
China’s academic obsession with testing - sonabinu
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chinas-academic-obsession-with-testing/2013/12/19/cd05b032-6744-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html?tid=hpModule_ea22e378-b26e-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19&hpid=z9
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analyst74
One of the fundamental reason why Asians do well in testing is because
academical achievements are highly valued, by parents, teachers, society, and
most importantly, their peers.

It's the same reason why Americans are really good at basketball and football,
why Brazilians are really good at soccer. Kids will go through great lengths
to earn respect from peers.

Whether the attitude toward academic achievements creates followers or
leaders, remains to be proven.

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altoz
Those are the realistic paths to upward mobility in each society.

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ido
Playing sports is the realist path to upwards mobility in America? As opposed
to any well paid professionals such as programmers, doctors, lawyers,
engineers or accountants?

What percentage of kids who try really hard to be really good at basketball or
football make a successful career out of it? I don't know but I suspect about
the same ratio as those that try really hard to be rock-stars.

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gametheoretic
Yes, somebody claimed that. Anybody would claim that. Good job shooting it
down.

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pervycreeper
>it’s a sign that our education system is out of control

On the contrary, it seems to be quite stable continuation of a centuries-old
tradition[1], which has been quite successful, but optimized for different
outcomes (success at tasks for which the rules are clear and fixed).

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination)

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bronson
I was hoping this was going to be about semiconductor yields or TDD...

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xname
"Of course East Asian kids test well. They are tested every day, even when
they are sick. " \-- This is a silly statement based on a nonsense assumption
that all the tests are the same: all tests only test testing skills.

Test is not just about testing skills. The most important part is
understanding and mastery of the subject. PISA
([http://www.oecd.org/pisa/](http://www.oecd.org/pisa/)) test is designed to
examine students high level understanding and application of subject knowledge
and skills. The fact of Chinese students did well in PISA test cannot be just
attributed to "obsession with testing". You have to understand the subject to
do well in the test.

Some people like to say Chinese /Asian students are only good at rote
memorization. But, you know what, PISA is not designed to test rote
memorization. You can try some PISA questions by yourself at
[http://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/](http://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/) to see how
rote memorization can help you in the PISA exam.

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saraid216
PISA tests are not based off school curricula. This is a _much_ different
claim than the one that PISA tests successfully examine "high level
understanding and application of subject knowledge and skills".

PISA tests are time-bound; thus, they cannot avoid testing time management.
PISA tests include multiple choice questions; thus, they cannot avoid testing
students' ability to eliminate nonsensical options. The issues with short-
answer questions are more subtle and less problematic, but at the very least,
depend on the reviewer having the capacity to fully understand the students'
response, linguistically and colloquially.

These are _very_ common complaints about test design: that the test scores end
up being trumped by orthogonal "test-taking" skills. The typical responses to
them are that these orthogonal skills are nevertheless useful "real-world"
skills, which is absolutely true, but it undermines the original claim that
the tests are primarily examining the _actual subject knowledge_.

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xname
Can you please tell me, in which country, age 15 students generally don't know
to eliminate nonsensical options in multiple choice questions?

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auctiontheory
You should try tutoring math at a high school in a poor area - as I am doing.
It's eye opening.

