What is learning here?

What does it mean to "learn" in China? 

My co-teacher gave the kids a test Friday morning.  As I had suspected, almost all of the children failed (below 60%).  The handful of children who already knew the material before we taught it, of course, got 100%.  I was sure the teacher would see how ineffective the program we are using is and ask me what we can do to rectify the situation. 

But actually, to my surprise, she pointed to the few who got a good score as  "proof" that children were learning, but agreed that a review game might be necessary.  Who learned anything?  In my opinion, if you already know the answer before, you haven't learned it there.  and if you don't know the answer, you haven't learned.  But the teacher was convinced the children were learning. 

So what is learning in China? 

My husband ran an interesting experiment in California in one of his college classes.  He asked a Japanese, a Chinese, an American, and a Saudi the same question: What is 5 divided by zero? 
1.  The Chinese said confidently, and happily "I know!  It's impossible! There is no answer!"
2. The Japanese said, in the most utterly bored voice, "Zero or something"
3. The Saudi looked suspiciously at my husband and said "You are trying to trick me. I won't answer this question."
5.  The American looked at it puzzled.  First he said " It can't be zero; that's 0/5.  It cant be five; that's 5/1. What? What can the answer be?  Wait, lemme get my calculator."  When he typed 5/0 into the calculator, it simply said "error".  The American got excited, "What does THAT mean?!  I never saw a calculator do THAT before!  Lemme think.....5/0......5/0.....what can the answer be?  Wow!" 

Only the Chinese student got the right answer.  Somehow, in his studies, he learned you can't do that, and he was thrilled to show off his ability to know facts.

Of the four, only the Chinese student would have gotten a "correct" answer on a standardized test.  He would have had the higher score.  He would vindicate Chinese teaching.  China can proudly point to him and say, "yes, our way works; our students are smarter". 

But of the four, the one who was demonstrating the ability to solve problems and try alternative methods and think critically was the American.  In fact, the American was excited and happy the take this problem and work with it. 

World leaders and curruculum developers around the world agree that the future of our civilization depends  on creative problem solving, to get us out of the environmental mess we are in.  we need solutions to feed an ever doubling population, protect disappearing species, clean up our water and air and soil, and generate boundless energy to keep the global market thriving, without doing further damage to our environment.  If we continue doing things the same way as our ancestors did, sucking the lifeblood out of the Earth like a parasite, our Earth host will die and take us with it.  We need thinkers and problem solvers, creative engineers, not people who can spit out well known facts. 

No, that particular day, the American didn't know the answer.  But at some point, he will reach the conclusion that it's impossible.  And additionally, if anyone ever asked him why, exactly, it was impossible, he might have a pretty interesting and mathematically deep reason why he knew that, which might lead to a better understanding of our universe.

OK, I'm reaching here, but what's going on?  Japanese are tested ad nauseum, as are the Chinese.  But here, a basic mathematical concept he should have learned in grammar school, and probably knew at some point, he got wrong.  Perhaps he wasn't really thinking about the question and mistakenly thought he was being asked 0/5, which is zero.  He couldn't care less and it was a dumb question, and far less fun than playing video games.  This is typical of the current situation among Gen Y Japanese.  Even poor Japanese are far wealthier than developing countries poor, so academic success is less important to them. 

I know the answer because as a child I was curious how anything could be "no answer".  if there was a question, there must be an answer.  I was fascinated by the concept of there not being an answer to a math problem.  I never forgot this mathematical anomaly.    It was a similar curiosity that the American man in my husband's class showed.  Somehow, his teacher never mentioned this to him as mine had, but still, in time, i'm sure he will come to the correct conclusion because he was interested and curious and bothered by his inability to generate a quick answer to a simple math problem.

It is not about being academically successful, but about knowing and figuring out why and how that drive Americans.

The Chinese guy knew the answer because in China, there is a heavy emphasis on being able to know answers, and the child who knows is a child who has learned, and has a chance for success in life.  As a developing country, the gap between the successful and unsuccessful is huge; yet, because it is developing rapidly, the chance to become successful is very real, even for peasants. And success is very academically driven; good students land good jobs regardless of their actual capacity to think.

Yet, if there is no drive to know how and why, is success and development sustainable?  If no one cares to know the deeper underlying meaning behind it all, how can he become a creative free thinking problem solver?  How can he solve the biggest problem our species ever faced: mass extinction? 

What is learning?  How do I reconcile my understanding of learning with the Chinese teaching methodology and Chinese philosophy on what it means to have learned something?   Especially, given that fact, as proven in my husband's experiment, if you just look at a bubble sheet, only the Chinese student would have gotten a "correct" answer. 

The Chinese way works, sort of, if you look at it on paper.  But  in the real world, their method is a complete disaster waiting to happen. What can I do?  Americans, for all their curiosity and creativeness, don't do well in standardized exams; therefore, internationally, we have a reputation for not being very academically inclined.  What Chinese person is going to take academic advice from an American?    If I were Chinese, I probably wouldn't.

Oi!