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A visit to China's schools
With the Olympics coming to an end in Beijing, a lot of attention is on China and how the country has portrayed itself to the world.
Edgar Hatrick, Superintendent of Loudoun County Schools, got the chance to visit China earlier this summer to witness first hand Chinese students in several different schools.
What he saw, he said, amazed him.
Hatrick recounted the story of his travels at a School Board meeting earlier this month.
"It was a fascinating trip," he said of the eight-day adventure he took with about 400 other educators from across the United States.
(Loudoun County schools did not pay for his trip.)
"Now watching the beginning of the Olympics, it brings to fruition so many of the thoughts I had while I was there."
Hatrick said the heart of the visit came in visiting schools and talking to students there.
"The Chinese students we met are so interested in what is happening in America. It inspired me about the future," he said. "Even if we as adults can't break down some of the barriers that divide us, these children can."
One of the schools the educators visited was a high school with about 5,000 students. There, Hatrick said he saw 60 students in classrooms that in America would fit just 30.
But, he said, the Chinese have plenty of technology in their schools like computers and other equipment.
Hatrick also got the chance to stop by an English classroom where students are quickly learning the English language. By 2012, China will be the largest English speaking country in the world.
Students in the English class go by names like Ed, Betty, Robert, etc, Hatrick said.
At the end of the class period, he said he asked them where they came up with the inspiration for their names.
"Our teacher give them to us," they said. "And those are our American names."
Hatrick said it was amazing to hear them say this.
"The future truly is in our children," he said. "It just makes me so much more dedicated to the notion that we have to educate all of our students to be world citizens."
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