April 4, 2009, the 4th International Forum of Leading Schools attracted more than 200 educators and students representatives over the world. The theme of this forum wasHow to Better Prepare Students for Global Higher Education. The related topics areHow to Better Prepare Students for Global Higher Education - University Perspective, International Perspective and Critical Thinking, leadership and enterprises, teamwork and innovation, communication for success. The forum experienced very heated discussion. There were many forms at this forum: dialogues between professors, group discuss among high school principals, questions from journalists, the discussion of students representatives from leading schools. All these made the forum interesting and a really gathering of wise communication.
Merge the East and the West, and prepare students for future
Peidong Wang, principal of the High School Affiliated to Xi’an Jiaotong University gave a keynote speech at Forum, with a title of Learn and Prepare Students to Compete in Global Future she said, there is still big gap between China, a developing country and advanced countries, while there is a need for both China and western countries to learn, to communicate and to complement for each other. The world needs Confucius. The world needs Shakespeare. The world needs Einstein. More importance should be attached to the complement of East culture and West culture so as to help students develop in a profound way. We strive to cultivate excellent students with self-cultivation, responsibility, creativity, leadership and international outlook.
Prof. Yanning Liu, China Federation of IT Promotion contrasted the different education concepts of the East and the West and believed that traditional Chinese education emphasized comprehensive induction, aiming to enhance the whole person education, and to be a wise person, while the Chinese education today has leant from the West in an extreme way, losing the valuable Chinese elements, which has aroused many serious social problems which should be amended soon.
Academic criteria are as important as moral criteria
Tony Little, head of Eton College, UK believes that academic criteria are as important as moral Criteria. Eton College is a boarding school and emphasizes the independence and service consciousness. He stresses to care students with more passion and less suspicion, encourages students to explore society after classes, and utilizes their own potentials. The school education will benefit students in their whole life.
Changming Liu, head of Beijing No.4 High School said that his school stresses to instruct students to explore power of goodness in the too material world. With this aim, this school cultivates students with goodness of human nature, scientific senses, and international outlook. He argued against the only-standard for success, and he believes that it is success if students can do something they like after graduation.
Dare to query and keep exploring
Prof. Dongdong Sun, School of Law, Peking University, delivered a speech, humorous and profound. He insists that exams can be considered for their contents and forms, and there will always an exam-oriented education if only there is an exam. The quality education is no always at the opposite side of exam-oriented education. The Entrance Exam to Colleges is reasonable selective form for the China’s education today. Reform is needed for the exam contents, which means that the contents should cover and reflect the quality of whole development of students. Prof. Sun promotes that the core of spirit of science is to query, and encourages students to query, to learn to find and raise questions. Yan Fu, famous Chinese educator was quoted that the higher education is to train qualified questioners.
Goh Hock Leong, director of the National University of Singapore High School of Mathematics & Science, said that the critical thinking and creativity of students should be trained systematically. Facing the problems such the world financial crisis and global warming, students should to learn question, established the systemic thinking, and to seek an all-round way out.
Cultivate the Chinese students with Chinese soul for world competition
Sheng Wang, head of Qidong High School, Jiangsu Province, asserts that education must face the reality, and high schools should learn to walk with two legs: to surpass the Entrance Exam to Colleges, fully explore the potentials of students, cultivate students with international outlook, without forgetting their nature and morality.
Yiqiang Guo, Head of Quwo High School, Shanxi Province, insists that school education should stress to cultivate talents with Chinese souls and international outlook. In order to do so, Chinese history, Chinese culture and patriotism and the consciousness to serve country should be emphasized in education. School education should stress the importance to criticize thinking, but to construct thinking.
