Teaching in China, One Perspective

By Loretta Minet, Asian Media Access

Asian Media Access had the opportunity to visit and get to know nine students visiting from Hunan China and three teachers. AMA youth sat down with the students to find out about the youths lives in China and the students got to learn a little bit about being a teen in America. Despite some language barriers, everyone was able to communicate with each other.

I had a chance to sit down with Liu Chang (Angel) who is an English teacher at the High School. This is the group’s first trip to America. They are part of an Educational Exchange, visiting their sister school, Eden Prairie High School. Their school in Hunan is ranked number one in the province and is very competitive. The teachers and students work very hard with a day that begins at 7:30 a.m. every morning and they have classes until noon, when they go home for lunch. The students return to school at 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., when they go home for dinner. But their day does not end there. The students return to school at 7:30 p.m. for “study time” until 10:00 p.m. in the evening. It is hard to image American students keeping such long hours. When asked about her thoughts of Eden Prairie High School, Ms. Chang thought the school was beautiful with lots of computers. She said that many Chinese students would like to come to America to study because they would not have to work so hard. Study is difficult in China with an emphasis on math, physics and chemistry. Students in the U.S. are much more physically active than in China. The students in Chine get one half hour after class each day for sports or other physical activity.

Mr. Cai Xiang Rong, the Vice Principal of the school and physics teacher also visited with us. There are approximately 5,000 students in their school and 300 teachers. I asked him if it was difficult to manage such as large school. He said the students are very diligent. They do not have discipline problems or problems with drugs or gangs. To go to their school, the students must pass an entrance examination, so they get some of the best students in their school.