失败方法之一：在国内什么样，出去后还什么样

　　中国学生对在中国怎样当个好学生很清楚。但如果到了国外还完全照搬老一套，就不会成功。

　　中国的教育制度奖励那些能把必要的内容死记硬背下来的学生。中国学生相互竞争，看谁的个人成绩在分数榜上名次更高。而北美的学校认为，只有当学生们都理解了重要的概念、法则，并且能以不同的形式运用知识，学校才获得了成功。

　　当一个中国学生在北美的学校里仍试图单纯地死记硬背，而他的同学不那么用功却拿到了更高分时，结果就难免令人郁闷。这是因为有的学生能够以不同的方法来写作业、做卷子，显示了他们对所学的法则有更深透的理解。在北美，两位不同的学生可能对同一个考试的卷子做出截然不同的回答，却取得相同的分数。这样的学生往往能运用额外的知识来进行论证，而那些额外的知识要么来自他们利用个人时间所做的课外阅读，要么来自于他们对哪些信息能更有力地支持某个观点有更好的认识。

　　失败方法之二：做个被动学习者

　　西方国家对中国学生有一种成见：一个典型的中国学生，会安安静静地坐在课堂里，从来都完成作业，并且在赢得数学和理科类课程的全班最高分。然而，这名中国学生在文学、历史、心理学以及其它那些需要每个学生对教材的文字内容形成个人观点并加以阐述的课程当中，表现就差得多了。

　　这两类课程的主要区别之处，在于(后者)要求学生通过开放式的讨论、辩论，以友好而又有技巧的方式挑战同学和老师的观点，并形成自己的理解。北美的学生自小学起，就以这种学习方式培养了自信。不仅如此，北美学生自幼年起就以学习小组的方式学习。他们以这种方式写报告、做展示和完成其它团队合作成果，就象他们长大成人之后进公司组成工作团队一样。

　　遗憾的是，一个北美同学眼里典型的中国学生，常常被看成是小组的负担，而不是财富，因为他的技能不适合为小组完成所开发的产品做出什么靠谱的贡献。而一个中国学生如果多一点个人的勇敢精神，多培养自己在社交和学术方面的技能，则会更容易被同学们所接受，同时也更容易取得高分。

　　失败方法之三：把自己隔绝在当地文化之外

　　西方国家对当今的中国学生还有另一个成见：他有的是钱，出手阔绰，为了炫耀买豪华车(宝马、奔驰等等)。当地学生讨厌这个。这等于告诉他们：这个中国学生不在乎与当地学生打成一片，而只想在海外华人群体当中出人头地。

　　这名中国学生的心态还有另一个表现形式，就是花大把时间跟他的中国朋友呆在一起，说中文、下中餐馆、去华人娱乐场所。这样做，当然可以让这名中国学生享受舒适的文化生活。但是，这也意味着他并没有从所在国同学和其它国家同学身上学什么东西。

　　(原文)

　　HOW TO GUARANTEE FAILURE IN STUDYING ABROAD

　　First way to fail: try to be the same as you were at home

　　Chinese students understand very well how to be successful in China.  However, if they try to study in exactly the same way abroad, they will not succeed。

　　The Chinese system rewards the student who can memorize the necessary information most completely.  Chinese students compete with each other and try to be ranked individually at the highest possible level.  North American schools feel they are successful if all their students achieve understanding of important concepts and principals and can apply knowledge in different ways。

　　The Chinese student who simply tries to memorize all the information from a course in a North American school will be frustrated when less studious classmates achieve higher scores.  This is because some students are able to write papers or exams in ways that reveal deeper understanding of principles.  In North America, two different students might compose very different answers to a given exam question but achieve the same scores.  Often such students are able to apply relevant evidence from extra knowledge gained through personal reading or through superior recognition about which information more strongly supports a point of view。

　　Second way to fail: be a passive learner

　　In Western countries there is a stereotype about the typical Chinese student who sits quietly in class, always does his homework and can achieve at the top of his class in math and science courses.  This student however, however, does much less well in literature, history, psychology and other subjects where the written course content requires each student to approach the information with a personal point of view and to form opinions and interpretations。

　　One of the main differences between the two clusters of subjects is the requirement that students develop their understanding through open discussion and debate, by skillfully and politely challenging the views of other classmate and teachers.  North American students have been developing the confidence to function in this manner since elementary school. Furthermore, North American students have been functioning in learning groups from an early age. By this approach, students produce reports, displays and other types of results using teamwork just as they might have to do as part of a production team in a company later in life。

　　Unfortunately, the stereotypical Chinese student is often seen as a burden rather than an asset by such groups because his skills are not suitable for contribution to the development of the product in a relevant way. The Chinese student who takes personal risks and develops his social and academic skills will find himself more easily accepted by classmates and will achieve higher scores。

　　Third way to fail: isolate yourself from the host culture

　　A different stereotype has emerged about the modern Chinese student.  He has a lot of money to spend and draws attention to himself by buying an expensive car (BMW, Mercedes, etc。).  Local North American students hate this.  It tells them that this student doesn’t care about learning to function with local students but wants to achieve status within an overseas Chinese population。

　　Another aspect of this mentality is the tendency for this student to spend a lot of time with Chinese friends, speaking Chinese and going to Chinese restaurants and clubs.  This will allow the student to have a comfortable cultural lifestyle but it means he is not learning to interact with students from the host country and other cultures。

　　作者：戴尔·叶落里先生(Mr. Dale Yellowlees)，加拿大萨省大学中国招生负责人，从事中国招生工作已有6年，去过中国多数省市

　　译者：马建明，国家留学基金委东方国际教育交流中心顾问