Education ends – Compulsory education in China ends following ninth grade, typically when a child reaches the age of 14. After that, students must take entrance exams and families must pay to send students to a high school. Despite this, educators the delegation spoke with say the vast majority of Chinese youth complete high school.
Education begins – When children are just weeks old, families are encouraged by Chinese schools to support and educate their children. At Hexi No. 18 Kindergarten, Principal Ms. Li Xiaonhong said the school hosts a Sunday gathering open to parents and children in the community under the age of two. During these gatherings, parents meet with each other, talk with teachers and discuss the “overall growth and education” of the child, said Ms. Li.
“It allows the parents to see where there child should be developmentally and where others are,” said Li. About 100 parents attend each of these weekly session, she added.
School day – The average school day averages 10 to 12 hours in the middle and high schools, starting at 7:30 a.m. In standardized testing years, students sometimes stay in classes until late at night and come into school on Saturdays.
Terra Cotta Warriors – To better understand the culture and to assist in some lesson planning - among those in the delegation are world history teachers - the delegation toured the Terra Cotta Warriors: 8,000 life-sized, fully detailed terra cotta soldiers and horses. This tour especially pleased the history teachers in the delegation. Seeing these several-thousand-year-old statues, still being excavated by archeologists from around the world, was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Words can't properly describe it!
No comments:
Post a Comment