BLOG 10

The key words “lived experience” or “a living pedagogy” is what I find most appealing to me. In China, the nine-year education period, from elementary school to junior school, is compulsory by law. After that, the motivation of most students keep learning in senior school is to pass the university entrance exam. By getting access to elite colleges or universities, students have more opportunities to find better jobs therefore they are likely to have upward mobility. And the university entrance exam is a standardized test with fixed answers, which to a large degree, affects the school curriculum about how teachers teach and how students learn. Most of the time, students are passive learners: they take notes in class, recite all the key points, take all kinds of exams, rather than participate in class discussions, ask questions, or engage in school activities. On the other hand, teachers don’t offer such opportunities for students to be parts of the class. Teachers tend to use the most of class time to be the most efficient in presenting every key points. To some of them, students’ engagement and participation in class is s a waste of time. The only thing students need to do is accepting what teachers offer to them without questions. I feel China’s education reform has a long way to go. To give back the class to students, to let students be the owner of their learning, to make learning more engaging, authorities, educators and teachers in China should draw upon students’ lived experience and learn from “living pedagogy”.