Why American students have more creativity than Chinese students?

Question

In many occasions, American students show more creativity than Chinese students do.

Answer 1

I'm not sure that that's a generalization that you can really make. I think what you ought to look at, though, is whether schooling between the two countries has differences in how creativity is encouraged.

Answer 2

In general, I think it has to do with the way in which the school systems work. I believe the Chinese system relies heavily on memorization and repetitive practice. This gives students a strong foundation in the subjects they are learning. It gives them a strong foundation in what has already been discovered and tested by previous generations.

At the same time, I believe there is more of a tendency to
conformity in Asian cultures in general, which makes creativity as you are thinking of it less encouraged by Chinese society in general. Hard work. High academic achievement. Contributing to the family and to the extended family. These things have been traditionally desirable virtues among the Chinese.

I do find that home schooled children often tend to be more creative because they have had to have more self-discipline and self-motivation in their schooling, and often have more home responsibilities as well.

I don't find that American students in general are more creative, because they often lack the discipline that true creativity requires. They are allowed more freedom in their studies, and are encouraged to "do their own thing" from early on. So in that sense they are more willing to go out on a limb and try different things, but they often lack the foundation to do truly good creative work.

Perhaps I'm right here, perhaps wrong, but it does give something to think about.

Answer 3

I grew up in the U.S. but have lived in mainland China (western and east coast) for three years now. I see your point but most Chinese would disagree with you. The meaning of creativity is not the same for all people. Perhaps the real difference we see is in originality and individuality.

Originality and individuality are not supported by the Chinese culture system of, as already stated, "memorization and repetitive practice". In Chinese classrooms, students spend time either listening to the teacher or in choral response. The students recite traditional poems or text readings from traditional stories in unison or sing songs in unison. Sometimes the songs are not really Chinese, such as Frere Jacques, Auld Lang Sine or On Top of Old Smokey but the words have been created specially in Chinese language to express some story from Chinese literature. Almost all students grow up thinking these are traditional Chinese songs. No student is allowed raise a hand to speak in class. A student can only speak if called on by the teacher.

Ancient myths and literary sagas are taught with no consideration for the possibility that they are mythical but are accepted as pure facts. Fu Xi was "the world's first human and invented the binary system used in computers" even though his era was about 4500 years ago, give or take 500 years.

Society in general is of one mind in China. I have questioned dozens of student I have met, even in university graduate school, and so far I have found none who knows the dates of any Chinese dynasty. They only know the order of the dynasties and the relative placement of hundreds of events that have occurred during these dynasties. This is how history is taught to them and they have memorized it very well.

One scientist wrote a paper to contend that the written language holds back Chinese creativity. One cannot make any new "words" in Chinese because every character is a concept or makes a concept when combines with other pre-existing characters. One can only recombine the established concepts. No new characters are allowed after about 1900.

They often speak about "our China" because no outsider is ever allowed to become a citizen and "our Chinese" even though they are speaking of themselves. Students often choose Mao Zidong as their hero, a pure man who never harmed a fly except in military battle. No Chinese I have met has any harsh thing to say about Mao or the Cultural Revolution except an occasional suggestion that the C.R. was China's low period. Every coin has two sides.

It is all of this that points to a sense of national pride and national accomplishment. Individual achievement is very important but building China is more important than anything else. Interviewers and commentators on TV here frequently talk about ways to increase China's exports even though their balance of payments is already more skewed toward export than that of any other country.

When Chinese children move to a Western country and grow up away from Asia, they are no longer culturally Chinese and do not think fully like Chinese. They meld into the fabric of America or Europe and individuality becomes just as significant for them as it is for the rest of us.

Home schooling (how did this get into the discussion?) fosters achievement but I cannot say it fosters individuality.

A Chinese professor that I know lived for 5 years in the U.S. and his feeling is that Chinese students can learn any data presented to them by memorizing it perfectly but U.S. students, lacking some basic factual knowledge, can, nonetheless, accomplish more by putting knowledge into some creative endeavor.

Answer 4

im not sure about who is more creative but creativity all depends on your environment,lifestyle,education,culture and obviously your natural talents.