I Tried to Change the Education System - Here's How It Went - Prof. Jiang Xueqin

Summary

In this story, the speaker reflects on their experience as an English major at Yale and their role in founding an international program at a school in Shenzhen, China, in 2008. They describe how they transformed the school's curriculum, emphasizing seminars, reading, and practical activities like running a coffeehouse and creating a daily newspaper. Despite the program's success, the speaker was ultimately fired and ostracized due to their insistence on fairness and their challenge to the traditional, corrupt system of education. The narrative delves into the motivations of students, parents, teachers, and administrators, showing how the system is rigged and focused on status and compliance over genuine learning.

Takeaways

• 😀 In 2008, the speaker was hired to help establish an international program at Shinzhen Middle School in China to send students abroad for college, as the interest in studying abroad was low at the time.
• 😀 The traditional education system in China was heavily focused on memorization, large classrooms, and limited interaction, which was not conducive to preparing students for international education.
• 😀 The speaker implemented several changes, including introducing seminars where students could engage in discussions, replacing SAT word memorization with reading books, and establishing a 5,000-book English library to foster a love for reading.
• 😀 To improve extracurricular activities, the speaker set up a Coffee House business where students ran the operations, learning about entrepreneurship, collaboration, and finance.
• 😀 The speaker also introduced a daily school newspaper, which was the first of its kind in China, allowing students to report, write, and deliver articles, teaching them about responsibility and teamwork.
• 😀 The speaker's approach was rooted in three principles: transparency, innovation, and openness, with a focus on evolving the curriculum and allowing students to learn from mistakes.
• 😀 Despite the success of the program, including sending students to top universities like Yale, the speaker was fired and rejected by the educational system, as the changes disrupted the established order.
• 😀 The speaker's insistence on fairness and challenging the status quo angered powerful stakeholders, as they preferred to maintain control over the game, especially in the context of China's hierarchical society.
• 😀 The game theory approach to understanding educational stakeholders shows that motivations often prioritize the least effort for the best results, with students, parents, and teachers seeking to minimize work while maximizing benefits.
• 😀 The speaker's original understanding of the motivations of stakeholders—such as students wanting to be the best, parents seeking status, and teachers wanting job security—was flawed, as these players often prioritize convenience and personal gain over true education.
• 😀 The commercial nature of education today, both in China and abroad, highlights that institutions, especially colleges in the U.S., are increasingly motivated by financial gain, often prioritizing paying students over actual academic achievement or intellectual curiosity.

Q & A

Why was the speaker hired in 2008 to go to Shenzhen, China?

The speaker was hired in 2008 to help build an international program at Shin Middle School in Shenzhen, China, with the goal of sending students abroad to study.

What were the main problems the speaker identified in the original approach to studying abroad?

The main problems included students only taking regular Chinese classes with no real communication, memorizing SAT word lists instead of reading or writing, and all students doing Model United Nations without differentiation.

How did the speaker change the curriculum and teaching methods?

The speaker introduced a seminar system where students discussed books in small groups, established a 5,000-book English library for students, and encouraged reading. The focus shifted from SAT memorization to actual learning and engagement.

What were the two new activities introduced at the school, and how did they benefit the students?

The two new activities were a coffee house, where students ran a business and learned collaboration, finance, and entrepreneurship, and a daily newspaper, where students collected information, wrote articles, and worked on editorial tasks, teaching them responsibility and teamwork.

What were the three major principles the speaker emphasized for the new system?

The three major principles were transparency, innovation, and openness. The speaker emphasized the importance of evolving the curriculum over time, learning from mistakes, and creating a culture of reflection and resilience.

How did the speaker's program impact the students who participated?

The students who participated in the program excelled in their studies, gained admissions to top universities like Yale and Wharton, and the program became highly regarded in South China for its success in college admissions.

Why did the speaker get fired despite the success of the program?

The speaker was fired because they insisted on fairness and challenged the traditional power dynamics. The powerful stakeholders—parents, teachers, and administrators—did not like the transparency and fairness, which led to the speaker being labeled as a 'dictator' and ultimately being let go.

What is game theory, and how does it apply to the situation described in the transcript?

Game theory is a concept where different players in a system have their own motivations and strategies. In this context, the speaker used game theory to analyze the motivations of the students, parents, teachers, administrators, government, and colleges, all of whom were part of the educational system.

What did the speaker initially believe were the motivations of the different players in the educational system?

The speaker initially believed that students wanted to learn and be successful, parents wanted independent and successful children, teachers wanted to teach well, and administrators just wanted good results. The government wanted innovation, and colleges wanted the best potential students.

What did the speaker discover about the true motivations of the different players involved in the system?

The speaker realized that the true motivations of most players were to achieve the best results with the least amount of effort. Students wanted easy routes to success, parents prioritized 'face' and status, teachers just wanted to get by, administrators cared more about powerful parents, and the government and colleges were more concerned with maintaining the status quo and financial interests.