Ni Hao New Jersey
Chinese exchange student, Daniel, shows WMS Journalism students how to write in Chinese characters.
During the first week of October, students from China came to WMS to learn how American schools are different from schools in China. Four boys named Daniel, Henry, Reid, and Tom experienced a week in the life of a WMS student.
Daniel, one of the Chinese exchange students, said that during the week he was “amazed” by WMS and the people here. He even said “the air here is much clearer”. He first noticed this on his flight from Beijing to Newark Airport, which took 14-hours.
Daniel thought Chinese schools could learn from American schools and vice-versa; he said teachers are “fun” here. He also said that his teachers are “more strict”. They don’t have any after school programs; right after school they go straight home to do their homework.
When asked if he spent time with friends after school, he stated “No, because my homework takes about five hours to do.” He even said it depends on how the teacher is feeling; if he or she is mad then there is a lot of homework, but if they’re happy then “not so much homework.”
He even spoke about education in the two countries. He said that he believes China should adopt some American educational strategies because he finds that his education is too stressful. Daniel’s school is actually a Canadian school in China, which combines teaching methods of Canada and China.
Daniel said the school does not have any honors classes, just regular classes. Furthermore, he already learned pre-calculus in his “regular classes”, even though he is only in eighth grade. However, the worst part of his school day is that it starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 4:15, almost one hour longer than our school day. Daniel stated that in his school there is no technology class at all; the only specials he spoke of were music and P.E.
He said that his lunch period is silent and their lunch consists of fish, rice, soup, noodles, and water; a very healthy meal. When he was here he said he “loved” the food during lunch time, especially the tacos.
Their journey opened not only their eyes but also our eyes to how different our schools operate. The exchange students opened us to their culture ideology. The situation was a microcosm for the way the world should be; celebrating differences instead of arguing about them.
