Commentary

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   HAVE YOUR SAY Feel strongly about something? Share it with the community by writing a letter to the editor. You’ll need to include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) We reserve the right to edit letters, but if you keep yours to 250 words or less, we won’t ask you to shorten it. If your letter is published, please wait 30 days before submitting another. Send it to: E-mail: letters@heraldnet.com Mail: Letters section The Herald P.O. Box 930 Everett, WA 98206 Fax: 425-339-3458 Have a question about letters? Contact Carol MacPherson (cmacpherson@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3472).   Published: Sunday, July 22, 2007 GUEST COMMENTARY China's education system is a wake-up call for America By Sen. Val Stevens Last month, I joined a group of American legislators and educators for a tour of Chinese schools, the equivalent of our K-12 system. The trip was a real eye-opener. We visited Beijing and the Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China as guests of the Hanban office of Chinese Language Council International, an organization seeking to promote Chinese Language programs in the U.S. and Korea. From what I saw, we are in deep trouble here in America.Our K-12 education system is so far behind China's, there is no way we can catch up in the near future, let alone the next 10 years, without a change in the political correctness that plagues our system. China's government runs its schools much like America did in the early 20th Century. Students are taught the importance ofattending school and that excelling in school is the way to a prosperous future. Schools are not run by teachers unions, curricula are not dictated by special interests like the ACLU, and schools will not tolerate alcohol, drugs, weapons or disruption of any kind. Teachers are dedicated to the children, helping them learn and making sure they have a bright future. This takes talent, a warm heart and a firm hand. Students in China far outpace Americans at every grade level. How do they do it? First, students are not coddled. Teachers set clear expectations and students rise to the level of those expectations. Attendance is not optional and misbehavior is nottolerated.Students have approximately three hours of daily homework - it is required to pass the testing process.They study hard because they know that good jobs and a promising future depend on it. If a student fails, he or she does not graduate, period. As a result, students compete for high grades and show exceptional scholarship. Student academic scores far surpass ours at every level. Part of China's success is hiring Xiang (Bo) Wang, a world-class senior research scientist and psychometrician from the Office of Academic Initiatives and Test Development in New York, to advise them on college prep testing. They have followed his advice, and the results are outstanding. Another part of their success is that both students and teachers must excel. If a teacher cannot teach, he or she is dismissed. Unlike in America, no teacher's union ensures the job security of an inferior teacher at the expense of their students' future.Unlike in America, any curriculum that does not result in learning is quickly replaced. I visited with a group of students who had just passed their college entrance exams. Amazingly, they speak English as well as - if not better than - many American students at that grade level. These students were well aware that they had just passed the test that holds the key to their future. No Chinese student simply expects to "get by" if they do not measure up.If they fail, they must take another track - usually to learn a trade. Chinese students wear a simple uniform - the only competition is for grades. They know and revere their culture, history and leaders and have a healthy respect for authority. They are happy, involved, excited about life, and their future in it. For me, being with these students was like stepping back in time to the '40s and '50s in America, when our students were respectful, involved and innocently full of joy. Students in China were not complacent, entitled, self-absorbed or bored - because their school system did not set low expectations, pass the unprepared, teach ineffective curricula or lack accountability as is too often the case with the American education system. The People's Republic of China dictatorship is training its students to be leaders of the world.They have taken a page from a system that once worked in America when education - notschooling - was the requirement.If we don't re-tool our school system to mold disciplined, innovative, world-class professionals, I fear we willeventually find ourselves their servants. The simple truth is, to hold our present economic position in the world, Americans must be able to compete with some very determined countries. Our students are simply not being prepared. Ultimately, if they do not measure up, they will be eclipsed, and America will become a second-rate society. This is our wake-up call. State Sen. Val Stevens (R-Arlington) represents the 39th Legislative District.

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