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Continue reading →: Reproducing Good Schools?
I was interviewed yesterday by a reporter from Deutsche Welle asking me about a recent study of stress and depression of Chinese elementary school students. One of the questions was why. “Two reasons, “ I said, “first there is intense competition among students. In China, what is considered good or…
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Continue reading →: The Medium is the Message: Educating Generation M
Today’s young people (8 to 18 year olds) spend on average 7 hours and 38 minutes a day with media: watching TV (TV, videos, DVDs, pre-recorded shows), playing video games, listening to music, talking on the phone, and chatting with friends online, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation report Generation-M2:…
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Continue reading →: Sesame vs. Watermelon: What is Missing in the National Standard Debate
Sesame vs. Watermelon: What is Missing in the National Standard Debate “When you picked up a sesame seed, you have lost the watermelon.” This simple Chinese saying can serve as a good reminder for advocates of national standards, who are lured by the potential benefits of common curriculum standards may…
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Continue reading →: Kappan Publishes my interview with Joan Richardson
The December issue of Kappan publishes an interview of me with its editor Joan Richardson. And thanks to PDK, the interview is freely available online at: http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v91/docs/k0912ri1.pdf
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Continue reading →: Global Competitiveness Reinterpreted: Homogenization vs. Diversification
Last week, I attended the National Conference of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in Birmingham England. This year, the conference theme is globalization. Thomas Friedman (author of The World Is Flat), Robert Compton (producer of Two Million Minutes), and myself were asked to address the topic in separate plenary…
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Continue reading →: Change without Difference: China’s Struggle with Standardized Testing
China’s Peking University (or Beida) has been under fire for trying to answer the nation’s call for more innovative and creative talents. In an attempt to attract more “unusual or extraordinary students” who may not do well on standardized testing, in this case, China’s infamous Gaokao (College Entrance Exam), Beida,…
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Continue reading →: Over the Top: Winning Strategies for the Race to the Top Fund
Education Week just published a revised version of this post, you can read it on its website: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/12/16/15zhao_ep.h29.html
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Continue reading →: News and Interviews about my Book: Catching Up or Leading the Way
More about the book: 1-10-2010: Lansing State Journal Op Ed: Education “Race” is Counterproductive. 12-17-2009: Panel Discussion about Education in the US on China Radio International, Beijing: 2009-12-17 Education in the US 12-1-2009 The Daily Riff reviews the book in its “Favorite Books” section: http://www.thedailyriff.com/2009/12/high-scores-but-low-ability-the-chinese-curse.php 12-4-2009: Kappan‘s editor Joan Richardson…
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Continue reading →: Lowering Standards in the US and “Hidden Rules” in China: Campbell’s Law and The Causes Education Corruption
On October 28, the New York Times reported a federal study that finds that nearly a third of the states in the U.S. lowered their academic standards in recent years, a phenomenon called “Race to the Bottom” by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. A day later, the same paper reports…
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Continue reading →: U.S. Scientist and Engineer Supply as Strong as Ever: A New Study Finds
There is widespread fear that US is not preparing enough talents in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) while its global competitors, such as China and India, are producing a lot more engineers and scientists. And this fear has been used to fuel investment in STEM education in the United…












