Does The British School System Prepare Students For Life – Education Essay
In the United Kingdom of Great Britain, being a student can be very pleasant, studying in Britain is just somewhat like playing games because of its unique
culture which is born of its long history. The British educational pattern advocates physical quality as well as mental quality. Schools and universities have been taking trouble over enhancing students’ operation ability, expression ability and creativity so as to adapt the students themselves to their work and life in society. In terms of preparing students for the world of work and life in society, in my opinion, British schools and universities do have done a good job.
On weekends, there are always crowds of students led by their teacher doing various kinds of outdoor activities all around the country. Some of them go to zoos while some go to visit the museums. Even some just play games and do sports on grassplot with mud on clothes and joyance on their face running, jumping and chasing around.
Even if they are having class, they have fun during class without thinking too much. British students don’t have many classes every day, usually 4 classes for middle school students and less for primary students. Schools and universities give the explanation that students should not be encouraged to be bookworm because you can not learn everything especially knowledge related to practical affairs simply by reading books for several hours. British students are prompted to take part in social activities like sports, traveling, volunteer movement and other social activities held by organizations like the Students’ Club which usually links one school with others. Therefore, students are able to make friends with those from other schools, to enlarge their knowledge and to develop their social communicative ability which plays an very important role in students’ future work and life.
Here are more examples. Every now and then, school and universities organizes visits to some certain places for their students to learn in real life. For instance, in Edinburgh there is a belowground museum which is actually a students’ diathesis training center and scientific education center. There, students have the chance to take a “time elevator” to see what the world is like during its different developing periods. Besides, students can get to learn how Great Britain was formed, what kinds of animals and insects live in remote antiquity on a big vaulted screen with vivid audio effects. As a result, students learn geography, biology and history in a more dramatic and intuitionistic way which compared with learning in class enables the student to obtain knowledge much better.
As regards assignments, the British education system pays much attention to the students’ operation ability rather than just matching all the keys. There are not many examinations, but students are required to do a lot of course works and presentations which awfully forge the students’ operation ability, expression ability and creativity. The assignments are mainly about pragmatic affairs which call for personally operation and teamwork and imagination. As there are no standard answers for these kinds of assignments, the students’ creativity is greatly blazed. Often teachers encourage students to develop their own thoughts and inspire the students to discover new methods to solve problems. Compared to the students who simply copy from books which normally provide correct but uniform answers, some students can get higher marks from teachers as long as they expatiate on certain topics appropriately and reasonably, especially in their own way. That is the reason why students are able to adapt themselves to the job right after graduation.
Furthermore, the profundity of the course is wide and the scope is low. British keep the point of view that the competition of the society is so fierce that one is not able to get a fine job unless one is accomplished in a specific field .Most of the English students choose major according to their own interest and make it a lifetime career, only those who concentrate on a specific major will be able to base one self upon the society. As a result, there are various items of majors with a minute classification in Britain. For instance, the MBA major in some colleges will be classified into finance MBA, marketing MBA, international MBA, transportation MBA, raiment MBA and even sports MBA. As we all know, professionals are people who know everything about something. Compared to those who know something about everything, companies will of course take the former considering the contribution they can make for the company.
In addition, schools and universities provide omnifarious things for students to learn. Literally speaking, students have to go through everything that is considered “big event” in one’s life. For example, British government officially adds a course of being a father which includes how to deal with marriage contradiction and children punishment to required courses. Obviously, the aim is to get students ready for their marriage. During the class, students are asked to act a mother or father whose job is to take care of their children concerning all kinds of problems in real life like finance, housework, communication with children, income so on and so forth. According to a report from the British government, teachers are required to teach the students with their own experience for example. Besides, psychological guidance is also provided for the students before they graduate. There is a course which trains the students’ how to face death of oneself or of one’s kins and friends, parents’ separation and divorce. Even sometimes, stuff from funeral house or nurses are invited to give a speech on one’s death. The British Ministry of Education says, “ We by no means to frighten the students, instead, we intend to help the students experience the loss and tragic changes they might encounter in the future in order to develop ability to control emotion and tough endurance towards different situations.
What about the situation in China?
If the British education is called “practical orientation”, then we should call the Chinese education “theoretical orientation”. In China, from the very beginning, students are strictly required to follow every regulation in school or in universities. You will easily find a very typical routine for a Chinese student: he wakes up early in the morning and hastily swallows his breakfast; then begins the four morning classes before a 2-hour period for noon rest; he has to have another 4 classes (afternoon classes); after the day-classes, he with great exhaustibility has his supper and slightly enjoys himself in a very limited time. Following comes the night independent study which lasts from 7 in the evening to 9:30. Finally, he drags himself home, takes a bath which gets rid of all the weariness. However, he has to finish the rest of piles of homework before he can go to bed.
How terrible! What’s more, usually Chinese students keep deathly silent in class to show their concentration and respect to teachers. Meanwhile, students are mainly acquiring knowledge by listening to teachers’ lecture as well as reading textbooks and doing a large amount of homework which is the most unique characteristic of Chinese education. And there are many examinations which classifies students by marks.(usually full marks is 100). Moreover, no matter what subject a Chinese student is interested in, he has to cover all the subjects required including Chinese, mathematics, English, politics, physics, chemistry, geography, biology and P.E. lesson. Because of the fierce competition of entering a good university, Chinese students have to put every effort to get as high marks as they can to gain a favorable ranking in the university entrance examination. In China, we have a idiom goes like “marks decide everything”. Unlike the British education, Chinese education attaches more importance to students’ theoretical ability than practical ability although Chinese students are provided with experimental classes and other supplementary teaching method. Nevertheless, the number of social and operational activities are far from that of Britain’s.
In conclusion, we can see the gap between China and Britain on education. Concerning the current situation and development of the world, we Chinese should learn from Britain whose education contributes a lot to its jot market. Nowadays, the competition is growing more and more fierce with the globalization and incorporation deepening, skilled people are in great need. In fact, people with a range of knowledge as well as an outstanding operational ability are more competitive and likely to make great contribution to the country. Therefore, if China wants to stand upright in the world, the all-important mission is to reform its education and try its best to supply skilled people to its economic development and social progress. I believe in the near future, China will become more and more powerful.