When it comes to high school, is it so important to go to a prestigious school?

Across the country, the annual registration process for kindergarten to primary school and primary school to junior high school has begun, and students who are about to take the high school entrance examination have also begun to consider the issue of choosing a high school. Should they go to a famous school? Should they choose a private school? Should they change their household registration or buy a school district house? Many parents have just sent their children to kindergarten and have begun to worry about these issues. Today, a teacher working in a "famous school" talked about her views.

Written by | Ryan

I always receive inquiries from all kinds of friends, asking me "How is XXX school in Beijing?" "I want to buy a house, where is a good place for my child to go to school?" "What is the difference between Beijing Middle School and Beijing School?"... I feel helpless every time I receive such inquiries. Although I teach in a key high school in Beijing, I actually don’t know which school district houses are good, and I don’t understand how the various schools in Beijing with numerous names are like.

However, since you asked about schools, I often share a point of view with my friends and parents, and I would like to share it with you here: "famous" high schools are not that important for improving students' academic performance.

1

Good schools are not that important for improving grades

Joshua Angrist, one of the winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics and the Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, once conducted a particularly interesting experiment.

Compare these two groups of students: Group A students just reached the admission score of key high schools, and Group B students were only one point lower than the admission score. Their original levels were almost the same, but A went to a provincial key high school, while B could only go to a municipal key high school. This means that the actual research subjects have the same intelligence and academic levels. So when these two students take the college entrance examination in the future, will there be a significant difference in their scores?

The answer is absolutely no difference[1]. Researchers counted two groups of students, A and B, and found that after they entered college, there was no significant difference in their grades, college admission rates, graduation rates, and college selectivity. Not only is there no difference between provincial key schools and municipal key schools, but there is also no difference between municipal key schools and district key schools, or between district key schools and ordinary high schools. This means that advanced courses, teaching staff, top-notch hardware, etc. are not the decisive factors for good grades. Key high schools do not improve students' grades, but good students improve the grades of key high schools; it is not the famous schools that create good students, but the good students who are selected to come here that make the famous schools[2].

This seems to go against common sense. The Statistical Bulletin on the Development of National Education in 2018 released by the Ministry of Education shows that the gross enrollment rate of higher education in China is 48.1%. The university admission rate of key high schools in some provinces can reach over 80%, which means that students who attend key high schools have a greater chance of attending better universities. Key high schools have stronger faculty, higher-level classmates, and a better learning atmosphere. Shouldn't key high schools produce better students?

Regarding this commonplace conclusion, we can think about whether the cause and effect are reversed? It is because you study well that you can get into a good high school. It is not because you get into a good high school that you study well. The high college admission rate of good high schools is because the quality of students in good high schools is good, not because the teaching level is high and the students cultivated are good.

Therefore, according to Professor Angrist's research results, the influence of famous schools on students is not significant in the face of standardized scores. If a student's score is just at the bottom line, then whether or not to go to a key high school will have almost no impact on the student's future college entrance examination scores. If the student is simply pursuing college entrance examination scores, then it is basically the student's own business, and the blessing of a famous school will not have such a big effect.

2

Good schools have other benefits

So why do people still scramble to get into good schools? What is the purpose of famous schools?

First of all, a good school has an atmosphere of hard work, struggle and progress. Good schools will gather good students, and good students will form an atmosphere of learning and surpassing each other. Others are working hard, and you dare not relax too much. Good students are demanding of themselves. This spirit of progress and struggle will be brought into future work and life, making hard work a habit in life.

Secondly, a good school can broaden students’ horizons and knowledge. A good school not only enriches people’s knowledge, but also enriches their vision and knowledge. Broad vision and knowledge can make us more open-minded and tolerant, which will affect a person’s future pattern and development.

In addition, classmates and alumni from good schools are often more outstanding and can serve as motivation. At the same time, outstanding alumni are industry elites in all walks of life. They come back to give lectures or provide private consultations and can provide the most professional voice.

However, if there is a student whose SAT and GPA are very good, reaching Harvard's standards, and who also applied to Harvard University that year, but was not admitted to Harvard due to extracurricular activities or some other reasons, then will his future definitely be worse than those who went to Harvard? The answer is: No. In fact, his income and development in the next ten years will most likely be no different from those who went to Harvard. If a person is really capable, he does not really need the blessing of a prestigious school. The premise is that he must really believe that he can go to Harvard and have such ambition (of course, in society, it is of great significance for children from poor families to go to prestigious schools, which is equivalent to a carp jumping over the dragon gate, which is another matter).

3

So what can improve performance?

The quality of academic performance depends mainly on the student's intelligence level and effort. I have summarized a formula for you. In summary, good academic performance = method × ability × quality × mentality.

method

First, let’s talk about methods. We often fall into two misunderstandings in learning, which are called “metacognitive bias” in cognitive science: one is that we don’t know our weaknesses in learning, and don’t know where we should spend more energy to improve our grades and abilities; the other is that we like to use learning methods that make us look very hard but are useless. I call this “pseudo-learning”, such as taking notes desperately, underlining textbooks desperately, highlighting key points desperately with highlighters, etc.

So what methods can be used to change this inefficient learning method?

Output is a good way. I have a student whose history grades could not be improved no matter what she did. I suggested that she go home and be a teacher to her parents every day, telling them what she learned. After persisting for a semester, her history score increased from 79 points to 92 points, and her grades have been getting better since then. Why is this so? It is because she correctly used the "output" method in the learning pyramid theory, which greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of learning.

Another example is retrieval and examinations. Both retrieval and examinations bring pain to our brains, making us experience the process of "there are many things that we can't remember no matter how hard we try." However, it is precisely because of the challenge that you can know what you don't know, better understand a concept, and learn more efficiently.

