American high school students sleep only 4 hours a day and drink 4 cans of coffee

Edward Humes, an American journalist, has won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. He spent a school year squatting in a public high school. After a year of experience, he wrote a book called "School of Dreams". The first chapter uses the long title: "4 is the Magic number: 4 hours of Sleep, 4 cups of lattes, 4.0".

The book describes the portraits of the high school students: in order to get the highest GPA of 4.0, they only sleep four hours a day and drink four large cans of lattes so they can stay up all night.

At a similar American high school, the experience of Tian Tian, a Chinese girl, is the same.

The competition begins on the first day of school.

Tian Tian entered Scarsdale Middle School, the first day of school, class exam! It turns out that the school will carry out hierarchical teaching of mathematics, science, second foreign language and other subjects. There are five grades of classes in mathematics alone, and every subject in Tian Tian, which has outstanding achievements since childhood, has been admitted to the highest level. Like many American high schools, Scarsdale requires students to take math, English, science (including biology, chemistry, physics), history, and so on. Although school ends at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, students spend a lot of time finishing their homework.

On one occasion, it took Tian Tian three days to complete a small paper with 17 pages. The reason is that the history teacher showed three films about Slavery in class and arranged a paper accordingly: "how do these three films reflect the history of slavery in the United States?"

What is the standard for middle school students to write papers? Once a student wrote a lot of knowledge about an event, which was severely criticized by the teacher. "I don't have my own point of view, it's just a pile of materials!"

The textbook has more than 100 jin.

It has been estimated that American high school students carry 112 pounds of textbooks, or about 104 jin, a year. Sometimes teachers don't even attend classes and let students hang out in the library to check materials and write papers. "there is no right or wrong answer, but you have to be insightful and logical!" Tian Tian repeats the teacher's mantra. American education emphasizes critical thinking from an early age, and students are under great pressure. Of course, that doesn't mean they don't have to learn by rote. In addition to the required courses, high school students in the United States also have to cope with a large number of elective courses.

In Tian Tian high school, almost 90% of parents hire tutors for their children. Unlike Chinese students who have to deal with mid-term and final exams, the United States has more frequent exams, and each test score is related to the "future".

This is also mixed with the American "college entrance examination baton" effect.

When the students are neck and neck in their grades, extracurricular activities become another battlefield of competition. A cruel reality is that there has always been a "specialty" column on American college application forms, and students not only need to list their strengths, but also have a grade prompt of "winning region: state, National, World" under the form. If it is not a remarkable achievement, not a specialty, a specialty must be "different". It is almost impossible for students with blank specialties to be admitted to famous schools. According to Global magazine

You can't imagine how hard it is for American middle school students.

American students are not as easy as they thought. From preschool to college, they have to take 112 exams.

Many

American students take an average of 112 necessary standardized tests from preschool to grade 12. In countries that outperform the United States in international exams, equivalent students only need about three exams.

Tired

Students in the United States spend 25 hours a year on exams (excluding exams at the school level).

4.0 4 cans of coffee in 4 hours

In order to get the highest GPA of 4.0, they only slept four hours a day and poured down four large cans of lattes in order to make it through the night.

Inspiration for Chinese Children

Is American education "beautiful"? That's a misreading! What is the middle school like in the United States? Maybe we really have too many misunderstandings. Recently, a group of early Chinese immigrant families began to attack the beautiful high school picture built by short-term visitors and exchange students online, denouncing it as "irresponsible and grandstanding".

When studying abroad is getting younger and younger, it may be necessary for us to know a real American high school life. Edward Humes, an American journalist, has won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Starting in the fall of 2010, he spent a school year squatting at Whitney High School, a public high school in California. He attends lectures, chats with students, interviews students and teachers, teaches a paper writing course at the school, and even takes exams in person. This book describes the portraits of Whitney High School students. Some people say that Whitney High School does not represent all American high schools, and Whitney's high school students do not represent all American high school students.

However, the mother of Chinese girl Tian Tian has always stressed: "up to now, many people are still misreading American high school life and American middle school students." As a matter of fact, there are a large number of students in the United States who work hard, achieve excellent grades and pursue excellence.

Chinese excellence in scores, the United States excellence in ability, but all require excellence!

