Carolyn Weber

Senior International Correspondent

Haberman International Policy Institute in Education

 

Country Information Fact Sheet

 

Interviews and conversations with educators while on travel, Ms Weber ,

Senior International Correspondent for  the Haberman International Policy Institute in Education, captures the essence of education for the children and youth of  each country visited. Most interviewees were ask the same battery of questions to determine the superlative quality and value being sanctioned in each of the countries mentioned in this document… We at HIPIE would like to thank those educators involved in the study for taking time to share and  inform our organization of the successes and needs of their respective countries and of their interest and  involvement of  their respective educational institutions response to the students they serve. …

Delia Stafford, President & CEO, Haberman Foundation and HIPIE.org

 

MOROCCO

Jack Rusenko, Founder of George Washington Academy

• 1st grade through middle school is compulsory. For class sizes, see the Moroccan Education Ministry website: www.men.gov.ma
• Kindergarten is not provided in the public school system, but there are many private schools which do this.  Mainly affluent children attend these.
• Every child can attend school, but certain issues are limiting:
• The main obstacles are timing of classes (50% of the children live in rural areas and parents need them to work on the family farms) and transportation (middle school and higher is usually done farther away).
• Students in rural areas often need to live in dorms in the city for middle school and beyond; and as a result, many boys and especially girls don't continue their education. Money can be a factor, although students only need to provide pencils and paper; but many families don’t have relatives in the city and don’t want their girls living alone. 
• The school schedule is as follows: students go home for lunch. Class hours are 8:30-12 and 2:30-4:30
• Teachers complete a college degree plus a 1 year teacher training program.

 

LEBANON

Rima Karami Akkary, American University of Beirut, Department of Education

 

• A fairly high percentage of children attend school, especially compared to the rest of Arab speaking countries.
• Every child with Lebanese citizenship technically has access to school.  Public schools are free.  There is a small percentage of students with “no nationality” or of Palestinian nationality who cannot attend the public schools.  These children are served by schools run by NGOs and the UNRWA program (http://www.unrwa-lebanon.org/ProgramDetail1.aspx?id=4).
• Some public schools offer early childhood classes (very few), but most private schools offer pre-school and kindergarten classes.  They admit students at the age of three. 
• In Lebanon, 50% of students go to private schools.  It has something to do with the confessional system and the freedom the constitution gives to each religious confession to have its own school.  The control/regulation from the government over these schools is minimal and is translated through the official examination that is compulsory for all the students in Lebanon for graduation.  For more information on the confessional system: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/?fa=eventDetail&id=844&prog=zgp
• The obstacles for children depend on their socio-economic level.  Poor children require books, transportation, food, and clothing.  A lot of local NGOs, many with funding from international NGOs, help supply that need.  For the middle and upper class kids, these are not the barriers at all.  These students have access to the cutting edge books published in the states or Europe, depending on the type of school they attend. 
• In Lebanon, all schools are bilingual starting in kindergarten.  They either teach Arabic and English, or Arabic and French.  A lot of the foreign language textbooks come from the country or origin.  Sciences and math are taught in English or French, depending on the school. 
• Teachers must have a teaching diploma in addition to their Bachelors degree.  Some of the prestigious private schools are even hiring teachers with Masters degrees.
  
  

ISLAMIC COUNTRIES, Regional information

Nasim Jawed, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Chico State University

 

• 2 systems in the Islamic world: secular schools versus fundamentalist madrassas
• Secular schools are generally funded by the government (education is seen as a responsibility of the government)
• Madrassas are sometimes funded by the government (i.e. Saudi Arabia), sometimes by private institutions.  Funding varies across countries and constitutions.  There are more madrassas in Afghanistan than secular schools.
• Madrassas teach literacy and how to be a good Muslim; feed children; do not charge; provide more benefits to poor families than secular schools
• Knowledge is respected, but teachers do not have high status in society
• High status is bestowed upon those jobs where 1) lots of education is needed, 2) limited number of people to take the job, 3) job is very important
• Modern/western education was introduced to Islamic countries during colonialism and when Muslim rulers borrowed and imitated modern systems
• Rich versus poor: many poor students go to madrassas and do not finish basic education
• It’s hard to change rural mindsets about what’s important, and the government cannot enforce education in the rural areas (law is one thing, conduct is another)
• Girls versus boys: girls and boys attend separate schools
• Changing situation?
• Equal institutions?
• Issue: brain drain
• Positive: family members send money home, which is put back into the local economy and helps educate other family members
• Negative: quality people leave, so services and institutions suffer

 

INDIA

Bharathi Vidya- Bhavan Matriculation Secondary School (Thindal, Erode)- Teaches English

 

Teacher preparation

• Teachers attend 12 years of K-12 education
• They get an undergraduate degree for 3 years
• They get a Bachelors in education- takes one year

 

