The cram school versus liberal education a tacit ideological - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The cram school versus liberal education — a tacit ideological struggle Jonathan Benney LOEWE Research Focus Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main benney@uni-frankfurt.de

Overview • In lieu of substantial long-term fieldwork, this presentation aims to propose a basic argument: – that clashes (nominally, “Western” versus “Chinese” or “Eastern”) in educational ideologies and practices need consciously to be managed in multicultural educational environments – particularly with reference to “cram schools” (ie, tutoring colleges, one-on-one tutoring, lecture services, etc.) • This presentation draws particularly from Australia and, less so, from Hong Kong, although the existing literature focuses more on mainland China and on Japan and Korea

The ideological clash • Jin Li (2012) argues for: – “Eastern” [“CHC”] education as self -cultivation, as a symbol of status, as a means of forming relationships with authority figures, as a concrete manifestation of accepted “virtues”, as an exercise in transcendental “effort” and “diligence” • in the terms of the PRC, an exercise in maximising one’s suzhi (Kipnis, 2011) – “Western” education as “affectively neutral”, a tool for self-expression and creativity, as a means of engaging more with the world and less with the self • There are many problems with Li’s analysis, but it is a useful starting point.

The anecdotal approach • Kipnis: in an elite private school in Australia’s capital, no student devoted as much time and energy to study as 80% of those in a semi- rural Chinese school • Li: American students display “an ocean of disinterest… lack of enthusiasm in learning” – The empirical value of these anecdotes should be viewed in tandem with the normative effect they have

Winners of University of Melbourne National Scholarships – in 2012, over 50% had a Chinese/CHC background, versus 4.3% of the total Australian population (this is not just a token observation – each scholarship is worth over AUD50,000)

The historical landscape • CHC countries have long selected students for employment, universities and secondary schools based on an “examination hell” process, driven partly by large populations and partly by cultural factors – Chinese gaokao , Singaporean PSLE, Hong Kong A- levels • Education in the West, particularly the Anglosphere, has undergone a process of “ liberalisation ” since WW2

Transitions • Victoria, Australia: – HSC, based largely on exams, replaced in early 1990s by VCE, based primarily on internal assessment – Subsequent “nudges” back to examination focus, although examinations form less than 50% of assessment for most students • Hong Kong: – A gradual transition through the 2000s from the HKALE to the HKDSE, with less emphasis on rote memorisation and more on school-based assessment

Influences on transition • The influence of educational academia (separate from populist electoral policy) • “Socialist” policies of inclusiveness and access • Fear of elitism, both from successful schools and from non-school educational services

Ideological clashes • Between cultures • Between school “clients” (students, parents, communities) and their teachers • Between society and state • Between state and academia

Education in a post-migratory world • As Roesgaard (2006) suggests, cram schools in Japan (and presumably in Korea) are popular largely for market reasons: there are far fewer university places than applicants, necessitating secondary school assessments which are “harder” than average, and thus making specialised coaching common. • Bray also demonstrates that systemic deficiencies (in China, Sri Lanka, and Eastern Europe, for example) lead to secondary students becoming culturally accustomed to supplementary tutoring • But what happens in post-migratory zones (like Australia, the US, or Singapore), where supply and demand for tertiary places is more balanced, and where there is a plurality of educational ideologies?

Teacher training in Australia • “taught by the wrong kind of people in the wrong place at the wrong time” ( Ashenden) • A highly theoretical (and consequently liberal) process, with little emphasis on pragmatic factors – data demonstrates that many teachers feel unprepared for classroom practice • Teachers embody a clash of ideologies with their CHC students

The market for cram schools in Australia • Watson (2008) suggests that the market for private tutoring is increasing, roughly doubling in the past ten years – systemic factors (such as examination systems) can only provide a partial explanation for this • The market is now increasingly sophisticated: – Coaching colleges – Tutoring services – Private tutoring – Lecturing services – Online assistance • It is also noticeably divided by ethnicity: many tutoring services are advertised within ethnic communities (for example, in Chinese- language newspapers) • Anecdotally, Anglo/European-Australians are the least likely to use these non-school services

A tutoring service founded by a CHC-background university student. The “lecturers” have no educational training – they are other university students.

“ Dr X Maths Coaching” • “…it runs primarily by an 'Asian' regime, so every week the results for your homework are posted up on the board for all to see; and you are ranked accordingly.” • “'Activities against the classroom discipline (no talking, no food, no drink) are not tolerable. The coaching centre reserves the right to expel anyone who does not obey the classroom discipline .‘” • “‘100 % wrong’: a phrase you will hear too many times .”

“ Dr X Maths Coaching” • “check out the members.. its all AZNS!!” • “my sources have warned me of the presence of a certain member of the level 4 saturday class of a strange and unknown ethnicity. at first i did not believe it, but there have been numerous reported sightings of the elusive 'white boy'... it is important that you remain calm while we further investigate the matter .”

The response from schools • Surveys and other data demonstrate: – Acknowledgement of the practical effect that personalised tutoring can have (confidence and exam preparation are emphasised) – Frustration at the lack of information about tutoring supplied by students – schools have little idea how many students are using tutoring and in what forms – Concern about the necessity of tutoring – in contrast to other Australian analyses of remedial tutoring, the trend is that most tutoring goes to students who need it relatively little – Concern about clashes between the style of teaching between school teachers and tutors – Understanding (at some level) of the links between ethnicity and teaching

The trends • In Australia: – Towards examination-based high-stakes terminal secondary qualifications (since 1990s) – Increased selectivity in government-funded schooling – Increased migration from CHC families (and international secondary students) – Areas of constructed or natural educational scarcity (places in selective secondary schools or universities, places in courses such as medicine) are being disproportionately accessed by “model minorities” – At a policy-making level and an academic level, discussion of “shadow education” is marginalised, if it exists at all

The trends • In CHC countries (Singapore and Hong Kong): – Reform is very slow, but there is acknowledgement of “examination hell” and the consequent use of tutoring services – Reform comes both in the tertiary sector (which is expanding, removing some of the competition at the highest level) and at the secondary sector (where examination systems are being altered)

Summary ideas 1. This is not just about education. – Power relationships: between students and parents, students and schools, between cultures – The politics of identity – Access to scarce educational resources – Policy development

Summary ideas 2. There are risks in ignoring ideological clashes. – Enclaves of educational support, particularly those open to CHC students, are unregulated and create imbalances in access to educational resources, in the stress applied to students, and ultimately in educational outcomes – Clashes between the state (which regulates educational resources), the educational establishment (which trains teachers in a classically “Western” way), and those students who “game” the system in order to maximise their cultural and economic capital should be addressed rather than ignored

For future study • Emic – Ethnographic research to ascertain: • why and when CHC students begin tutoring and how they choose tutoring services (  relationship with parents, community and school) • how they make use of tutoring services (do they value the tutor’s teaching over their school’s? how do they interact with their peers at tutoring services?) • how their engagement with the tutoring service interacts with or reinforces their sense of “ Chineseness ”, or counteracts a sense of being part of a local culture • what is the moral or aesthetic landscape of the cram school? how does it interact with existing religious or ethical beliefs?