material in preschool. I completely agree with the idea that a one size fits all preschool is not viable in our country, despite the fact that we continue this practice in K-12. It was very interesting to learn that there is such a debate over preschool education around the world, this has definitely opened my eyes.

[Anonymous]

In reading the articles for the Korea part of the seminar, I find it intersting that approaches to education vary from country to country, with yet, the Confucian ideal. I am interested in knowing where these educational approaches will lead. It would be wise to take heed as to the difference between there and here. We are talking about a system where Mandarin is a MUST language and if you can't read Japanese, you can't vote. Do we want democracy or an educated population? Ask Cubans about their high literacy rate and current economic situation.

Yes, "Tiger Mom" by professor Amy Chua. Professor Chua was raised in the U.S. by Chinese American educated parents, with yet the Asian ideals. It was interesting reading about her own trial and tribulations raising children. I doubt she herself would agree with her daughters forging her signature to attend a school of one of her daughter's choosing without her knowledge (as she did with her parents). The more things try to change the more they remain the same.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I came across this short article about the purpose of preschool in China, Japan, and the future of U.S. preschools (Obama has called for better preschools).


It reminded me of some of the things the professor discussed in class about culture, differences in culture approach based on political structures, and a little bit about age-based stratified roles. So i decided to post the link:


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe--tobin-preschool-20130224,0,3134355.story

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