The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education

This is a fantastic book that will change the way you think of American education.

American students lag behind those in other countries, especially in Asia. At the same time, American businesses spend ('92) $25 billion/year on remedial education for their employees. Stevenson's cross-cultural comparison of pupils in China (Beijing), Taiwan, Japan (Sendai), and the U.S. (Chicago and Minneapolis) provides outstanding and surprising insights on how to close that gap. American elementary children are in school about 30 hours/week, vs. 44 for their Asian counterparts (after the 1st grade), for about half the days of the year - compared to 2/3 in Asia. Asian subjects include sewing, calligraphy, martial arts, etc., as well as the standard academics. Asian children's attentiveness is boosted through 4-5 10-15 minute recesses/day, v s. Americans' single recess of about 50 minutes. Asian elementary pupils receive considerably more homework than Americans during the school year, as well as homework during vacation periods. Asian class sizes range from 38-50, and responsibility for discipline rests largely with the students - especially the class leader, as position that rotates throughout the class. Parental involvement in Asian academics is minimal prior to age six - Asian pre-school and Kindergarten classes are primarily focused on the children enjoying themselves. Thus, U.S. pupils do somewhat better than most Asian pupils in the 1st-grade. (Unfortunately, by the fifth grade the best American classes perform worse than the worst Asian classes.) Meanwhile, U.S. parents generally delegate learning responsibility to the school at the point, and express much greater satisfaction with their children's' progress than their Asian counterparts. Asians expect all pupils to succeed, and that the child's effort is the prime determinant; Special Education has never been popular and exists only for the blind, profoundly deaf, or severely retarded. The U.S. view, however, is inconsistent - we generally believe that ability is the prime determinant of academic success (thus, are much less committed to homework), while at the same time believing that practice is necessary for sports, music, and dance success. The common American belief that high levels of academic achievement are possible only in modern, well-equipped schools is countered by viewing typical Asian schools (pupils do much of the cleaning), especially those in China which often lack heating. Another major difference in U.S. vs. Asian education is that the proportion of teacher-led activities is much higher in Asian classrooms - U.S. schools emphasize small groups and individual study, while Asians stress whole-class instruction. Bottom Line: Asian school pupils' academic achievement considerably outstrips that in the U.S., and at lower cost - eg. 3.7% of China's GNP, vs. 6.8% in the U.S. "The Learning Gap" is an invaluable guide to improving American education, if only we would learn from it.

Learning Gap is a thoroughly researched book highlighting concrete problems in America's education. It is of particular interest to me because I was brought up in the Chinese education system until I was 16 with two parents who were both Chinese teachers, and went through high school, college, and graduate school here in America. I, like the authors, also happen to be a psychologist whose research focuses on K-12 education. Reading both the Learning Gap and the Teaching Gap reminded me of my own experience growing up in Chinese classrooms, at home, moving to America, and now researching in American classrooms. Many of the phenomenon described in the book are prevalent in classrooms I have observed in Pennsylvania schools, even in award-winning teacher's classrooms. While I do believe the authors overstated the positives of the cultural and school environments in China (since I've been to many Chinese schools with lousy teachers and unmotivated kids), it did not understate the problem in American education today. Most imporantly, the book established that within-culture difference, while strong, is small compare to cross-culture differences. Its arguments are not based on hollow idealogy or fad, but data. That makes Learning Gap a rare gem of high academic integrity. It can serve as a good reference book for the evaluation of education for schools, parents, and students themselves. For an educator, a parent, or a concerned citizen, this book is very uplifting and energizing. Not because it highlighted problems (we hear problems every day just on the news), but because it narrowed down to the relevant, important, significant problems. The first step to saving education is to know which limited set of problems must we devote our limited resources towards. To quote a popular American slang, we need to "get the biggest bang for our buck" in education. I believe the Learning Gap and the Teaching Gap has done a marvelous job towards that end. My kudos to the authors for their research scholarship, for their strong stand based on data, and for a thoroughly well presented and uplifting book. I recommend this book for teachers, parents, concerned citizens, and even students themselves.

This is the most amazing book I've ever read on education, and one of the most eye-opening books I've read period. Every day on the news you hear about 'education reform.' Politicians and administrators are refering to things like smaller classes, better equipment, and other non-issues. The reason American kids are doing so poorly compared to other countries is much deeper and fundamental than that. What makes this book so amazing is that it explores the issues from several angles. American parents' expectations are much lower than Asian parents'. They would rather the kids be well-rounded with extracuricular activities and a social life. School takes a lower priority. American society thinks natural ability is more important than effort. Asians think effort is much more important. American's way of thinking is a dead-end for students. They will not be motivated to keep trying, thinking they just don't have the ability. American teachers rate 'clarity of explanation' as among the least important qualities a teacher could have. They rate 'sensitivity' as the most important. In Asian society, teachers gave the opposite rating. How amazing, the quality of imparting knowledge is among the least important things considered by American teachers. The profession of teaching is much more respected in Asian societies. So Asian students do far better than ours, in spite of these facts: their societies are poorer; their parents are busier; they have a lot more time than American children for social interaction at school; they even watch more t.v. than American children. If we as a society would read this book (and others like it), our eyes would be opened to the real problem with our schools, and we could take the first steps to transforming our society.

As early as first grade, average East Asian children routinely outperform the best American children on every sort of test of mathematical knowledge. And-across the learning spectrum-American children not only fail to catch up, they fall further behind their East Asian peers in every year after first grade. As Stevenson and Stigler (S & S) note, this learning gap is not a matter of money, but can be seen no matter the amount or source (public or private) of funding. If money is not the cause of the learning gap, what is? Genetics? TV? Class sizes? Not so, show S & S. In this highly-readable, jargon-free book, S & S show that the fundamental source of the learning gap is *cultural*. That is, whereas East Asian educators, parents, and children believe that math success comes from a long-term effort to acquire a mathematical system of knowledge, their American counterparts believe that that success stems from innate math-smarts repetitively exposed to a set of math skills. These different beliefs, S & S show, result in sterotype-exploding differences in student motivation, teaching practices and teaching support, and parental standards and expectations. If you think that improving American schools can come from looking at successes within U.S. borders, then read this book and prepare to be amazed!