The Differences between the College Education in America and in China

I have been America for two years, and as time goes by, I find that the American college education is different to the Chinese college education in several ways. First of all, the tests that students need to take to get into colleges are different. In America, students have two kinds of this test, which are ACT and SAT. Students can choose either test to take and the total times of taking the test are not restricted. Nonetheless, SAT and ACT are not required by all colleges. In general, colleges with higher ranking more likely to require students to take ACT or SAT. On the contrary, in China, there is only one test for students who wants go to colleges to take, and it is called “GAOKAO”. All of colleges in China require students to take GAOKAO, and students can take only once GAOKAO for a academic year. It is possible for students to take it again, but it means they have to skip one year. Because most of Chinese students do not want to go to colleges one year late, they have huge pressure from preparing GAOKAO. Moreover, the college lives in these two counties are also distinct. The GPA for American college students is very important because it will affect their applications of graduate school and applications of jobs in the future. Meanwhile, the materials that students learn in colleges are much harder than what they learned in high schools, so most of American students experience huge pressure from studying in college. However, Chinese students have exactly opposite mode of college life. After experiencing the cruel GOAKAO, Chines students release all of their pressure. Although the materials that Chinese students learn in college are not easy at all, the GPA for them is much less important than it for American students. In other words, once Chinese students get into college, the graduation and GPA are not serious problems for them. Therefore, Chinese students have much less pressure in college, and they actually enjoy their college lives so much. In conclusion, Chinese college students have completely different experiences of college education comparing to American college students do.


American high school class.





David Shankbone. A high-school senior (twelfth grade) classroom in Calhan, Colorado. Photo. Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 29 Feb 2008. Web. 11 Nov 2015.






Chinese high school students who are preparing for GAOKAO.





Alvin Ybanez. Italy, France Now Accept GAOKAO Score. Photo. Yibada. Yibada. 26 Jun 2015. Web. 11 Nov 2015.






American college students who are studying in the library.





Pinar. The Most Beautiful Library in the World. Photo. Mymodernmet. Mymodernmet. 31 July 2012. Web. 11 Nov 2015.






Chinese college students' fun life in dorm room.





Brian Ashcraft. Every Dorm Room Should Come With an Inflatable Pool. Photo. Kotaku. Kotaku. 7 Aug 2014. Web. 11 Nov 2015.






Chinese college students' daily life.





Author unknow. Chinese Dorm Shopping Session? Photo. Buybuychina. Buybuychina. Date of posting unknow. Web. 11 Nov 2015.

The Differences Between U.S And Chinese College Education System

It is the third month that I study in an American university. I noticed that there are some significant differences between Chinese college education system and U.S. college education system. First of all, it is obvious that the structure of class in each of these two education systems is different. In a Chinese university, school will divide all students in the same major into several classes. Each class has an appropriate number of students. In the following one or two semesters, the students in a same class will share a same schedule just like in high school. This makes students stick together more easily and strengthens the sense of teamwork. However, In American university, students are allowed to design their own schedule to fit their paces and habits, which implies that students usually study on their own. In addition, the value of participation in different education system is also divergent. For Chinese college students, participation is entirely trivial for their grades. This might relate to teachers because they don’t grade on class participation. On the contract, most of American instructors highly value the participation and respond of students. They think participation is a good way to reveal how much student can understand and master in class. Furthermore, a university in America usually pays more efforts to improve the quality of students’ school life, but a Chinese university doesn’t. In conclusion, each education system has its own advantage that worth to be learned for another.





citation: Geng, RONGFEI. "MFA Thesis: An Ideal University Life." photograph. designed by RONGFEIGENG. designed by RongFei Geng, Jun 15, 2013. Nov 13, 2015.




citation: Emily Goldberg. "lecture filled with MACBOOKS" photograph. Alive campus. designed by Emily Gold berg, July 4, 2014. Nov 13, 2015.

Differences and Similarities between Chinese and the U.S. food and beverage

By Alicia

I've been studying in the U.S. for over two months, during when I found several differences and similarities towards U.S. and Chinese food and beverage. For breakfast, both Chinese and Americans have more liquid diet for breakfast. Chinese prefer boiled porridge with pickled vegetables while Americans prefer oatmeal with refrigerated milk. Americans also like to eat bagels and waffles for breakfast.

 

(Porridge with pickled vegetables)

 
(Oatmeal with refrigerated milk)

 
(Bagels with oatmeal)

 
(Waffles)

For lunch, Chinese eat rice or noddle with fired dishes and soup.


 
 
 

Americans tend to eat more hamburgers and pizzas with fruit juice or coffee since they can be made quickly.


Both Chinese and Americans have desserts at the end of formal dinners.


 
 

Chinese regard dinner as the most important meal in the day. They always have fired dishes, which instead of put food in boiled oil, use little oil to add flavor and make water evaporate faster. Some soup need to be boiled with meat and bones to make vegetables tastes better, thus people start preparing for soup from noon. Around 30 minutes after dinner, Chinese will have some tea.


 

Most Americans, especially girls, only have salad for dinner to keep in good health. Besides they will also have some juices.

There are great differences and some similarities between Chinese and the U.S. food and beverage for each meal. Food that Chinese and Americans choose to eat varies from vegetables to meat, and from breakfast to dinner.

