When junior schools in China began new enrolments this week for the next academic year, some of them were in for a surprise: the number of foreign students wanting to join had gone up. Chinese is the medium of instruction from nursery to post-graduation, so it?s difficult for foreign students to study in a local school. That?s why expats have to make the choice between staying on without their families in jobs which they enjoy, or going back home to unsatisfactory job conditions but a better family life. This is one choice Westerners in India rarely have to make, since education in English is universally accessible.
It?s not as if there are no English schools in China. While Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have more than one ?international? school, expats in smaller cities make do with what they get. Take Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton. Historically, the foreigner?s port of call, it has been at the forefront of China?s ?opening up?. Even here, the foreigner doesn?t really have a choice if his kids are over 12 years old.
Most international schools in Guangdong are either American or Canadian. One or two claim to follow the International Baccalaureate curriculum, others follow the IGSC system. Some simply follow their own uniquely American system, where the individual learning process is touted as the be all and end all of the school.
Learn to think
For Indian families, these schools come as a culture shock. Since most of them admit only children of expats, the total number of students varies from 22 to 65 to 150. There can be as many as three students to a class; a really crowded class can have 13.
Homework is not entirely unknown, and can at times get burdensome, but no dire fate awaits the student who hasn?t completed it. He may be asked to answer the questions orally to satisfy the teacher that he has understood the chapter. For Indian students used to having answers marked out for them, the experience of finding them on their own is enough to make them lose the habit of learning by heart.
However, what students gain in terms of independent thinking and experimentation, they lose in terms of knowledge, where maths and science are concerned. Calculators are routinely used. And in American schools, geometry and chemistry are taught only from Grade IX, with few schools having labs.
Cheaper option
In at least three such schools in Guangdong, the principals had all been physical education teachers back home in America. Too much of a coincidence, or just the fact that as in India, the credentials of a white skin are never questioned? One international school is housed on just one floor of a Chinese school, and runs two different classes simultaneously in one classroom! In most of these schools, students of different age groups are often lumped together in the same class. For all their emphasis on individual levels of learning, the managements don?t think it worthwhile to buy different sets of books or hire more teachers.
Yet, these schools charge $ 16,000 a year, the tab picked up by the parents? employers. Not surprisingly, foreigners who see themselves living in China for five years or more, as well as Chinese married to foreigners, decide to enrol their infants in Chinese schools. This works out cheaper, even after the special fee of $ 3,500 a year that foreigners must pay. Also, Chinese public schools are run under strict government supervision and have facilities for sports. Such children benefit from both Western and Chinese cultures ? but only till they are 10. After that, Westerners feel their kids need to go back to their roots ? never mind if these are found in English medium schools in Hong Kong or Singapore!
