Bad report … US academic Yong Zhao, in Melbourne yesterday, says students under the East Asian model are under stress.
Bad report … US academic Yong Zhao, in Melbourne yesterday, says students under the East Asian model are under stress. Photo: John Woudstra
THE Asian education miracle - which has seen countries such as China, Singapore and Korea climb to the top of international student rankings - has not been achieved without great costs, warns an expert on Asian education.
Dr Yong Zhao, from the University of Oregon, gave the keynote address last night at an East Asian education round table in Melbourne organised by the Grattan Institute.
While outsiders tend to glorify and exaggerate the successes replicated by Asian-background students in the West, the consequences of strict adherence to authority figures, rigorous discipline and single-minded dedication to standardised test results are severe, Professor Zhao, who taught in China before moving to the US, said.
''The East Asian students suffer, actually. There is psychological stress, there is a lot of direction, a lack of social experiences and therefore emotional development,'' he said.
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The concern about consequences of the approach - typified by self-styled ''Tiger Mum'' Amy Chua - spreads beyond the suffering of individual students.
''East Asian educators are not at all happy with what they have achieved; they look at what they have not achieved. They look at the children's lack of confidence, for example, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and imagination,'' Professor Zhao said.
Still, the West has something to learn from the Asian model, he said. ''They have very good teaching courses, an extended instruction system which transmits knowledge very effectively and efficiently and they are making great use of class time.''
The intense focus of educational outcomes was typified in China by the response when schools were told to shut at the weekends. ''Parents now organise, hire teachers and put them in hotels and parents stand outside as guards. It's very stupid,'' Professor Zhao said.
The challenge raised by the success of the East Asian model - which has allowed Chinese-background students to dominate the top selective high schools in NSW - has prompted universities and colleges in the US to change tack.
Professor Zhao said many believe they have been tricked by East Asian students who enter with high scores only to fall back into the pack.
In the US, Asians make up about 2 per cent of the population but win about 25 per cent of places at prestigious Ivy League schools, he said.
''But at the end there are very, very few [gaining jobs] in the top 500 companies. People talk about how they lack confidence, how they lack entrepreneurial skills, how they lack the ability to work with a group so this is definitely an issue,'' Professor Zhao said.
Standardised entry tests are ''easily manipulated if you pay for college prep schools'', he said
''In the US the universities and good colleges are actually struggling to change their selection process and criteria to not only rely on academic performance. There's a growing list of good universities who have decided not to use standardised tests to admit students,'' Professor Zhao said.