I attended middle school in the United States. Junior high school volume

Author: Gong Ang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Top U.S. universities admit well-rounded students, not just scores. A global selection of students from China and the U.S.—who will stand out? Compare two education systems—what will you choose? Freedom or indulgence, zero-distance exposure to U.S. middle school life. Outstanding or out of place—judge this alternative education system. Is U.S. middle school life heaven or hell? Diverse courses spark brainstorming, inquiry-based learning activates everyone’s genius. Pure American-style education, complete personalized development. Exam-oriented education creates slaves of scores, while quality-oriented education nurtures innovative and practical talents. Reading Gong Ang’s My American Middle School is a great experience—it helps Chinese students understand how U.S. students learn, and is also valuable for teachers. As China is implementing new curriculum reforms, advocating inquiry-based learning, many teachers struggle to understand it and know how to design inquiry lessons. Gong Ang’s book provides numerous examples. Inquiry-based teaching may seem chaotic at first, lacking systematic foundational knowledge, but is the knowledge students gain through such exploration truly limited? In this engaging atmosphere, where they collect materials and explore independently, can their knowledge not be solidified? Can their personality and creativity not develop? I’m quite impressed that they can introduce first-year middle school students to Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Monet, and Picasso, and help them understand their styles and appreciate the beauty of their paintings—it’s truly hard to fathom. In my view, this book is not only suitable for middle school students but also for teachers. China is currently promoting new curriculum reforms, and the spirit of these reforms is to cultivate students’ creativity, hence the advocacy of inquiry-based learning. Many teachers don’t know how to design inquiry lessons or how to unleash students’ subjectivity and initiative. I believe reading this book will provide inspiration.
—Professor Gu Mingyuan, President of the China Educational Society
The author authentically records the study and life of U.S. middle school students through personal experience, vividly showcasing examples of quality-oriented education full of the times. It narrates the efforts of U.S. middle school students in independently constructing knowledge systems and curricula, fostering scientific literacy and humanistic sentiments. Middle school students can fully experience the process of cultivating innovative spirit and practical ability in the active, inquiry-based, and collaborative learning model. The detailed descriptions of quality-oriented education in the book greatly broaden learning horizons, fostering students’ abilities in communication, cooperation, independent analysis, and problem-solving, as well as preparing for comprehensive assessments. Through the numerous problem-based, interactive, and collaborative teaching cases introduced in the book, middle school teachers can gain inspiration for curriculum reform, enrich classroom organization, explore new inquiry-based teaching models aligned with modern requirements, and cultivate high-scoring, high-ability students who meet the demands of the times and society.