Five faces of changing education
By Zhao Wen | Shanghai Daily, September 15, 2013, Sunday | 
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Reverence for education and learning is legendary in China — they are associated with wisdom — and teachers have traditionally been accorded great respect. They are the torchbearers of society’s values.
As China develops, education has changed to meet the needs of a modernizing, highly competitive economy and society. Traditional approaches to education sometimes seem to be at odds with the times.
Debate rages about the essence, the purpose and methods of education, from preschool to university.
Has education lost touch with the Eastern search for wisdom? Has it departed from the cultivation of moral character and upright citizens? Is it too utilitarian, reduced to test scores and turning out of skilled job applicants? Are the old ways too rigid? Whatever happened to love of learning?
Above all, what is the best way to strike a balance between Eastern and Western concepts, traditional education and modern requirements?
School is back in session and this is the month that China celebrates Teacher’s Day as well as the birthday on September 28 of Confucius (551-479 BC), the greatest teacher of them all.
Shanghai Daily talks with five educators — a university chancellor and heads of a girls’ high school, a pilot boys-only program, a key primary school, and a progressive kindergarten.
They are reformers and innovators as well as hands-on educators grappling with day-to-day issues. All are thinkers about the state of education in China and how best to serve the interests of students and society.
Yu Lizhong is chancellor of just-opened New York University Shanghai, which aims to cultivate “elite world citizens.” It combines the NYU curriculum with good ideas of other world-class universities, as well as some Chinese elements.
“There have been too many critiques of China’s education and not enough action. We’re working hard to find way forward with reform,” he said.
Principal Lu Qisheng opened the first boys-only high school classes, tackling the so-called “boy crisis” of weak, socially inept underachievers.
“To find out the right way to teach boys, we must understand boys first,” he said. “The important thing is to find out why boys don’t do as well as girls and how to help them learn better.”
Principal Xu Yongchu heads the No. 3 Girls’ High School, the only all-female high school in Shanghai. It encourages independence, self-expression and creativity among women who are traditionally expected to be quiet and reserved.
“One of girls’ early advantages over boys is language expression, however, girls dare not talk about their own thinking because they listen too much to parents and teachers,” Xu said.
Principal Fu Fang heads the Weihai Kindergarten, which provides a Montessori education stressing children’s self-directed learning, freedom within limits, and the teacher’s role as guide rather than commander. It’s the opposite of traditional education.
“A big problem for Chinese parents is that they cannot face the risk of children’s failures, which is why they push so hard and are so anxious to drive their children to excellence,” Fu said.
Vice Principal and Party Secretary Shen Dexi of Dahushan Road No. 1 Primary School in Yangpu District says respect for children and equal treatment is essential for reform.
She urges elected student leaders to serve other pupils, not boss them about. She urges students to make suggestions.
“I read every proposal carefully and also tell our teachers to read them and reply to every child,” she said.
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