Governance Structure

• There’s a Central Matriculation Board, which creates a national curriculum
• The state board determines language and books
• Schools choose teachers

 

Rural versus Urban

• Free education in rural areas
• Government schools- small price
• Private schools- higher price
• Most schools are coed
• All have uniforms
• Children are supposed to attend school from ages 3 and a half to 18
• Lower K: 3.5-4.5
• Upper K: 4.5-5.5

 

THAILAND

Joan Strouse- Researcher at Tribal Research center at Chiang Mai University 1991 and 1992, Professor Emeritus at Portland State University

 

Urban-Rural Divide

• Most of the country is still rural: Bangkok is huge and Chiang Mai is big (New York City versus Omaha), but the rest of the country is largely countryside
• Rice is the major crop in an economy based on agriculture
• School is only required through 6^th grade, which is particularly adhered to in rural areas (if children attend at all).  Parents in rural areas need children to work on the farm.  Rice and baby corn are very time sensitive crops. 
• Schools in rural areas are quite basic in design, with all ages in one room, sitting on a crude plank, sharing one or two books.  The curriculum is designed by the Ministry of Education for the entire country, but in rural areas it is very watered down.  There is no teacher freedom because teachers are supposed to follow the “same day, same page” theory (though that doesn’t happen).
• Rural areas only have primary schools.  If you want to go to secondary school, your family has to have money to send you to another town, where you live in a boarding house or with relatives.  Both of these options are expensive: parents have to pay for housing, food, uniforms, transportation, and books.
• Gender differences in education start in secondary school because education becomes a true economic investment.  Parents choose to invest money in their sons.  Plus, rural families do not want to send their daughters to cities where they will be alone.  
• Young men are sometimes sent to be monks because they will get a free education.  These boys are sent after primary school, and it is not always for a religious calling.
• Most Thai men are monks at some point in their lives: maybe a day, maybe a month.  It’s considered a huge honor, and some decide to stay
• Graduates from teacher training institutions don’t want to teach or live in rural areas, so rural areas have trouble attracting good teachers.  The teachers they do get are generally younger, poorer, and less educated.  Some have just graduated from the primary school they go on to teach.

 

University

• There is a national exam to get into the university.  Public universities are better than private ones.  If you cannot get into a public school, that is when you go to a private university.  Students are ranked based on their test scores and assigned to specific schools. 
• Students must know English to past the exam, but many just know written English and cannot speak it.
• Chulalongkorn, Chiang Mai, and Thammasat Universities are the three best in the country.
• Freshman and sophomores wear uniforms in the university to show school pride.  Students’ uniforms show where they go to school.

 

National Issues

• Thailand faces the issue of brain drain.  People leave do not want to leave cities to return to and improve rural areas. 
• As more people leave rural areas, a new issue has arisen: Who will continue to farm? 
• Thailand is considered a newly industrialized country (NIK).  The main industries are tourism and the sex trade. 
• Foreigners can’t own property in Thailand, so developers that want to buy land to develop for tourism may do the following:  go to family of a young girl, offer money to marry her, and then buy and develop the land.  The couple often gets divorced.   Thus, the family sold their livelihood—their land—for what seemed like a lot of money and lost everything.  Ecologically, this is a huge problem, as well.
• Another issue is that people will come from the city to a rural area, purchase girl to be a waitress, and she becomes an indentured servant in the sex trade.  This is a big national issue right now. 

 

VIETNAM

Ket Doan Primary School in Ho Chi Minh City

 

• 1500 students in the school; it’s a public school, so parents only pay for food
• Almost compulsory education: have to attend, unless you can’t (attend through 12^th grade)
• Barriers to education include physical disability- possibly poverty, as well
• Kindergarten is provided for 3 year olds and depending on the district, day-care/pre-school is provided as well
• Students learn French or English as a second language (in this particular school)
• Pioneer Group is a youth group offered for all school age children
• Priority given for school enrollment to children from neighborhood (second priority given to children whose parents work in the neighborhood)
• Government decides on how much homework—whatever needs to be accomplished should be accomplished during the school day
• British and Australians have opened private schools
• Wealthy families may try to send children to private school because child will be more likely to learn another language and be able to go abroad for higher education
• Poverty in a neighborhood is reflected in its schools
• There is a national curricula with upgrades
• With three years of higher education, you can teach in elementary schools
• Need a masters or PhD to be an administrator or teach in a university
• Approximately half of high school graduates go to university—the other half goes to vocational/professional school

 

CHINA

Lu Zhongshe, Professor from Beijing

 

