My mother was born into a period of intense communist ideal in China. She experienced the Chinese education system all her life. Ever since a young age, the character of the school teacher played an important role in shaping her personality and career goal. As a result, her immersion with the Chinese education system left an inerasable memory in her life.

In a casual conversation between my mother and me, my mother’s response on the question of whether there is a big difference between American and Chinese education had made me ponder about my personal experiences of attending schools in both New York City and China. After a long pause, my mother gave her insightful thought, “The greatest difference between American and Chinese educations is the aspect of the student and teacher relationship. In China, the students have the tendency of developing a close relationship with the teacher both inside and outside of the school. For example, the student was allowed to attend a tutorial session in the teacher’s house or eat dinner with the teacher’s family. The teacher was looked upon by student as his/her second parent, the parent who can help and give him/her advice to succeed in life. The close connection between the student and teacher can contribute positively toward the student’s school performance as he/she understands that the teacher cares about his/her future than just merely the student’s test grade. On the contrary, American culture seemed to have a clear boundary between student and teacher relationship. It appeared to me that the level of contact between student and teacher can only stay within the range of school ground (and email in most cases). In the parent-teacher conferences that I attended, almost all the teachers acted with a sense of strangeness when speaking about the student’s performance as if the teacher knew nothing more about the student than the student’s academic ability.”

“Despite the great difference between American and Chinese educations in the aspect of student and teacher relationship, one impressive characteristic of American education is that the system offers students more real-world experience than just the traditional school learning experience in a classroom setting. Especially in a big city like New York City, there are countless internships that student can participate in based on their interests. Through these internships, students are able to gain hands-on experience by applying the knowledge he/she gained from school into the real world. In China, however, the common view about education parents held is that student should only focus in school works. Traditional Chinese parents these days still have this idea stuck in their minds.”