There are also intervals, alternations, and splits. When reviewing for the English exam at the end of the semester, the best way is to divide the study time into several small blocks, reviewing for one hour today, reviewing for one hour tomorrow, and reviewing for another hour the night before the exam, rather than reviewing for three hours in a row. How good is the effect of splitting? It is twice as good as not splitting, and you will remember the words you have memorized for a longer time. Of course, there are more good learning methods, you can explore, discuss or consult such books.

ability

Secondly, let's talk about ability. The ability to learn is determined by the speed of learning and the motivation to learn. The speed of learning is determined by IQ and genes - this is a factory setting that we cannot change. The motivation to learn is mainly determined by curiosity. Of course, competitiveness is also an influencing factor. People want to surpass others in all aspects out of the desire to win. However, this is a forced stimulation of people in a completely competitive environment. I will talk about this topic later. This article mainly talks about curiosity. Animals are curious. In order to find food and mates, every animal has the urge to leave its comfort zone and explore new information. What is different from humans and animals is that we are also curious about knowledge. Even if this knowledge has no direct relationship with food, it is just a very abstract thing, such as a mathematical equation, we can still have a strong curiosity. Learning a new knowledge will give you a great sense of pleasure. Ah, I didn't understand this principle before, but now I understand it, and it suddenly dawned on me. That's what it is! It's so different from what I thought! Haha, this cognitive update is so cool. The English world calls this feeling "mirth", which means joy and happiness, just like the "joy" that Mr. Hu Shi said: "What's there to be afraid of? The truth is infinite, and every inch of progress brings an inch of joy."

The key to maintaining curiosity is to maintain an appropriate learning speed. If learning is like driving a steam train, curiosity is like the throttle of the steam engine. Its function is to maintain the pressure inside the engine. If the pressure is too low, the throttle will be tightened to increase the pressure; if the pressure is too high, the throttle will be released to release the pressure. If the pressure of the steam engine remains unchanged, the train will move forward at a constant speed. The same is true for our learning. We hope that our learning can move forward at a constant speed that suits us best. How can we achieve this? Noel Dickey, a professor at the Michigan Business School in the United States, divides the learning of knowledge and skills into three zones[3]: the innermost zone is the comfort zone, which is the various skills we have mastered; the outermost zone is the panic zone, which is the knowledge and skills we cannot learn for the time being; the middle zone is the learning zone, which is the zone of proximal development in cognitive development and is the most suitable zone for our current learning. So how can we ensure that we stay in the learning zone? There is a research result called "The 85% rule for Optimal Learning", which says that when only 15% of the content we are exposed to is new and unknown, then learning is most effective. This 15% probability is the key factor that keeps us curious. If the new content we learn is controlled within the range of 15%, then our motivation to learn will be sufficient.

quality

Again, let's talk about quality. Developing good study habits, learning effective time management, controlling your emotions, and handling interpersonal relationships with people around you are all part of good learning quality. The quality of learning is judged by the results, that is, whether you like learning, whether you have a sense of accomplishment, and whether you have gained meaning. We often hear a saying: "I understand a lot of truths, but I just can't live a good life." This means that many students know how to do it, but for various reasons, they just can't do it, or they can only do it for a period of time and can't stick to it. In the process of teaching, I found that most students with low learning efficiency often ask: "Why should I study?" "What if I can't find the motivation to study?" "What if I don't like studying?" "I made a study plan, but I can't stick to it," "I have too much pressure to study and often suffer from insomnia at night," "I had a quarrel with my deskmate, so I didn't listen to a class," "I think I have procrastination, but I can't change it"... To develop good learning quality, you need persistent training.

Mindset

Finally, let’s talk about mentality. Why is it that the closer we get to the exam, the harder it is to study? Why does the mind go blank during the exam? Why do most people feel nervous and anxious before or during the exam? How can we help students reduce the psychological pressure related to the exam? Why do some students perform well in normal times but “drop the ball” at the critical moment? Most people who succeed in exams have the following three qualities: calmness, confidence, and focus. Therefore, to improve performance, we must keep our body calm, our mind confident, and our spirit focused. The book “Exam Psychology” mentions that the body, mind, and spirit form a three-legged stool model. On the premise of laying a solid foundation for learning, we must cultivate a mindset to control the situation[4]. The duel between masters is actually a contest of mental strength. For example, the college entrance examination is not as simple as taking an exam. It also examines a person’s comprehensive qualities. Before the exam, we must make full preparations and make a list of failures - note that this is not a book of wrong questions. The book of wrong questions only allows us to complete the closed loop of knowledge, but mistakes made in the exam are not necessarily caused by knowledge. We must also adjust our mindset, so we must complete the closed loop of the exam. For example, take a deep breath in the examination room and control the rhythm of answering questions; after taking each test, do not check the answers, regardless of whether you are right or wrong, do not care about the gains and losses of the previous test, and concentrate on each test. In this way, you are most likely to get the best test results.

So, should we buy a house in a school district or go to a prestigious school? Relying on a prestigious school to guarantee a certainty and security is expensive. Compared with a good transcript, developing good habits, mastering the right methods, and having a normal mind may give us a greater sense of control than good grades.

References

[1] Walters, JASCSDJFTKPPC Student Achievement in Massachusetts Charter Schools. (Center for Education Policy Research, Boston, 2011).

[2] Barabási, A.-L. The Formula: New Scient[M]. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2018.

[3] Tichy, N. Succession[M]. Michigan: ‎Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition, 2014.

[4] Ben Bernstein. Examination Psychology[M]. Beijing: Posts and Telecommunications Press, 2022.

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