Sorting it Out
"Americans get here and they immediately lose all critical reasoning abilities and just go all gaga for China as though China has it all figured out," explains Jeff Bissell, China Program Director for School Year Abroad, a group that works with US independent schools to facilitate student visits to other countries.
"Isn't that what happened to you?" I ask the 13 year resident of China. "Yes," he admits, "and it's why I've stayed."
Jeff is meeting with us to answer any questions from his group's experience. They'll be helping with the August training session of the HANBAN teachers we select before they leave for the US and our schools.
I mention the meeting with Dr. Wang (see entry Learning to Fish) and ask if he thinks the Chinese education reform movement is being effectively implemented. He's skeptical, "but they're genuinely interested in reform. It's an honest effort," he tells me.
Only a few days in the country and I am trying to sort the official story from the reality.
On my fourth trip to Purple/Black Bamboo Park, I finally come across some bamboo that actually appears to have purple spots on it -clearly the source of the park's name. As I look more closely, I see that it is actually more like black. This is occurring to me before I realize the significance. It IS purple, it IS black, and it IS green.
Dr. Wang's narrative may BE the party line, served to us for our consumption, but it is truly an honest effort. The sea of red shirted middle school students doing physical exercises together as we happen by on our tour MAY have been arranged especially to impress us, but it IS true that they do put an emphasis on life-long health.
The origins of the healthy living seen in the legions of elderly in bamboo park are to be found in that red sea of youngsters.
"Sea of Red" Middle School students and NAIS visitors.
The sea of youngsters are from The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. The stop was actually our first of four stops on the day we visited with Dr. Wang, then went to the US embassy, then to HANBAN main offices.
Principal Yuan Aijun of the experimental school met with our delegation speaking through her interpreter, a very young and energetic English teacher. True to form, a number of the heads in our group tried to offer the young teacher a job on the spot. No luck.
Principal Yuan Aijun and interpreter.
The photos in the promotional materials we received show Principal Yuan with many Chinese and international dignitaries. We are clearly being shown a top-of-the-line school.
When asked what the greatest challenges she faces are, she surprises us by telling us that it is with the parents of the students in her school. "One of the effects of the one couple one child‚ population control policy of the Chinese government has been a huge number of only children," she tells us. We will hear the same thing from Dr. Wang an hour later.
"When the child is the precious single offspring, the parents go to great pains to make sure that their child is getting the very best. They do not always take our advice about what is right for the child and can be very pushy."
It is also clearly a great privilege to be selected for admission to the blue ribbon school, so the pressures are great.
After the school visit and the meeting with Dr. Wang, it's off to the US embassy where things get really interesting because of an overeager head's unfortunate question.
To be continued...