The first comprehensive survey of the country's 66 largest school districts found that most public schools require students to take too many standardized tests. Over the past decade, American students have taken an average of 112 standardized exams from preschool to grade 12, most of which are superfluous, with students spending 20 to 25 hours a year on exams, according to the survey.

To improve the situation, US President Barack Obama announced on the social networking site Facebook that the government will begin to reduce the time spent on exams in public schools and limit it to 2% of the total class hours, according to US media reports.

Take too many exams.

Preschool children take an average of 4.1 exams

In a video released by the White House, Obama said, "moderate exams can help us measure our children's progress in school and help them learn." However, "I have also heard my parents express concern about too many exams. Teachers bear a lot of teaching pressure to cope with exams, which deprives them of the joy of education and learning." In the 10-page plan, the White House proposed a series of measures to help educators end unnecessary appraisers and limit exam time to 2% of the total class hours.

Normally, American students take an average of 112 necessary standardized tests from preschool to 12th grade. By contrast, countries that outperform the United States in international exams need only three exams when they are students. The new survey found that the heaviest test burdens in the United States are eighth graders, who spend an average of 25.3 hours on exams. This model even affects preschool children, who take an average of 4.1 standardized tests.

The survey also found that students' exams seem to be concentrated in February and May, many of which are redundant and require students to take final exams, preparatory exams and final exams for the same course. In 40% of the school districts surveyed, test results tend to wait until the next school year, which is of no use to teachers who want to use the results to help adjust their teaching work.

The study analyzed exams in 66 school districts in the 2014-2015 school year, excluding the number of quizzes given by teachers and the time students spent preparing for the exam. Research shows that students' classes are crammed with test papers, including test instructions from Congress, the Ministry of Education, state and local governments.

Get a reasonable result in the exam

The "No Child left behind" Act is one-size-fits-all

"everyone has a responsibility." Michael Cassili, executive director of the Great City School Council, which is in charge of the survey, said, "this is the demand, supervision and encouragement of multiple roles, which leads to too many exams for different reasons."

In fact, the traditional American concept of education has always advocated diversified and localized courses and teaching, emphasizing the free growth of individual students and rejecting the one-size-fits-all training model. However, this tradition was subverted by the No Child left behind Act of 2001. The Act takes standardized assessment mechanisms and corresponding accountability as a core content and basic principle, requiring schools to make all students meet state academic standards within a specified period of time. To narrow the performance gap between students of different races, nationalities, genders, and language habits.

According to the bill, all students in grades 3 to 8 must take math and reading tests once a year, and high school students only need to do so once a year. State capitals that fail to meet the standards will face a series of consequences. So in order to cope with the exam, state and district schools have to add more exams so that students can keep up.

The relevant policies of the government further escalate the trend. In order to win government funding in fierce competition or in a project, or to gain immunity in "No Child left behind", state schools have to include student scores as part of the evaluation of teachers. Although federal law only requires exams for math and reading for some grades, the state government sets up testing programs in social studies, science, language, and so on, in order to evaluate teachers.

Get upset in the exam

Several states in the United States have reduced the number of exams one after another.

Jeffrey, a second-grade teacher at a school, is required to take reading tests three times a year, even though his students are not on the standardized test required by federal law. Since the exam needed to be conducted one by one, each taking 90 minutes, it took Jeffery three weeks to test all the students in the class. "it takes a lot of time," he said. "I may have to spend 60 hours doing this kind of test assessment instead of teaching children how to read."

As a matter of fact, the "No Child left behind" Act has been criticized by many people since it was introduced, and there have been constant criticisms of this evaluation system from teachers, students and parents. Miami-Dade County Public School even reduced the initial 300 final exams to 10 earlier this year, and all primary school students are no longer required to take final exams. Many other schools are taking similar measures. Three weeks ago, California cancelled its high school graduation exam, joining Minnesota, Mississippi, Alaska and Rhode Island. Virginia has also reduced the number of its state exams.

Today, lawmakers in the U.S. Congress are fiercely debating how to change "No Child left behind." And even proponents of standardized tests argue that the current tests are overloaded. Katie, president of the Education Trust, said, "even those of us who support the annual assessment of exams do not mean that we support such crazy exams."

Comprehensive "Global Times"legal Evening News"

Source: Chongqing Morning Post