美國的小學教育

lochan

I remeber when I went to Canada to study grade 13 after HKCEE after receiving one of the best local education in HK, my Math is basically no.1 for the whole school.

Unfortunately, when I got into Univ., the first year Math core course almost got me killed since the whole course is about fundamentals, prove theorems and deriving formulae from first principal. I think my fundamental learnt from HK local education system was very poor.

lochan

Youma hi,

Maybe I am not one of those as quoted from your Math professors!

I grew up doing tons of "gaijin" math 234, 666, 456 333 etc. I also took Add. Math in F.5 but I recall I can prove theorems without actually understand why. I was trained to be fast and effiecient in exams and during that time, I see nothing wrong about it as everyone was doing the same thing!

I thought I was really good at calculus and algebra, therefore I took these two core courses in year one Univ.. Then my nightmare began... The approach is totally different! All assignments and tests are with Qs that does not have definitive answers. All Qs require you to think hard and thoroughly understand the basic concepts. I then realized my 11 years of math education in HK did not provide me enough in this regard.
I did get A on cal. section in A-math and a B in modern Math! I agree a lot of causcasions are still very poor in Math. Point is those who are not interested in math, they will take art courses and don't waste time on this anymore. Therefore, I am facing those who are supposed to be very good at math (and I am supposed to be good in HK standard) but there is a gap in terms of mindset and approach. I did manage to get an A in both courses but with so much effort made though! This was the time I start to realise the shortcomings of traditional HK education system.

lochan

Dear Veronique,
I think if the question is interesting enough i will work all nite to solve it. It has to be challenging and intriguing though.

Speaking of HW, for your interest, here's my Year One first two Physics assignments Qs -
Two bicycle running at the same speed say 20kph and the front one is squirting mud to the back at say 45%, what is the min. distance they have to keep to keep the behind bike from mud squirt?

Two trains running at say 60kph assuming constant speed towards each other at a separation of 1 km. A roadrunner start running back and forth at 200kph between the 2 trains
Q1 After how long will roadrunner be hit by the train?
Q2 How far will he travelled before got hit?
(assume no need to accelrate and decclerate)
some who are smart takes maybe 5 or 10 mins to solve the problem, of course it took me much longer since I am not that smart. These kind of questions I assume very rare to appear in HK?

Vernique2005 寫道:
Dear lochan:

Just as a joke, have you ever faced the situation that I mention below?

Whenever my friend does his math HW, he'd say, "Oh.. come on! I'm supposed to be a smart guy... I should  know how to solve it!"

.........after two hours, my friend says the same thing..........at the end, the problem remains unsolved....

When he goes to school and gets the answer key, he'd go, "Ahhhhhhhhh! Stupid me!!! This is sooooo easy.  Why didn't I think of that?  I should have KNOWN it...AHHHHHHHHHH~!"  

To some people, that's the sole beauty of math; to many others (count me as well, please), this is totally nightmare!  

lochan

Wymom,
I read an article recently. In USA, kids are infused with algebra concepts starting from pre-kinde! Step by step in a very systematic approach starting from quantitatively to qualitatively understand the concept using examples from daily life which I think is quite effective. In HK, math is taught too fast for kids to fully digest the concepts since the more difficult in level were taught = the better the school is.

you quote:
This is very true. I guess the HK way is teaching kids how to calculate Maths problem as quick as possible, but the western way is teaching them how to do a Maths problem using many different ways. By doing this, they are exploring the beauty of Maths, encouraging creativity and understand concepts and theories very thoroughly. By doing this, kids are developed to have much higher analytical skills and creativity in future.

lochan

dying to hear your disagreement!!

judy 寫道:
lochan,

完全唔同意你講嘅嘢，依家唔得閒，遲的才駁你。

lochan

Judy,

To achieve good ranking in Competitions means you need to cover a lot of topics and be able to complete the paper fast.

However, to invent a theory or math phenomenom, you can take as much time as you need and definitely not required to hurry but you do need sound train of thoughts, solid fundamentals and have in depth knowledge on concepts. It may take years to develop a new phenomenom!

有才能而讀數的，是非常非常浪漫之人 (i think it is not romantic at all - look at the movie "Beautiful Mind", touchy but scary to some extent but only a hint of romantism in it!

judy 寫道:
lochan,

如果只論數學之教育，不能說美國之那一種比香港優勝。學好數學要有两方面，一方面是數學本身，這當然包括solve 实際問題，但數學之精髓，却是for fun，solve 实際問題的數學，是應用數學 。一方面是形式(這方面要操)美國中小學數學不好(這在很多國際性測試可知)，就是缺之操練之故。

香港之數學編得不錯，幾年前，聽說以色列也採用新加坡之教科書。但在香港，讀數學的，很多是不喜欢數學，不喜欢數學，又怎能學得好。我的侄兒有數學天オ，但這幾個小朋友，将來會讀數嗎？我想不會，香港地找食之困難，生活之無保障，只有港人才知。有才能而讀數的，是非常非常浪漫之人。

信報林行止介紹，一個地區之經济發展和學生數學科學之水平有很高之關係，香港學生數學科學之水平名列前矛，本是好形象，這表示香港将有一批好的R & D 力量。但香港投放於科研之開支，却比外國少得多，只佔投资之0.5%，而曰本却是3.5%。

其實，香港之教育政策不錯，包括數學、語文政策，教育改革(如果冇教改，你個仔可能要讀貴很多之國際學校)。香港之問題，是社會問題。

lochan

My son has Chinese dictation that needs to 背. He remembers all the words correctly. The lesson is tough but I have mixed feelings. Wonder what's the use of it...

lochan

Youma,

Just can't believe how the standard has raised!!!!
Guess I am old hahaha!

