A Project Design Paper
I. Background and Problem Analysis
China has a rural education problem. On the one hand, there is the issue of its empty rural classroom, where while there are accessible schools and teachers, there are no or few students to fill the seats. This is because in an effort to modernize the rural educational system, many local governments have built college-like boarding schools in or near to local cities where families with enough money or connections can send their children (Zhao, 2011). On the other hand, you have significant populations of rural children that are not attending school at all. To be sure, according to the China All Women’s Federation, there are nearly 60 million children who have been “left behind” in its rural village by parents who have moved to the cities to find jobs and make a living (Global Times, 2011). Naturally, without parental supervision, many of these children simply drop out of school or never attend school in the first place. In addition, to these two issues, there is the problem of rural students not having access to quality education. That is to say, in some rural communities, the problem is not lack of students, schools, or parental supervision but rather the lack of suitable learning materials, classes that a not crowded, and most importantly, dedicated teachers that are qualified to teach.
Currently, there are a number of efforts taking place to help resolve China’s rural educational problem. Some of the efforts are locally developed, such as China’s encouragement for young graduates of teaching colleges to dedicate a year or more teaching in the rural areas or central government examinations of the effectiveness of the rural boarding school, or reforms to China’s urban educational policy that will allow rural parents working in the cities to bring their children with them and register them in city schools. Other efforts are international. Indeed, one of the largest sources of volunteer teachers in China is from the United States. The U.S. has a number of public and private programs dedicated to helping China resolve its rural education problem.
Insofar as Chinese and American efforts to help resolve the schooling situation in rural China, the fundamental question is the lack of an integrated approach to the efforts. As China has a demand for teachers and useful suggestions for educational reform, and the U.S. has a ready supply of teachers and educators; both share a number of common interests, points of leverage, and goals in developing deeper cooperation to bring about a better outcome.
II. Project Objective
In response to the issues described above, and recognizing that there is an unprecedented opportunity to promote coordinated implementation strategies that can achieve actual rural educational reform, this project will endeavor to bring together American and Chinese education officials and administrators, teachers and educators to establish and strengthen a partnership on the two countries’ educational reform efforts in rural China; create an avenue of communication where both countries can discuss and explore the most effective means to implement joint-efforts; and provide support for overcoming any barriers to the organization, implementation and facilitation of cooperation.
III. Main Activities
In order to achieve the objectives, the project will focus on the following five activities:
Facilitate US-China cooperation in educational reform in rural China by sponsoring relevant conferences, symposia and workshops for American and Chinese officials, policymakers, educators and the public. The focus of the conferences will not only be on sharing information but also on developing useful recommendations to improving joint-efforts, coordinating in-country activities and proposing viable joint initiatives.
Establish connectivity between officials, policymakers and experts in educational reform and related fields by creating a common link.
Promote the exchange of officials and experts to encourage cooperation in both nations to encourage the implementation of joint-efforts. For example, a joint-study of US-China cooperation in rural China educational efforts can be organized and carried out by a small group of US and Chinese educators. Each expert will draft a paper on a specific area of interest. Each expert will then exchange their paper with a counterpart in the other country for comments. The experts would then be encouraged to revise their final draft in accordance with the received comments. The papers would then be collected and published in a single volume to provide a stand-alone resource or provide the basis for a conference or workshop as discussed above.
Provide a forum for exchange, discussion, connectivity and opportunity management.
Conduct research; develop expertise; monitor, investigate and report on the schooling situation in rural to keep it relevant and influence the policy in both countries. Potential topics of research include: (i) studying the underlying problems to China’s empty rural schools and lack of access to quality a quality education with an eye towards how a US and China joint effort would be useful; (ii) an examination of why a US-China joint effort is important; and (iii) understanding the dangers of failing to resolve China’s rural education problem
IV. Expected Outcomes
The expected outcomes of the project are as follows:
The building of a sustainable infrastructure that supports: (i) a meaningful bilateral cooperation in educational reform in rural China and (ii) the adoption of bilateral agreements to work to together to bring about an effective resolution.
Increased dialog between US and Chinese education officials, policymakers and educators in the discussion of educational reform efforts.
Increased information sharing among all stakeholders; increased access to information and exchange of ideas.
Increased interaction among domestic stakeholders (inter-agency collaboration) in working together to come up with ways to implement US-China cooperation.
The building of trust between the two countries in bringing about a joint-effort.
The discovery of areas of common interests and common leverage.
Improved bilateral crisis educational management
The inclusion of a US-China educational cooperation agenda in the considerations of both countries’ leadership.
V. Potential Partners and Sources of Funding
In regards to funding, at the national level, the United States and China, as mentioned above, have been both active in providing promoting educational exchanges between the two nations. Accordingly, funding departments for support of the project may be available from the US Department of State and/or the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the civil society level, there are a number of international non-governmental organizations such as the Open Society could also prove to be an important source of funding.
VI. Conclusion
Educators in the United States are well-situated and well-suited to perform the work needed to accomplish the project goals. As mentioned, not only is there extensive desire to take part in reform efforts by a substantial number of volunteers but there is also deep experience in educational policy, curriculum development and other applicable schooling areas to address some of the China’s most pressing educational problems. This project will help developed a deep understanding and expertise in areas that will be relevant to the objectives of the project. In addition, since the reopening of U.S.-China relations, both countries have worked on the promotion of US-China cooperation in general and US-Chinese cooperation on education in particular. Accordingly, it has been able to build cross-border relationships, earn trust and build capacity for dialog. Through these networks it has developed the foundations to facilitate a much broader US-China bilateral cooperation to help solve rural educational issues.
References
Global Times. (2011, Nov. 16). Empty Rural Schools. Retrieved from http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/684288.shtml
Zhao, Z.Z. (2011). A matter of money? Policy analysis of rural boarding schools in China. Retrieved from http://esj.sagepub.com/content/6/3/237.full.pdf+html
