The best high schools in the world

Today’s guest blog has had educational experiences like few will ever have. In China she attended one of the “key” high schools, schools that are similar to Thomas Jefferson HS or Stuyvesant in the US. There are approximately 100 such schools in China so the number of remarkable students coming to the US is large and increases by double digits each year. Many schools in the US are dependent on these students not only because of there academic excellence but also because of the fact that virtually all these students pay full fees for there education here. There is almost no aid for international students in the US. The need blind policy of almost all schools in the US applies only to US citizens. Therefore, they are a great economic boon and are increasingly providing the funds necessary to provide aid to needy US citizens.

Many of these students end up at the top of their university classes In the US and then  are often accepted to the top graduate programs or are offered great jobs (should they be lucky enough to receive a work visa—the cap on international wok visas is preventing some of the best students in the world from staying in the US to provide expertise that would in fact expand the jobs available to US citizens).. 

This particular student, however, won a scholarship to attend what at least one major US publication has called the best school in the world, Raffles Junior College. Located in Singapore, Raffles and its rival school, Hwa Chong, are actually high schools so the name is misleading to people in the US. These schools are huge, far larger than almost any high school in the US. Nevertheless, the performance of these students outshines any school in the world on the English based A Level exams. No other school comes close. 

In addition, these schools have exceptional facilities. The governments in both countries have poured huge amounts of money into making sure strong students are given the best opportunity to learn. Hangzhou Foreign Language School has the most impressive facilities I have ever seen and I have seen literally thousands of schools all over the world. It puts most US colleges and universities to shame. Raffles is not far behind. Education is seen as far more important than virtually anything else in these countries. Teachers are held in very high esteem and respect is given to everyone. For those who do not know much about what is going on in the world in education, this introduction to these schools should prove eye-opening as it will shatter some of the stereotypes that are held about how students from these countries learn. In fact, they learn as or more creatively than any place on earth.

************************************************************************************

I am a rising fourth year college student. Thus far, I have been enrolled in three educational systems in three different countries. I was raised and lived in Mainland China until I was fifteen. My high school in China is called Hangzhou Foreign Language School -an “atypical” Chinese high school in my opinion, and also arguably the best high school in Zhejiang province in China. Then I went to Singapore, a country where its own people fondly refer to  it as “a little red dot” because of how small it looks on a world map. Later, I attended Raffles Junior College, one of the top junior colleges in Singapore. 

Looking back at myself eight years ago, a reserved wide-eyed girl who aspired to be a news anchor (I am an Architecture major now) on CCTV (China Central Television, a channel that I will only watch occasionally now when I go back home), I see how much I have grown as a result of these different places and cultures . This growth took place slowly and with effort on my part.. It came after many international flights between home and school, after having to learn new school rules, new exam systems and even a new accent/language every time I switched schools, after constantly adapting and learning from everyday experience about what is acceptable and what is not in a new culture, after meeting different people who inspired me in many ways without even realizing it themselves.

Hangzhou Foreign Language School – Zhejiang, China

In many ways, HFLS is different. It has the most beautiful campus in China, and sits secluded from the city central. Some of the students are from the city of Hangzhou where the school is located; others are from all over Zhejiang province, and some are even from outside the province.

HFLS, or Hangwai as the local people call it, has its own admission examination, which consists of academic subject tests and physical education tests. The exam questions are considered more creative and require more analytical and critical thinking skills from the students than the “ZHONG KAO” (the province-level high school entrance examination, which is set by the department of education in the respective province and determines their high school placement). Students admitted by HFLS through the school admission test can choose not to take the standard “ZHONG KAO”. In some way, students have started to embrace this innovative vision right from the beginning even before they are admitted.

Chinese teachers, students, and parents alike greatly value the importance of academic excellence and deeply believe that a good education can lead to personal success. Therefore, it is no surprise that HFLS placed paramount emphasis on students’ academic performance, especially in English. It may sound unbelievable to you, but it is true that we had five sets of textbooks just for English, two of which were written by our own teachers and only internally circulated. English class size was very small – about 15 students in each class. In the class schedule, English was not just English as one subject, but split up into several different sections: reading, oral, listening, grammar etc. We had to individually recite selected English dialogs and texts in our textbooks by verbatim almost every day to our English teachers, who would grade us based on not only accuracy but also pronunciation and enunciation. Learning English was a great part of our education.

Besides that, some of my most unforgettable memories came from my classroom experience. I remember that there was this chemistry teacher, who spoke mandarin with a strong Anhui accent that nobody could understand; he would always improvise Chinese poems using chemical elements names and their characteristics.  And there was a Chinese language and literature teacher, who never graded our essays but always asked us to read each other’s essays.

There are special language programs in HFLS. Students in these programs have separate curriculum. Quite a number of students are early admitted to top universities because of their excellent foreign language skills. Others not enrolled in a special language program would also have early admission and early application opportunities for extraordinary academic performance or leadership skills. To many Chinese students and parents, early admission to a college is not only a great honor, but also a relief that the early-admitted student can escape from the essential and almost brutal “GAO KAO” – a national standard college entrance exam that determines the students’ placement in college. The GAO KAO is regarded by many as the most rigorous college entrance examination in the world. These extra admission opportunities in some way alleviate the enormous pressure from GAO KAO, and give students a little more time to pursue their interests outside classroom. I remember we had many student-run clubs and groups, like film club, chess society, drama club, and dance group etc. But among them, there were not a lot of varsity sports teams as American high schools have.

