HughHarris

Why was I in China? I think there are several reasons but there is one significant one – here it is:

After leaving Nanjing we went to our second “smaller city” Suzhou (only 6 million) and visited Suzhou High School-SIP a very prestigious 9-12 program. It has a boarding school but only during the week. We were presented a lecture on the educational system in China and it became even more clear why the Hanban Institute wanted relations with US schools. They stated that 20 years ago the government wanted to change their system to a “market related educational system” meaning that students should learn how to function in a economic driven society and be able to conduct business in a global setting. They understand that English is the language of business and so they are eager to learn and teach Chinese to as many as will learn.

After this introductory meeting with many schools from the Suzhou we had lunch and then broke up in to random groups in the SIP library. There was no control over who met who they just put us in this room and said introduce yourselves and meet. I just “randomly” sat down with another US private educator and a man and lady Chinese educators from No. 5 Middle School (thats their name for high school) and the first question out of their mouth was “can you help us find the Presbyterian Church and the family of the first American Missionary Headmaster Dr. R.N. Hayes who founded the school in 1892?” Right then I knew why I was in China.

November 24, 2012 - Posted by hughharrisfca | Education | China, education