From my teaching experience here in the States, I found a big difference between Education in the States and in China. Students here are more willing to challenge their instructors and professors than their Chinese counterparts.
It is still fresh to me that once I myself challenged my professor in China.He taught Advertising History class, and it was, like you may have guessed, a boring course. He lectured according to the textbook word by word, and I had a few questions that I would like to ask. He took my first question at ease but frowned at me as I went on to ask another one. By the time I sat down (btw, we have to raise our hands and stand up when we want to ask questions in class), he got mad at me and told the class to read the textbooks when there was a question. He believed that all questions should be solved if students read beforehand.
Time passed fast and now I'm teaching my students. This professor always reminds me that teaching should not be an authority thing. When I see American students asking questions and challenging the instructors and even textbooks, I have this urge to tell the Chinese students and teachers that the teacher-centered classroom should be no longer there.
Students and teachers can both make mistakes, and this challenging attitude makes knowledge understood better and makes teaching more effective than ever.