Citation: all personal photograph

The Difference of Sex Education

The huge differences of sex education between China and America represent two attitudes toward it. Students in America need to take classes about human sexuality in a normal middle school or senior high school. Those classes will teach students the physiological differences between male and female. They even have consultants teach students to maintain healthy relationships. However, Chinese school rarely has specific sex education class in China. In general, teachers only mention it in psychology class. There is no constructive education system about human sexuality for students to learn. In an American family, parents will separately teach kids how to protect themselves when they sexually active. At the age of 11, parents will secretly put a condom in children's wallet in case something happens. But in Chinese families, sex education is not on the topic list of conversations. Parents who avoid their kids to contact with these knowledges cause children's blind spots of healthy relationship or sex. The typical American society has many health centers and organization for citizens to learn how to prevent disease caused from unhealthy sex like AIDS. In this relative open country, people don't need to talk about it secretly. On the contrast, education about human sexuality is a taboo word in China, a relative conservative county. Some people still have prejudices about this topic. America and China do have significant differences about education of human sexuality.















Citation: Unknown artist. The World of Chinese. Photograph. 20 Aug, 2013 Web. 12 Nov, 2016.

Unknown artist. Stand Up For America. Photograph. 18 June, 2009 Web. 12 Nov, 2016.

Unknown artist. Linked In. Photograph. 12 Jun 2008. 12 Nov, 2016.


Caption: The differences of sex education between China and America

Differences between Chinese education system and American education system

There are many differences between Chinese education system and American education system. The first main difference is the focus point. Chinese education focus on the current grades of students. Teachers make students study only for exams, and they only care about how the students perform in exams. However, American education focus on the future. Teachers teach students skills that can be used in the future. Also, they care about the success after students graduate from school. The second main difference is the grade system. Chinese students’ grades will only depend on the scores of the final exam. Although the students have good performances during classes, they will get low grades if they fail on the final exam. Moreover, college entrance examination is the most important exam in China. This exam will change the whole life for most of the students. In other words, Chinese students spend twelve years preparing for this exam, but there is only one chance to get into a famous university and change their lives. Whereas American students’ grade will show as GPA. Therefore if they have a low scores in the final grades, it will not totally destroy the grades in this subject if they have a good performances during other exams and classes. Furthermore, students can attend SAT several times and choose the best scores. This system can make students show the best parts of themselves. The third main difference is the relations between students and teachers. In China, teachers have great power. They can punish students whatever they like, and most of Chinese students have been abused and hit by their teachers. Some students even think of teachers as enemies. On the contrary, American teachers are like friends to students. They chat with students after class, and always smile to students. In conclusion, these are the difference between Chinese education system and American education system.

Citation: Jiangshangyuzhe. “Horrible Chinese GaoKao----save our children” Photograph . SIna Blog June, 01, 2011

Differences and Similarities between Chinese and the U.S. College Education System

There are several differences and similarities between Chinese and the U.S. college education system. Firstly, the class atmosphere is different. In China, students do not usually interact with the professors. When students have a question, they tend not to ask in the class because if the question is not critical, they might be teased by others or be seen as disrespectful toward the professors. In contrast, U.S. college class has more discussions and more interactions. It is welcomed to ask questions and bring out opposite ideas. Secondly, the focus of education is different. In China, the syllabus emphasizes on solid and deep knowledge, but is lack of practice. However, in the U.S. college, development on creativity and personality is very important. Many works such as making posters and delivering speeches make students versatile. Also, there are similarities between those two countries education systems. For example, college student in both country have access to a variety of information. The school libraries provide free Internet and computers for students to use; students can borrow books from library for free; if they have a question, faculties and staffs are there to help. In conclusion, Chinese college education system has both difference and similarity compare to the U.S..

Citation:

“China universities’ must shun Western Values.” Photography. Greatlane. great lane.com, 30 January 2015. Web. 11 November 2015.

“We Asked, You Respond: Your Favorite College Class.” Photography. University of Virginia. the Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia, 7 October 2014. Web. 11 November 2009.

Caption: Those two images are college class in Chinese and the U.S.

Movies between China and U.S.

By Eleanor

Through the hundreds of movies that I watched, I find there are many differences between Chinese films and American films. The first distinction is about the story. Chinese love telling stories which took place in the past that most people have lived through. In this way, it is easy to arouse people's emotions and help the audiences to get into the characters. Stories about the Anti-Japanese War can be considered as good examples. On the contrary, Americans like looking forward to the future. Some characters in the movies will walk into the illusory spaces and explore after that. The other may create some advanced technologies that are unavailable today so that people can live in better lives in the future. I remembered how popular of the movie ”Inception" few years ago since people had never seen this topic before. People felt excited and they loved it. The second difference is the performers. Chinese directors would like to use famous stars as main roles. Because they can not only act proficiently but also guarantee the box office which represents the success of one director. On the other hand, American directors prefer young actors and actresses in order to give them opportunities. Besides, they are more focus on the character itself that means who is more fit the role as the script it described. The last divergent aspect is the spirits. In Chinese movie, the idea of individualistic heroism is very clear. It is very common to see one person who is especially stand out to rescue the hostage or save the country at the end of the movie. However, the idea of Americanism can be found in most American films. They see everyone's strength collectively as an indestructible unite to fight against the enemies. The movies like "The Avengers" and "The Expendables" express the idea in direct ways. To sum up, there are many differences between Chinese films and American films.

Images: The poster of the movie "Inception" . The scene of the unstopping top is memorable.

Citation: Luca De Benedetti. "Inception: the theory of the ring". Photography. Felix Online. Philippa Skett, Philip Kent, Janathan Kim. 18 Jan.2013. Web. 12 Nov.

Image: "The Avengers", which gather all the heroes in one movie, won fans heart successfully.

Citation: Voorhees100. "The Avengers Vs. The Justice League". Photograph. Comic Vine. Feb.2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2015