#educationissues

Education Issues, Policies and Programs Terry M. Kohan

Education is super important in China and a lot of emphasis is placed on the education of their culture and history. You will find a lot of museums, parks, temples, schools and other places that are deeply rich in all things China. I thought it was quite interesting that you could go just about anywhere and learn about something that happened years ago or be educated in the foundations of the academics (like Confucianism).

There were quite a few places in Laoshan, especially, that I enjoyed the most. This area was not very far from Qingdao, where I stayed, and consisted of just a short bus ride of about 20-30 min. I had the opportunity to meet with the students of a local primary school and also (much later) had the chance to be guest at the home of the principal’s family. I selected this experience among the many to be very special because I found myself doing homework and preparing myself for the day ahead in terms of being able to understand the significance of some the places I went to, to the people of Laoshan.

Education in general is a major global issue, where some places have amazing educational needs met versus places where education is almost unheard of due to certain circumstances. That said, I had many meaningful moments in Laoshan, and I was able to really compare the level of schooling to that in the US. The school I visited had classes in Chinese classical music, martial arts, paper cutting, 3-D printing, marine biology and so much more. And this was just a primary school, may I add. Normally this would be the equivalent of private schooling in the US and not normally considered as important as math or science. The importance of these classes really teach the students Chinese culture and that it holds high significance in their lives.