• Children are like little emperors—cared for by 6 adults (parents and 4 grandparents)
• Children can go to nursery school once potty trained
• The school you attend is based on where you live
• Public education is free—lunch and snacks are provided by the school; parents must buy books and uniforms
• If you want to choose a better school (i.e. private school), then you have to pay ($5,000 USD per year, or more)
• School day lasts from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then from 1 or 2 p.m. until 5 or 6 p.m.—5 days a week
• Weekend activities include tutoring sessions (shadow education), music lessons, and English lessons; there is less emphasis on sports and little to no free time
• Education is very competitive in China, and it’s a big priority; parents will use their life savings so their children can go to a good school
• English education is required in middle school, high school, and university
• It is recommended in elementary school (and some nursery schools claim to be bilingual)s
• School is compulsory through middle school; after middle school some students go to professional school or college (like community college in the U.S.)
• Many students from rural areas stop after middle school
• If students are continuing on to high school, then they must take an exam to determine which high school they attend (based on merit)
• Students take a similar ranking exam to get into college
• 1.7 million students take the university entrance exam in Beijing every year
• In Beijing, 60-70% of students who take the exam can go to some university
• In rural areas, you’re not guaranteed a spot (educational background is not as good)
• There are three rankings for colleges: 1^st class (key?), 2^nd class, and 3^rd class; there are less than 40 key universities
• Better universities get more funding; have higher quality teachers
• Key universities enroll from all over China; 2^nd class enroll from most parts of China; 3^rd class enroll from a city or rural area (very competitive process)
• Students can only take the university exam once, unless they want to repeat a year of high school; exam determines fate (very high stakes test)
• Students must major in their best subject when they go to university (highest score on the exam, even if it’s not their prime interest)
• Hardly any creativity in exams: Chinese students are better in math, science, and physics than American students, but Chinese students are not as creative
• All students live in dorms—approximately $100 USD per year
• General courses are encouraged in an effort to make students more well-rounded (U.S. influence)
• Students usually take 25 credit hours (used to take 32 credit hours)
• University lights turn out at 11, so that students will stop studying and go to bed; 2-3 students commit suicide every year at Quin Hua because they don’t want to lose face with smarter people
• Top universities enroll approximately 70% of students from urban areas and 30% from rural areas (education is the only way that poor farmers can change their fate)
• Poor students sometimes score well because teachers in rural areas teach to the test, whereas teachers in urban areas do not (students may be worse on exams, but are usually better overall)
• Of students from top universities… 70% go directly to graduate school… the rest go for jobs (1. foreign companies 2. joint venture companies 3. civil service 4. work in small cities or countryside)
• Most students want to stay in developed cities because there’s a big difference between urban and rural areas in China
• As a result, most teachers in rural areas are from that region
• K-12 teachers don’t make a lot of money, but they are well-respected and their incomes are stable
• K-12 teachers require a bachelor’s degree; university professors require a masters or PhD
• Only private K-12 schools can employ foreign English teachers
• Private universities are considered worse than public ones
• Schools do not give a lot of homework—more studying than homework
• Hong Kong and mainland China have different education systems

 

JAPAN

Asami Shiratsuchi and Haruna Nakamoto, university students from Japan

 

• Private and public education systems—private is very expensive
• Private schools tend to be better
• Public education system played a big role in Japan’s national advancement
• Children learn English beginning in middle school
• Attend cram schools to get into the university—have to memorize lots of information
• The college entrance exam is just to test how much you’ve memorized
• Cram school can start as early as kindergarten, depending on the family
• People invest on quality K-12 schools and practices, so that students can get into a top college
• Cram schools are fairly expensive, so the wealthier families usually start earlier than the poorer ones—the cram schools cost more than the university
• Routine: students attend school during the day, then cram schools at night and on the weekend
• The college entrance exam is very high stakes—some high intensity students commit suicide if they do not get into the most elite schools
• Difficult to go back to school for a degree after you’ve passed the 18-22 age block
• University costs differ by major (medical and law departments are most expensive)—only one or two students per thousand per year change majors
• University students attend class for approximately 6 hours a day, plus homework
• The difference, in part, because Japanese students are assigned less work out of class
• Economics and English are very popular departments
• Teachers are regarded highly in Japanese culture
• American universities make you independent—whereas Japanese universities try and make you part of a harmonious whole

 

Semester at Sea

Carolyn Weber

 

Jack Rusenko- Morocco (He came with us on the ship from Spain to Morocco; we visited his school in Morocco)
Rima Akarry- Lebanon (We did not go to Lebanon; Rima is a contact from one of my professors on the ship)
Nasim Jawed- Middle East (He was a professor on our ship)
Bharathi Vidya- India (She was a teacher I interviewed in India)
Joan Strouse- Thailand (She was a professor on our ship, who had previously worked in Thailand)
Ket Doan Primary School- Vietnam (A school I visited in Vietnam)
Lu Zhongshe- China (She came with us on the ship from Vietnam to China; she is a professor in Beijing)
Asami Shiratsuchi and Haruna Nakamoto- Japan (They came with us on the ship from China to Japan; they are university students in Japan)