Changing the Course of History at a Shanghai School
Faced with pupils’ chronic critical reading problems, a few innovative teachers chose to recast the past.
For the last two years, I have taken most pride from helping to revolutionize the way history is taught at one of the best schools in Shanghai. In 2014, our history faculty decided to overhaul the dated, memorization-centered method characterized by endless lectures, quizzes, and reviews, and try out a research-based learning model, focusing more on students’ comprehension and composition.
We based the new model on the latest statistics from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Every three years, PISA evaluates the core competencies of 15-year-olds in 65 different countries across the globe. In 2009, Chinese students ranked highest in the world for reading, mathematics, and science. In 2012, Shanghai’s students were champions again.
However, in 2015 PISA ranked the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, and the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong, 6th in the world for math and 10th for science, but only 27th for reading comprehension. This meant that in the years following the 2012 test, Shanghai’s schoolkids had struggled with reading and writing — especially researching and evaluating written sources on the internet. They lacked the ability to integrate multiple sources of information, appraise their reliability, and use them to answer questions.
This reflected the doubts that we teachers had held for a long time, namely that our students were too accustomed to using reading merely to isolate facts and memorize them, and had not fully adjusted to more task-driven learning styles that encourage creativity and self-expression. PISA’s reading comprehension assessment evaluates students’ ability to use what they read practically — that is to say, to use reading as a tool to broaden one’s knowledge. In order to meet this noble aim, we had to change things.
To bring greater focus to literacy skills, we in the history faculty decided to try out a number of experimental lessons. We first devised a basic course including analysis of key historical texts and short essays. For example, my colleague Li Jun assigned a number of Jewish history materials to her students, then coordinated her lesson plans in order to impart some of the skills crucial for any budding historian: how to extract information from reading materials, screen it for accuracy, place it in context alongside other sources, and so on.
Things got really interesting when we composed our elective course, designed to test out new methods of teaching analytical reading on our second-year students. Four teachers, myself included, taught classes centered on the same themes but from different perspectives. Students had the choice of choosing one or multiple classes based on their personal interests. For example, one of our themes was titled: “Individuals and Groups in History: Behavior, Function, and Influence.” Within this field, I taught about ordinary people experiencing extraordinary events, from the perspective of Plato’s “Republic.” My colleagues, meanwhile, taught about the history of American immigration and Jewish history from the perspective of the Second World War.
Throughout the course, students were encouraged to share their thoughts on the reading materials we gave them in class, and write reports based on their experiences of reading it. We then showcased the strongest essays as examples of the depth of thought we were aiming for. Finally, we supplemented the course with essay and speech competitions, oral histories, and other extracurricular activities.
Both teachers and students reported that they found the course rewarding, and I remember how proud I felt of one student, Wang Haoran, who was part of our Class of 2016.
“Capitalist doctrine and capitalist societies have diverged greatly from Locke’s time, and capitalism has undergone numerous expansions and modifications,” Haoran wrote in one of his homework assignments. “This can be seen, for example, in the transition from absolute to relative property rights; in the formation of capitalists, then monopolistic consortiums, and finally state monopolies; in the shift from the supremacy of liberty to the supremacy of equality; in the decline of nuclear societies and the gradual rise of collectivism; in the movement from nationalism to globalism; and even in the tests to which consultative forms of democracy have been subjected.
“These transitions have all demanded that capitalist theory readjust itself and integrate these changes into theories of government,” read Haoran’s conclusion. “Even though some aspects of capitalism are out of keeping with the times, still it remains the foundation of all the changing values above.”
“Clearly, Locke’s ‘Two Treatises of Government’ have provided a theoretical basis for the administrative systems of many countries,” wrote another student, Shen Yi. “It is, eventually, an idealized form of government … However, there is no doubt that any government capable of holding onto power in the long term aims to carry out Locke’s original intentions for government: namely, protecting the people’s equality, security, and public welfare.”
Not bad for a couple of 17-year-old history students, eh? At the very least, these answers mark a turning point with the uninspired regurgitation of facts we had to mark in the past.
Of course, our experimental approach to teaching had its fair share of critics. Some pointed out that our style was an imitation of the Anglo-American model, which places a premium on personal interpretations of historical documents instead of swallowing down received versions of past events. To this I responded that such worries were misguided. Our discussions of Western classics exist alongside the philosophies of Confucius, Laozi, and Zhuangzi, for example. A truly holistic education system has to include elements of both East and West. 21st-century high school students must read extensively and critically if they want to make a tangible contribution to society.
Parents also doubted the practicality of our courses. “Will it stop them from doing well on the gaokao?” was a question asked of me time and again, referring to China’s notoriously difficult college entrance exams. My answer was always the same: These days, memorization alone won’t get you a high score on the gaokao history exam or in independent admissions tests at the country’s best universities. Students must cultivate exceptional reading and writing skills in order to meet the challenges of college education. Admissions officers, therefore, favor kids who have experienced training relevant to their future degree — training which must encourage exploration, innovation, and initiative.
As a teacher, I believe that our education system should bring up our next generation to love our country, to understand and accept our culture, and to have genuinely global mindsets. Reforming the history curriculum is essential to this goal. Only when our children are allowed to consider past events critically will they be able to look to the future with well-founded ambition.
(Header image: High school students sit in a classroom in Shanghai, Sept. 1, 2012. Zhang Dong for Sixth Tone)
Originally published at www.sixthtone.com on February 17, 2017.
