China

Education reform top of agenda for Yunnan team

By Kelly Chung Dawson (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-03 10:55

New YORK - A high-level delegation of government officials and university heads from Yunnan province is touring the United States on an educational and information trip that include stops at the US State Department and various schools in DC and New York.

"We have several goals for the trip," said Luo Chongmin, director of Yunnan provincial department of education in Southwest China.

"The main purpose is to understand how education reform is being implemented in the US, and also what lessons the US might learn from China."

The delegation includes Zou Ping, deputy director of the Yunnan provincial department of education; Zhang Yingjie, president of Yunnan Nationalities University; and Zhang Shaohong, director of the office of international collaboration and exchange at the Yunnan provincial department of education.

At the State Department, the delegation discussed President Barack Obama's "100,000 Strong" initiative, which aims to send 100,000 US students to China within the next four years.

The delegation is interested in educational investment opportunities and cooperation with US education organizations that are part of the push for the Obama plan, Luo said.

The group visited Columbia Teachers College in New York, which runs several programs related to Yunnan, including scholarships for poor female in China.

"This trip is a way for the Yunnan group to develop international vision, and to be exposed to lessons that might not necessarily be learned, but at least considered," said Mun C. Tsang, director of Columbia's Center on Chinese Education.

The center has hosted various groups from Yunnan for training and seminars. Tsang believes that while most educational exchanges between China and the US until now have been understood to mainly be the US imparting wisdom to China, the balance is beginning to shift.

"My view is that sooner or later, China will be an expert in educational ideas," Tsang said. He pointed to the possible correlation between parental involvement in the Chinese education system and why Chinese students tend to excel in the sciences.

"It's becoming more and more of a two-way exchange. The student is becoming the teacher," he said of the two countries.

Luo echoed this point, saying the sheer number of students receiving an education in China sets the systems apart.

"The number of students in school in China at any given time is almost commensurate with the whole population of the US," Luo said.

"Policy implementation has to respect and be conscientious of those differences."

Several areas in which the US might learn from China are in government coordination (Luo believes the Chinese central government coordinates regional education system issues better than in the US where most education issues are at a state level) and in using government policy to help involve non-governmental resources, especially from private businesses.

"However, the delegation has learned tremendous amount of how policy reform is being implemented in the US, and there are many areas that are highly relevant to China and applicable to the Chinese educational context," he said.

Luo listed educational equity and the emphasis placed on equal access to opportunities for public school students as a major inspiration.

Another area where China might take a cue from the US is in the evaluation of teachers, which holds schools to the highest standards, he said.

Andrea Pasinetti, CEO of China Education Initiative, which helped organize the trip, said the group has received highly positive responses from schools visited in DC and New York.

"It's been enormously productive, and a wonderful opportunity for people to learn about the similarities and differences that exist between the US and Chinese systems," he said.

China Daily