"Well, there's a dilemma tied to these questions. In elementary school
in China, the teachers are subject specialists. The math teachers teach
math, the reading and writing teachers teach reading and writing, the
English teachers teach English, the drawing teachers teach drawing. You
get the idea. They are specialists, not just in the subject, but in how to teach
their subject. And, unlike their American counterparts, they are
provided hundreds of hours to develop successful lessons. Hundreds. It
turns out the Chinese elementary school teachers teach only three to
four classes a day. The rest of the day they collaborate with each
other, correct papers, and observe and critique each others' teaching.
I've spent over 20 years observing and consulting in American and Chinese schools, and this is the most startling difference between the two systems (Pine 2012).
In contrast to the reality of the Chinese teaching profession,
American elementary school teachers teach all subjects -- reading,
writing, math, social studies, health, science, art (if there is any)
and often P.E. There is no way they can specialize in one subject; they
are generalists.
The new core curriculum standards, especially in math, require profound professional development
to provide teachers with the necessary mathematical understandings to
help students comprehend concepts well. [Wu article] However, U.S.
teacher schedules and district structures, not to mention budgets, do
not allow for such in-depth professional development."
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