The Best High Schools In the World, Pt IV, The Desire for Knowldge

Beijing No. 4 High School Perform at Fringe Festival

Yesterday, I posted the best country ratings for education published in this month’s issue of The Atlantic. On my Facebook page there were some comments and questions that I will address here.
Why is Shanghai listed in the country category? The answer is that this is the only city that has provided data from China that is perceived as reliable. (The whole issue of reliable data from China will be the subject of subsequent entries).

 From an on the ground perspective I can say that many of the schools I have visited there are far beyond what most in high school almost anywhere else would imagine as possible. There are exceptions, and some I have mentioned. Hwa Chong and Raffles in Singapore, Korean Minjook Leadership Academy in Korea, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Stuyvescent High in Manhattan all deserve mention among the magnet schools. And then there are the St Paul’s (in both US and UK), the usual suspects in the northeast boarding schools, united world colleges around the world, and several hundred others scattered a various States and countries.

 IOC President Jacques Rogge visits Beijing No. 4 High School

But I can also say that while Shanghai has some great schools and students, so do the other cities I have visited in China. Beijing No 4 High school is the most famous in China. I know a number of students, current and past, and believe me they are as impressive as it gets. But this is only one of many what are called Key high schools scattered all across the country. In each of these schools, the students, the teachers, and the facilities are all nearly without equal. (See previous blog entries under the best schools label).
But now it is time to show why stats and data are never the whole story. While it is true that China has the best schools, it is also true that they also compete for the schools near the bottom. In a country that has grown faster economically than any in history, much has changed. But much has not. There are a staggering number of humans, each with names and individual lives, who are barely getting by. They are still waiting for the trickle down of prosperity to trickle down. The government is aware this is perhaps a 100 year project. They do indeed plan ahead in ways we in the West who live by four year election cycles do not comprehend. In any case, the fact is that there are many children in China who cannot even go to school. They have no access to the pennies it would cost for pencils and books.

Champion Basketball Team from Beijing No 4 High School

So the rankings are indeed skewed. If all of China were included it would not likely be at the top. But ten Shanghai itself is larger than many of the countries rated. And the people who most in the world care about are the middle or upper middle class students who are competing for space at prestigious schools in the US. So I actually think the Shanghai ranking is useful given the demographics of the readership of The Atlantic and for hose educators around the world who are looking for models to transform education back home.

The students who attend the best schools in the world are often accused of being studying machines. I wish people who think like this could spend a few days talking with a couple hundred of hem. If they did they would come away knowing how stereotypes work at some level, but never at the level of the individual. What follows is simply one among hundreds of activities that shatter the myth of the Chinese student most hold in the West. The program described in a service project which brings great student to hose place in China which desperately need role models and support.

DreamCorps is one of my favorite service groups I know of. It transforms lives in both directions and gives hope to people who have had precious little. The intellectual capital the students bring is important to classes in the US, but is their willingness to reach out to those less fortunate that makes them valuable as global citizens. When we deny people like this visa to stay and transform this country with their hearts and minds I simply do not understand. (See 'will work for words' blog entry)

Calisthenics at Key High School in China

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Why Is It Important To Promote Reading In Rural China

 

Every time I volunteer I keep thinking the same question: Who do we help through volunteering? I’ve been volunteering at old people’s homes, schools, community events, and public parks… My favorite experience is volunteering for Dream Corps, from which I found the answer to my question.

Some of my fellow volunteers from Dream Corps went to elementary schools in rural China. They brought some books that were donated by Dream Corps. We then set up libraries in several elementary schools. Those who did this volunteer work told me they were warmly welcomed by the local kids.  In those kids’ eyes, the books they brought were like presents from Santa Claus, and the kids were as happy as celebrating Christmas. When the volunteers left after a one-month volunteering, the tears in the children’s eyes told us how sad they were.

Why were the students so happy when the volunteers came? Why so sad when the volunteers left? Our volunteers brought knowledge—that could make the kids happy, but the more important reason was that our volunteers brought something inspiring and provoking—the desire of knowledge. The desire of knowledge made life-lasting positive impacts on the students: they learned that the outside world is interesting and beautiful; they then want to know more about the outside world. The students in rural China don’t have Internet, and a lot of them even don’t have television cable. It’s not hard to imagine how excited children like them were when they heard new things from our volunteers. They changed the way they saw the world. And they instilled a bit of hope and desire. A few might now make it out of the trap of poverty and ignorance.

Fund Raiser for Dream Corps

Unfortunately, we have limited volunteers, and the volunteers could stay with the students for one month. We wish the positive impact on those students could last longer than the time our volunteers stayed. One way is to promote reading in rural China. We let the books continue motivating the kids who are suffering from social inequities.  Books become friends, guides, mentors for life.

I still remember how I’ve been changed by books. I’m from China, and I came to the United States for college. I learned the difference between American and Chinese culture from reading books, and what I learned from books motivated me to fly across the Pacific Ocean to embrace a new life. I want to see same changes begin to take place in the children in rural China. From reading, they wouldn’t become  people exactly the same as me, but they would be human beings with the same desire for knowledge. The desire of knowledge is like a seed planted in kids’ hearts. Seeds would grow to beautiful flowers. The desire of reading would grow to wisdom.