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    Shanghai Principal Article

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    JadeShao


    Posts : 44
    Join date : 2009-08-31

    Shanghai Principal Article Empty Shanghai Principal Article

    Post  JadeShao Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:57 pm

    For the past two weeks, you may have seen a Chinese lady walk into your classroom and be introduced as the principal from Shanghai. Her name is Mrs. Tang and she is participating in a Principal Exchange Program in which 100 principals from different districts of Shanghai are distributed to elementary, middle and high schools all throughout California in order that they may have an eyewitness experience of what an “American Education” consists of. In China, the school days are much longer, from 7 a.m. in the morning to 5 or 6 p.m. in the evening and the schools are so compact in the more metropolitan areas that it is a typical site to see high school buildings of more than six stories. So the next time you moan and groan about having to climb two flights of stairs to go to your class on the second floor of J-Building, be grateful its not twelve flights and we only have one J-Building on campus. Another major difference in the two countries educational system is the amount of extracurricular activities available to students. Mrs. Tang recently participated in our Homecoming assembly and game in which she exclaims, “Wow! This is the kind of sight that I never would have been able to see back in Shanghai. We don’t have nearly as many different sports teams and we certainly don’t have things like Orchesis or Senior Men and Women.” As for the Homecoming game, she says she’s only ever seen a football game on T.V. and our AHS Marching Band is definitely one of the coolest things ever. In Shanghai, the students only ever have time for studying and doing their homework and studying some more. Now, to those of you taking an abundance of AP classes, the above probably sounds about right. However, the main reason students in China bury their heads in a sea of textbooks and papers are because they want to pass the annual College Entrance Exam, the only, I repeat ONLY, thing which determines whether or not they attend college and which university they will attend. The college application hardly exists in China for high school seniors only have one chance to perform spectacularly on the most important test of their lives, no pun intended. In contrast, our educational system allows for colleges to factor in a students personality, leadership qualities along with GPA and SAT/AP scores. This is one of the principle reasons, Mrs. Tang is here, she hopes to learn more about our educational system and process so she may transfer than knowledge and hopefully put it to use improving not only her school, but other schools in the Shanghai municipality. Mrs. Tang says that “Arcadia High School is truly amazing. This is been an eye-opening experience for me.”

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