By Julie Bell

The NCSL Study Tour moved from Shanghai to Beijing to discover how Chinese history and culture affects the country's educational system.

The first day of meetings in Beijing were not in schools, but with representatives of the national government to help our understanding about the national context in which China schools operate.

Study group members wanted to know how much of China’s education system is specified by the national government and how much by the local governments and the schools. This is a fundamental question because many state legislators argue that the U.S. system of strong local control may be the biggest and most important factor separating U.S. schools and other high-performing countries.

We met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the U.S. ambassador to China, and the China Ministry of Education. Here is what the group learned about China’s history and structure and how the states can understand them better and learn from them about education reform.

All of the Chinese officials the group met with in Beijing reminded us that Chinese history and culture is very different from the United States. While this seems obvious, we were urged to understand and respect these differences to coexist. This is why exchanges like the NCSL Study Tour and exchanges between U.S. and Chinese students are so important.

By the way, we were told that our group was the first American delegation to visit the Foreign Ministry since the APEC meetings of the previous week. So there was a lot of discussion about the meetings between President Obama and President Xi on many important issues such as trade, climate change and cyber security. But these officials also talked about the importance of student exchanges and extended visas. Young Chinese people who travel to the U.S. and vice versa will help pave the foundation for future relationships. 

All of our meetings emphasized that understanding China rests with understanding that what China values most is social stability. Chinese families value a high quality education.

The delegation had the opportunity to visit with U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus. He reiterated this theme: “To keep stability, China must keep people happy—that means maintaining a high-quality education system. 

At the Ministry of Education, we learned about the goals of recent national education reform, including:

• Improving school governance by setting high national standards and allowing flexibility for local standards, teaching and funding
• Providing a higher quality basic education for rural students
• Sending more resources—both financial and teaching capacity—to weaker schools
• Ensuring equity for boys and girls
• Instilling a respect for Chinese history and the culture of other countries
• Providing opportunities for people to develop their own conscience and independent personality
• Provoking an interest in beauty, nature and art.

All of these education reform elements sseem to fit perfectly into the context of China’s history and tradition as discussed by the people we met.

In education, China seems to be finding a balance between history, culture, and modern realities. Can the U.S. do the same?  That will be an important discussion for the Study Group in the next few months.

Julie Bell is the director in NCSL's education program.

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