Principal Smith Goes to China

List of US Institutions where their graduates enrolled

The curriculum of their Sino-US program is supported by the College Board and is aimed at preparing students for AP Exams.  My tour guide, a junior, is preparing for AP exams in Physics, Chemistry, and Calculus.  She will take these exams in English, not Chinese.

While running at 6:30 AM along the Songhua River in Harbin City, there were literally hundreds of people out walking, doing Tai Chi, calisthenics, and even swimming in the river.  You should know that it was 30 degrees out!  It is amazing to see so many people outside exercising this early in the morning and in such cold weather.  Interestingly though, smoking is a national issue in China.  People smoke everywhere, in restaurants, hotels, and even in airplanes.  The smell of cigarette smoke is everywhere and it is not pleasant.

Following the education forum with school leaders in the province, we enjoyed a great feast.  Over twenty dishes were served.  The food and conversation were outstanding.

How much food can one table hold?

On Monday, we left Beijing early for our two-hour flight to Harbin City in the Heilongjiang province. After an uneventful flight and check in at our hotel, we traveled to our meeting with educational leaders from across Heilongjiang. The meeting began with formalities and the exchange of gifts from the delegation to the Cabinet leader for education in the province. There were a number of speeches from dignitaries and other officials extolling the benefits of forming educational partnerships between schools in China and in the US. After the speeches, Principals from schools in the province stood and gave presentations about their schools hoping to find a delegate from the US willing to sign an agreement to partner. Also, some of the delegates shared information about their schools and districts hoping to find a good match.

The events of the past two days inspire a great deal of conversation between the delegates. There is ongoing discussion about the organization and resources dedicated to building these partnerships. As well, we constantly discuss the merits of the existing Chinese educational system, the reform efforts, and each of our perceived strengths and weaknesses of the current systm in the US.

After visiting the Lama Temple, we traveled to the Harbin/Confucius Institute. Harbin is the organization that is sponsoring this trip. The purpose of our visit to Harbin was to view the educational materials that are available for schools, to view their extensive display of Chinese cultural artifacts, and to hear a presentation about the Chinese commitment to form partnerships with schools across the world. These partnerships aim to strengthen ties between schools and to offer an opportunity for teachers and students to learn and grow from each other. It is my understanding that there are a significant number of these partnerships already in existence. Harbin is a very powerful organization in China. They are considered an equal to the Chinese Ministry of Education. This meeting provided the members of our delegation with a focus and purpose as we prepare to visit schools and meet with educational leaders in the Heilongjiang province.

Following our visit to Harbin, we traveled to the Beijing Foreign Studies University. At this impressive university students study over 40 different languages and cultures. The purpose of our visit was to hear a lecture from Dr. Zhao Zhong about Chinese Education and the most recent reform efforts. Dr. Zhao Zhong’s lecture focused primarily on China’s efforts to help students develop higher order thinking skills and creative problem solving and to increase local influence on national standards. He spoke of China’s desire to model the efforts of the United States to help students perform acquire the abiltity to think creatively and critically. Dr. Zhao Zhong told the audience that Chinese students perform well on national and international tests because they have trained to do so, but that the current reform efforts seek to expand curriculum and instruction to foster higher order thinking skills in students.

As you can imagine, followng the lecture there was a great deal of conversation between the delegates about the current direction of US education efforts. The irony of Dr. Zhao Zhong’s speech and his call for China to model the US and to move away from a narrow curriculum aimed at preparing students to take standardized tests was lost on no one. Unfotrtunately when asked, Dr. Zhao Zhong was unable to comment about RTTT and the recent adoption of national standards. I’m sure he will have interesting comments after learning more about the current direction of education in the United States.  Overall, the events of this day provided interesting information about Chinese education.  This information is useful as we head to the Heilongjiang and our school visits.

I began Sunday, November 6 with an early morning run. I did not want to get lost, so I did a simple out and back from the hotel. This was a great opportunity to see a small part of Beijing wake up for a new day. The street was nearly empty with the exception of a handful of people walking their dogs, a few bicyclists, and a couple of workers sweeping the sidewalks. The car and bike traffic was minimal, so I enjoyed running in the bike lane comfortable that I would not be in anyone’s way. Two of my favorite things that I saw were street vendors setting up for the day and two or three sets of people doing calisthenics in small parks outside apartment buildings. I noticed that there was almost no trash on the streets, in the bike lanes, or on the sidewalks. Pretty impressive to me for a major urban center. Also, I noticed that there were a lot of flowers planted and well maintained along the roadway. Before coming to China I heard a great deal about the smog that plagues the city and I expected to find other types of pollution, as well. My running route, however, was quite lovely and offered me a great opportunity to see a small part of Beijing coming alive for a new day.

During the morning of November 6, we visited the Lama Temple. The Lama Temple was constructed during the 17th century and converted into a Tibetan lamasery in 1744. The highlight of the Lama Temple is the 55′ high statue of the Buddha carved from a single block of sandalwood. According to our guide, only 8% of the population of China practice Buddhism.

The striking main gateway of the colorful Lama Temple

We had an incredible day of sightseeing.  In the morning we visited Tian’an Men Square and the Forbidden City.  Each of these places were crowded with tourists.  Tian’an Men-the Square of the Gate of Heavenly Peace-is a vast open concrete expanse at the heart of the city.  Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum is the focal point.  The line of people to enter the Mausoleum was enormous.  Thankfully, a visit to the Mausoleum was not on the agenda.

Forming the heart of Beijing is the Forbidden City.  This huge palace is over 600 years old.  There are three massive gates through which you must pass to enter the city.  The palace was the exclusive domain of the imperial court and dignitaries until 1949.  The architecture was fantastic, but the highlight was the Imperial Garden.

In the afternoon, we visited the Great Wall of China.  The Great Wall stretches 8,000 KM from north to south.  The Great Wall was built to provide defense against invading armies.  The climb was extremely steep, but the view of the wall winding its way over the hills was well worth the effort.

Interestingly, while climbing the wall I learned that one of my partners in my group is Mrs. Mosenthal’s brother-in-law.  It’s a small world.

Click on the map to make it larger.