Chinese School Principal Visits Harrison Elementary
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Harrison Elementary School has a sister school in China, and its principal visited Harrison this week to learn more about the American education system.
Zhang Hao Qiang, principal at Shengli Primary School in Zhejing, China, arrived in Indiana Monday. Zhang then toured Harrison and had dinner before staying with his host teacher.
Tuesday morning, he returned to Harrison and met with Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz, according to Snider. He toured Harrison during the school day, and visited with many of the classrooms.
Snider said Zhang was interested in the school’s student arrival and dismissal, lunch and classroom processes. He visited Jefferson before a convocation was held for him at Harrison. The school presented him with gifts and the students sang him the school song.
Zhang left Wednesday.
Harrison and Shengli have been sister schools for only a couple of months.
“It’s rare to get a principal to visit,” said Snider. “(Teacher Deb) McClintock visited his school in April.”
Snider said he and some of his staff would like to visit Shengli. The ultimate goal is for Warsaw students to visit there, and Chinese students to visit Warsaw. Since the school calendars don’t line up, the student exchanges could occur during the summer.
Zhang took some time Tuesday to discuss, through a translator, his visit.
He said he was very happy to be here and thanked Global Indiana for the exchange program. Zhang wants the schools to learn from each other, and he wants an understanding of the school system here and how it works.
In China, Zhang heard about the American education system through scholars, workshops and television. With his visit, he wanted to see first hand how things are done.
A purpose of his visit is to get an understanding of the American education system. He wanted to meet Snider and open the door for American kids to visit China, and vice versa. His visit is a way to open the door for that opportunity, he said.
Teachers can learn from each other through the visits. Students can learn to be global citizens and also learn from each other.
“The culture, East and West, Chinese and American cultures, are very different,” Zhang said. “Because they are different, we need to learn from each other and open communications.”
He said he was in the States for 10 days, visiting Harrison for a little over a day. He’s seen classrooms and how the school provides an excellent learning environment for students. He also got to sit down with Snider and share their views on education.
There were two points Zhang said he was very impressed with.
First, he said, the students seem to be great kids. The kids have a very hopeful look in their eyes and they expect to have a good day when they arrive to school in the morning.
The kids are very free, and being in a democratic country, Zhang said, the students are learning on their own and eager to learn.
His second point was that kids are really respected at the school. Based on their level of learning, kids are offered opportunities to learn more.
There’s also a lot of “little things” that impressed Zhang, he said.
“The Chinese education system has its own advantages and disadvantages,” said Zhang. “It’s very strict and structured. But as the country goes more and more global, since it’s had its open door policy in 1977, we’ve adopted more of an American system.”
However, China has taken awhile to adopt it the American system, but it’s trying to get there.
“The American education system and the China education system have their advantages and disadvantages. If we learn from each other, we can get a better system,” Zhang said.
He described a school day in China. Students arrive at 7:40 a.m. They must walk or have their parents drop them off. There is no school bus.
Teachers instruct from 8:20 to 11:30 for morning school. Students have lunch for 1-1/2 hours. Most kids in China, Zhang said, eat at the school for lunch. Lunch is paid for by the student’s family, unless they are low income and then the government provides the meal.
Afternoon school is from 1 to 3 p.m. When school is over, students can either choose to leave or stay for classes like calligraphy, sports, science, math or music until about 5 p.m. In the arts, students can learn piano, violin, dance or the accordion.
Most kids choose the after-school programs, but some do not stay the whole time. They can also switch programs every day, doing one sport one day and then another the next.
“They try to make sure one child has at least one activity at school,” Zhang said. The activities are provided to all students.
Students also have multiple classes per week.
Zhang said the school days are pretty intense, with classes being subject based and 40 minutes long.
On average every week, he said, based on grade level, students have eight to 10 Chinese language classes, five math classes, two art classes, two music classes, four English classes, four physical education classes, two to three science classes, one craft class and one information systems class.
Zhang said his school is very open minded. He hopes that more American teachers and students come to his school in the future. The school is open to changes.