I like Hangwai a lot for it is a great learning environment. The teachers and students alike share a genuine interest in learning and a great respect for knowledge. It is true that there are repetitive practices and problem sets just as how you might imagine Chinese education would be like. However, I didn't feel much pressure then, because most teachers were trying to make learning more enjoyable and effective – acquiring knowledge is the ultimate goal, more than getting into a good college. At the same time, to a certain extent I feel HFLS is like a bubble where you are shielded from the outside pressure– from the “Gao Kao”, the job market, or just the real life in general.

Raffles Junior College – Singapore, Singapore

Raffles is the most competitive school I’ve been to. Rafflesians are smart and motivated. You can always see students doing work in the library and in the canteen after school and self-initiated study groups working together in empty classrooms during weekends. I didn’t fully understand where this motivation came from. It was not only a constant self-motivation or self-discipline, but also a positive impact that was generated by the positive bonds between students. The name “Raffles” itself carries a power that compels students to do well. Maybe that was the school spirit in practice.

The academic environment was very intense, not less so than Chinese high schools. The GCE A-level exams are just like the Chinese “Gao Kao”; it determines students’ placement in both local Singaporean universities and top universities around the world.  As a foreign student, I was very much surprised by and at the same time admired the great work ethic and learning capacity of Singaporean students. Students choose to enroll to either science or arts stream. Within each stream, students still have the freedom to choose different class combinations. For example, a science student can take chemistry, physics, math and economics; he may also choose physics, math, economics and a foreign language instead of chemistry. There are higher-level classes available for students seeking more advanced learning in certain subjects, like mathematics, physics and economics.

The wide use of Slinglish – a colloquial use of English mixed with Chinese, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay and Indian words and grammars, sometime disguises the fact that Singapore is actually an English-speaking country. In all junior colleges in Singapore, students are required to do a subject called General Paper, something that resembles  a combination of the reading and writing sections in SAT. The General Paper trains students’ writing and reading skills, and raises their awareness of current issues in various fields across the world.  All teachers (except for foreign language teachers) use English in teaching, and students speak English/Slinglish in daily conversations. At Raffles, I was exposed to a lot English readings and discovered some of my favorite English writers: among them: Catherine Lim, Amy Tan and of course some of my classmates who wrote beautifully.  We have many students who score perfectly on at least one section of the SAT and a rather large number who score perfectly on all three portions of the test. The average score for each section of the test is well above 750 and given that the batch of graduating students numbers over 1700, this is quite impressive. The Wall Street Journal has called Raffles the best secondary school in the world.

Studying was not the only part of students’ life at Raffles. Students do sports, participate in student council and join student organizations like performing arts groups. Raffles students honor sports and extra-curriculum activities greatly, not any less than how they value academic performance. We had a wide range of sports clubs: cricket, basketball, soccer, volleyball, hockey, water polo and gymnastics etc. Students would devote large amount of time in activities, like team training, rehearsal, event planning and meeting. I remember that during sports seasons school would even rearrange class schedule to make time for students to cheer for the school team. That was something I would not expect to see in Chinese high schools. All these activities gave us a chance to see more outside the classroom and to become more worldly and open-minded.

I was on a Singaporean scholarship then. It was a scholarship by which the government sponsors students from Mainland China and ASEAN countries to study in Singapore without any bond after they graduate. Because of this “PRC scholar” title – a term that the teachers and classmates used to distinguish our “special” identity, the expectation for us scholarship recipients were higher, especially in our supposedly strong areas like math and sciences (unfortunately not true for everyone though).  When the local students were looking up to you for a solution to a difficult math problem, somehow you feel the obligation to know the answer or at least know better than the non-scholars. This mentality gave me even greater pressure to do better. Now looking back, I would laugh at myself for the unnecessary extra pressure I burdened myself with, but at the same time I truly appreciate the time being amongst the smartest students and being “labeled” assu as the smartest of the smartest, which has set for me a high standard of both academic performance and working ethics even after I’ve left Raffles.

Rafflesians has a long tradition of applying overseas universities. At Raffles, I learned about American research universities as well as liberal arts colleges. This was stressful but almost all strong students at Raffles are accepted into the top universities in the US, England, and other stop universities around the world. Now that  I study Architecture at Mr. Jefferson’s academical village, I’m experiencing another type of education. I feel a great sense of trust and freedom here. I am trusted to not cheat, to work hard, and to be responsible for my own learning; I meanwhile have the freedom  not to work, to pace myself, and to choose to be what I want to be. I’m still learning and “extracting” as much as I can.

I very much appreciate this academic environment and learning process, as well as the different schools I’ve been to, which in some very big ways formed my values and the person I have become.  I am open to new ideas, and have incorporated these ideas into my thinking about designing great structures wherever I end up working around the world.