Rice to train high school principals from China

By Frances Hessel     9/6/12 7:00pm

 

Starting in Jan. 2013, groups of Chinese high school principals will travel to Houston throughout the year to participate in the Rice Leadership Training Program for High School Principals. The program became official on Aug. 20, 2012 with the signing of a memorandum by Tomson and Melinda Cotten, director of Rice's Office of Sponsored Research.

Rice University will be working in conjunction with Chongqing Normal University on educational personnel training and research collaboration. There will be up to three two-week training sessions every year consisting of approximately 25 principals each. After touring Houston and exploring The Galleria, CITYCENTRE, Houston Museum District and other local attractions, the participants will spend a third week traveling to Los Angeles, New York City and other American cities. Through this exposure, Bedient said they hope to provide a firsthand experience of American culture to the participants. The program will bring flood technologies to Normal, China as a second part of the exchange. 

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Rice Leadership Training Program:

The Rice Leadership Training Program is designed to educate the principals on how to prepare their high school students better for university-level education in America. Coordinating the program are Philip Bedient, a professor of civil engineering and director of Rice's Center for Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters, and Mason Tomson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering.

According to Bedient, Rice is not the first to create a program like this.

"A similar exchange has already been created between China and London, and we were interested in developing it between China and America," Bedient said.

Program participants seek to understand the differences between the education system in China and in America better and hope to recognize and to implement the strengths of each, according to Bedient. With 15.4 percent of Rice undergraduates being international students, many of whom come from China, the program is especially relevant to Rice. Additionally, many Rice students are already cognizant of some disparities between Chinese and American education.

Brown College freshman Vincent Yang from Hangzhou, China, said that there is a difference in Chinese versus American teaching styles that led him to choose an American university. 

"In China, in my experience, it's more like the teacher tells the students what to do, and they receive a black or white 'wrong' or 'right,'" he said. "The students lack critical thinking skills. In America, the professors suggest you do further research on the topic yourself."

Hanszen College junior Artie Shen, also from China, said he prefers the American education system. 

"High test scores of Chinese students do not prove anything," Shen said. "I think the education here in America is better because it is not so test-oriented. We have free time to develop our hobbies and interests."

Frank Fu, a first-year graduate student from China who did his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona, said the program would help realistically prepare Chinese high school students for the American education system. 

"Chinese high schools prepare you for college in China, not for America," he said. "To prep for America, we worked on our SATs. This will get you into a good college theoretically but won't actually prepare you for American college. Students in China should do more than only study, [like] more labs and more activities, and more interaction with society."

Flood technology brought to Normal:

Bedient said this Chinese-American collaborative project will also involve introducing American flood control and prediction technology in Normal, China, where the university is located.

"When the Three Gorges Dam was built, many people were relocated from the area to [Normal]" he said. "Because of this, the city has received extra funding to accommodate these folks, and part of it is being used to promote the educational system. This enabled their involvement in the Rice Leadership Program."

Through the China-U.S. Center for Environmental Remediation and Sustainable Development at Rice, Chinese and American leaders will work to promote sustainable environmental practices in both countries.

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