"You may say I am still stubborn - I can't concur that HK's math training lags behind the Westerns in general"  
The reason I would not prefer local training is I want to have my kid thoroughly understand a concept before he move on to another new concept (he is not at the moment). Right now, local appraoch maybe good but teaching is too fast and does not allow enough time for children to digest the concept thoroughly. IT will still be okay if the child grew up to be an Engineer or even in actuarial science, but this kind of training is cannot lead him to becoming a pure mathematician. You may say not one in ten thousand kid grew up wanting to be a Mathematician, but I still belief there are better ways to build up a good foundation in math rather than to memorise formaulae and doing unnecessary amount of repetitive HW.

lochan

I 'm just a victim of local education system. THAT WAS HOW I WAS TAUGHT MATH IN HK, I don't think that's my fault since I follow every student's footstep and done everything "right" in terms of what was expected as a student in HK and did OK in HKCEE.

Anyone who ask me to take drugs are the ones who need to take drugs, although as a civilised person I rarely ask someone to take drugs.

lochan

Maybe I really need to take drugs since I am stupid enough to disclose my stinky history of my search of mathematic truth

Well... the login name is pretty .........
self-explanatory......

lochan

Maybe I can donate some of mine for you to try out since you are so kindhearted! You know, like a lot of those supplements like bird's nest, you do not need to be sick to intake it.    (pic. indicating you are drinking my ??)



"其實，傳統有傳統的好，美國許多出名之私校，稱為Academy的，非常嚴，課程非常深，比香港有過之無不及"
You are quite right. A lot of well-to-do families will send their kids to these private schools in order to get to Ivy League schools.

lochan

Cow,

Exactly!!

lochan

There are 50% Americans who are opposing the Iraq war and Bush. I am on their side. The other 50% is those I don't like at all who are meglomaniac and overly patriotic.

But looking at their educational system, I believe they do have a lot of things we can learn from them. If they have something which is good, rip it and make use of it.

In States, American education is free whereas in HK, it is really costly. If I can afford, I will put my siblings to their IS. I have always think that DBSPD is somewhere identify themselves btn local and International style. So far it is biased on the traditional side. Well, the tuition is only 1/3 of the IS, definitely need to compromise.

I am not a schizo, I am just being open and frank. Unlike someone who just hide from behind and occasionally ambush from the back with unnecessarily mean and harsh words.

lochan

Song,

My neighbor has sent his son to one of those schools and the tuition fee somewhere between 20-30K USD/yr! The workload is much higher than the local school his son is studying in HK.

lochan

judy 寫道:
[quote]In States, American education is free whereas in HK, it is really costly. If I can afford, I will put my siblings to their IS. I have always think that DBSPD is somewhere identify themselves btn local and International style. So far it is biased on the traditional side. Well, the tuition is only 1/3 of the IS, definitely need to compromise.

我唔知"Free"點解，我只知華人到美國，總千方百針搬到"好區"，好區的意思是教育資源較豐厚的地區。何以教育資源會較豐厚，政府收取之税收較多(或那個區的家長多share之故)。Very seldom that I agree with you. You are correct, when my friend's family relocate to NY due to work, they look for a district where the neighhood is well-to-do to settle down since the resources on education is very good. I think this is fair enough.

在香港，除了私校之外，全都"Free" (包括直資)，當然，你要更好之教育，直資叫你share多一點，你可以不讀，讀津校 。

有時看見你問的問題，會令人反思教育出了甚麽問題，是出身英文名校之故，還是到美國深這之故呢？Please elaborate.

I am not a schizo, I am just being open and frank. Unlike someone who just hide from behind and occasionally ambush from the back with unnecessarily mean and harsh words.

冇人話你是schizo。以常識來說，一般上，男人比女人大方，鬼佬呢，比較有幽默，懂得自嘲，所以也較大方(at least 在表面上)。 "someone who just hide from behind and occasionally ambush from the back with unnecessarily mean and harsh words."， 呢啲咁小事，大量嘅，當無事發生(畢竟這是网上吹水會，無話真假)。我呢，我會扮到若無其理，對的無理攻擊，ignore 佢是最得體之表現。To be honest, I am being considered a humorous person both at work and my private life. I would get serious when the topics is serious. Also, there is a bottomline which shall not be crossed on which minimal respect is expected to others since I do think majority of the forum members are respecting others although we may not share the same view.

你到外國多年，學不到幽默和自嘲，是不是躲到唐人街洗碗去了。I was a busboy, a labour in a manufacturing company, a janitor in an hotel, a tradesman building houses, a salesman and am very humours to those who respect other as an individual.

But looking at their educational system, I believe they do have a lot of things we can learn from them. If they have something which is good, rip it and make use of it.

同意。[/quote]