1) What is the message sent by Yong Zhao and what is his purpose?
Yong Zhao’s message is that he feels Robert Campton’s documentary focuses to much on math and science education in order to produce engineers and other workers for his specific industry. Yong focuses more on the economy as a whole. He states that a country cannot survive by producing only one or two types of talented workers, but must instead focus on celebrating the individual student’s interests and talents. He thinks the United States already does well in this aspect of education. He states many facts about China’s high suicide rate among teens and the ‘high test scores, low ability’ problem among their young workers. His purpose seems to be to draw more attention to the broader scope of American education and culture instead of following along with Campton’s more emphasized math and science view. Yong questions whether Campton is asking us to focus on the national economy or his own industry.
2) What techniques are used by Yong Zhao to attract and hold attention?
Yong uses a lot of humor and personal stories while he talks to attract and hold the attention of the audience. For instance, he tells the story of his own daughter wanting to be an elephant and his son wanting to be a truck driver when they were five and six years old. Laughter from the audience can be heard many times during his presentation. He also uses several statistics and research studies done by others, like Keith Baker’s study done in 2007, with charts, graphs, etc. to strengthen his point of view to the audience.
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in Yong's message?
I feel Yong’s message strongly represents the point of view and values of a person who has immigrated to the United States. Multiple times in his interview, Yong comments on freedom of choice and the celebration of individuals as reasons that he came to America. He states that this is one of the best strengths of the American education system and forcing students into more math and science courses could hinder this. His point of view is heavily influenced by his own immigration to the U.S. for these reasons.
4) How might different people interpret Yong's message differently?
I think some people could hear Yong’s message and feel he is really pushing for open, or even more open, immigration laws. He mentions several times within his speech and the following debate that the U.S. economy does not need to worry about other countries producing and keeping high achieving math, science, and technology students. He states that many of those students come to the United States for their higher education and 95% will move here within 5 to 10 years. Therefore, they will be a part of our economy in the end. This seems to shift the conversation from education reform to immigration reform.
5) What is omitted from Yong's message?
I feel very similar items are omitted from Yong’s message as where omitted from Campton’s original message. No focus is really given to earlier levels of education prior to high school. While, he does discuss a little about Indian culture and schooling, he largely sticks to comparisons between America and China. I feel he also leaves out the view of foreigners who come to the United States and do not wish to stay but do return to their original countries. He entirely focuses on immigrants who decide to stay because of the opportunities in America.
6) Now you have heard two sides of the story. Which side would you vote for?
I do not feel I can choose one side or the other of the debate. I do feel like Campton is taking his field of expertise and turning it into a much larger issue. He says his focus is purely on creating students who can compete in the math, science, and technology fields, but the documentary and discussions all seem to me to imply that those are the only fields that will matter in 20 years. In this matter, I agree with Yong that a student in the American education system should have the right to choose from a variety of subjects that they are interested or skilled in and desire to learn more about. Yong says this could lead to a dangerous authoritarian type of education. I do not feel like America needs that type of an education system. Our country and culture is based on the belief that every individual has a right to be celebrated and pushed to achieve his or her potential. I believe higher education is the place for a more focused education in a chosen field of study.
However, I do agree with Campton’s point about the American culture needing a shift in what they deem most important. Many of our students do seem to spend a large portion of their time focusing on extracurricular activities, like sports, instead of academics. While I see many benefits to sports and other social activities, education should be a top priority. I have students who will come in with notes from parents apologizing for not being able to complete a homework assignment due to a practice or a game. That cultural mentally creates a generation of children who see education as second rate, only a focus after the sport or other ‘fun’ stuff is done. I do think this could cause a problem in education, the future workforce, and ultimately society when other countries are so focused on educating their children and bettering their children’s lives. As a teacher, I strongly believe in educating children to create a better future.
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