Journey provides lessons

Mandarin classes for Del Norters?

Photos courtesy Bob Berkowitz Clockwise from top right, School Board member Bob Berkowitz at the Great Wall, a group of Chinese students, Berkowitz with students in Chongqing, a Chongqing middle-school student, and Berkowitz meeting other Chinese residents.

The School Board member from Del Norte County also discovered many things as an American delegate learning about the Chinese education system.

The Chinese take their education very seriously, Berkowitz said, and are grateful for how the Communist Party has kept their country free from war, but they also appreciate American freedoms.

What he took away from his visit was an idea to teach the Mandarin language in local schools. This will make Del Norte students more competitive for jobs in a global economy that China is becoming a bigger part of, Berkowitz said.

Nǐ hǎo (‘Hello’)

Chinese children learn English at a young age, Berkowitz said, adding, “they’re already ahead of the game.”

If Del Norte students learn Mandarin, the official language in China, they will have an advantage in getting a job, especially in business because many companies work with China, Berkowitz said.

“It will put our students miles ahead of other students,” he said. “Mandarin speakers are in huge demand.”

Berkowitz said grants are available to bring Chinese teachers to schools here.

This would expose students and the community to a different culture, he said.

A chance to visit Asia

Berkowitz is also on the board of directors for the California School Board Association (CSBA).

He heard about a delegation of Americans that travel to China each June to study the country’s education system from a fellow  CSBA board member and applied.

More than 400 School Board members, school superintendents and principals from 41 states traveled to the Far East as part of the program, Chinese Bridge for American Schools.

To his knowledge, Berkowitz is the first person from the northern half of the state to be part of the California delegation.

This program is coordinated by  the Confucius Institute within the Office of Chinese Language Council International and the U.S. non-profit College Board.

The Del Norte County Unified School District did not pay for Berkowitz’ trip to China. 

‘Engaged in education’

The delegation started out in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, then fanned out to other cities to visit schools. 

On Berkowitz’ first day, he visited an elementary school where rows of children waving Chinese and American flags greeted the visitors.

He also spent several days in Chongqing, a city of 30 million people, visiting schools and talking with people.

He thought that schools in China would be strictly controlled and oriented toward team-work.

“I found that they are now teaching students how to critically solve problems,” he said, adding students are expected to think as individuals.

Berkowitz also learned how education is free up to ninth grade, but after that, if students do poorly on a test their parents have to pay a fee.

This tactic gets parents to motivate their child to do well and also prompts students to try hard, he explained.

“They are completely engaged in their education,” Berkowitz said, because it’s important to not only them, but their family.

Schools in China generally don’t have discipline problems, Berkowitz said he observed.

“They learn from an early age that education is valuable and if they don’t do well it will be costly to their parents,” Berkowitz said, “and they will lose face.”

Growing, vibrant economy

Berkowitz said his pre-visit impressions of China “went out the window.”

The Asian nation has a vibrant economy that is growing, he said.

“You can see it everywhere,” Berkowitz said, detailing the high-rises that house people and the freeways and underground subways that get people around.

“If China keeps going like it is, it will not only be a huge competitor to the U.S., but a good competitor.”

Berkowitz thought that the government would be watching the delegation’s every move. This turned out to not be true.

“We were free to go anywhere and see anybody,” he said.

Because Big Brother wasn’t looming, Berkowitz said he was able to have candid conversations with the people.

After 5,000 years of wars and conflicts, the Chinese “want peace, tranquility and the freedom to do business.”

China’s government has basically provided that environment since 1949, and “It seems to work for the Chinese,” he said.

However, China does not have free speech or a free press. The Chinese cannot criticize their government. Thus they are willing to put up with inconveniencies, Berkowitz said.

Some have been pressuring the government to increase wages and the standard of living, he said, “and the government is listening.”

China’s economic growth will not only help the  Chinese people, but the global economy, Berkowitz said. The U.S. will be able to sell more goods to China because its people can afford them, he said.

Berkowitz encourages his fellow board members, district administrators to apply for the annual sojourn to China.

“It’s a trip that everyone should make,” he said. “And the reason is it will give people a totally different picture of what China is like.”