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Education--When East meets West
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广告招租，e-mail:yesize@hotmail.com AS Christmas draws near, Nancy Wang is thinking about taking her daughters back to the United States. They haven’t enjoyed the merry atmosphere of Christmas for a long time,she said. Speaking of her two American-Chinese daughters, Wang was filled with conflicting feelings. Before returning to China in 2000, Wang and her husband had lived in the US for almost 10 years. Their two daughters, Emily and Connie, were born there. Like many other overseas Chinese, Wang and her husband made great effort to improve their lives. But no matter how hard we worked, it was very hard for a Chinese to be appointed as a top leader in America,Wang said. Her husband decided to start a business in his homeland, China, which has undergone many changes during the past 20 years, and drawn many overseas Chinese back. It was not an easy decision to make. The most important problem we confronted was arranging both careers while meeting the needs of the children. It was a huge risk to give up what we had built in the US. Emily and Connie preferred to speak and think in English, although they could also speak Chinese. Emily is afraid of going to Chinese schools. She is worried that she won’t be able to keep up with other Chinese students,Wang said. In spite of being inspired by China’s fast development and open policy, many overseas Chinese are hesitant about accepting job offers in the country. He would not return unless we could find a suitable school for our children to attend,Wang said. Conflicts at school There are 150 public or private schools in Shanghai, some of which have international classes. In addition, there are more than 20 international schools that provide Western-style education, according to Huang Weimao, director of the Shanghai Municipal Office for Introduction of Foreign Experts. How can returning families choose one school from more than 170? Zhou Jun returned from New Zealand with his wife and two children in 2000. When it was time for their children to enroll in school, he and his wife started a careful search for the ideal school. The high tuition fees (US$10,000-20,000) at international schools scared them away. Also, international schools only offer Chinese classes once a week,Zhou frowned. The environment for Chinese learning is not good enough. After a difficult search, Zhou sent his children to a leading Chinese public school. Five months later, an incident occurred which caused him to take them out of the school. Zhou’s son, Michael, made some obvious progress in his Chinese writing. The teacher believed someone else had done his homework for him. When Michael argued with her, the teacher told him she would take him to the police station and use the lie detector there to find the truth if he did not confess that he had not done his own homework. In Chinese school, my son was always out of tune with other children,Zhou said. In New Zealand, teachers were less ready to criticize children for talking or fidgeting in class. In the eyes of Chinese teachers, my son was too naughty and undisciplined,Zhou said. Looking back on their own experiences attending Chinese schools, both Wang and Zhou said that they did not want their children to be taught in accordance with the traditional examination-oriented curriculum. We do not care what grades my children get in their exams, that means nothing. I just hope they feel happy every day when they go to school. They will study willingly when they fall in love with their schools,Zhou said. Stage for personality In Shanghai, the number of returning experts has reached 50,000. Solving the education problems of these people’s children has become a significant challenge for the local government. If a solution is not found, these talented people, who play an important role in the local economy, will not stay. In order to dispel returning experts worries about their children’s education, little Hai Gui(children of returning scholars) classes have been set up in the Jingn Foreign Language Primary School and Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai International Studies University, beginning from last September. Usually, children of returning experts do not have a good command of Chinese,Huang said. Since these children come from different backgrounds, and considering the difference between Chinese and Western educational systems, little Hai Gui classes have been specially tailored to meet their needs. Michael and his older sister have been transferred to the little Hai Gui class, where they studied with more than 20 students from Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, Belgium and Germany. Comparatively, students in the little Hai Gui classes are more open and independent, according to Zhang Qilian, the headmaster of the Jingn Foreign Language Primary School. She remembered that on the first day of class, the teacher in charge stood on the platform, bewildered, watching the aughty students walking around. Unlike most Chinese students, these children showed their exaggerated personalities. As teachers, we have to think seriously about how to get along with these children while, at the same time, sustaining their individual personalities, Zhang said. One strength of the Chinese educational system lies in elementary education. In addition, China’s long history endows its education with a deep cultural and moral foundation. The two elements attract returned scholars to bring their children home to absorb the essence of traditional Chinese culture, Huang said. Through their study in the little Hai Gui classes, Zhang said, these children would gradually get to know who they are. because their roots are in China regardless of where they were born. We are creating a more tolerant and open environment for these children to grow up in. We are determined to combine the best parts of traditional Chinese and Western education, Zhang said. By Yang Yang
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