Chine - Day 8 - Shanghai to Boston

Today, the reps from the five schools had one final meeting with officials from New Oriental Schools and Eduboston to have everyone understand next steps should we experience applications from any of the international students we visited with. The officials from New Oriental were very pleased with the number of students who turned out for the schools in this first venture at marekting the Boston area day schools in China. Time will teel in the next few weeks how fruitful initially our efforts will be for this Fall. I am very confident CCHS now has a presence in the minds of New Oriental as they advise students and I also feel CCHS made a very good impression on the students we met with. This relationship will evolve and develop over time in a direction that is mutually beneficial to Chinese students seeking a top notch US high school education and to our own CCHS students as they intereact with and appreciate the culture of international students.

We leave the hotel today at noon for the Shanghai airport and travel 13 hours to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, then after a two hour layover, fly the 3 hours or so to Boston.

It has been an extraordinary privilege and experience to visit China representing CCHS to students half way across the world. Students in China seek a life with greater opportunity and know that education is the key to opportunity. It's not so different than we all were brought up to believe, is it? The difference is that they believe that to improve their chances for an opportune life, they must go outside their country's borders, even at age 14 or 15. Since families are permitted by government to have only one child, so much pressure falls on the one child to succeed in life.

Thanks for reading my CCHS to China Blog. It's been a pleasure to write, I hope you found at least some parts interesting. Go Raiders!

China - Day 7 - Shanghai

CCHS had the opportunity to interview approximately 50 Chinese students who are interested in attending high school in the Boston area. Through various aspects on the interview I held with each student I assessed each student's fluency in listenting, speaking, reading and comprehension in the English language. A signifcantly smaller number of students appeared ready for classroom instruction in full English language. I passed on the names of the students, in my trained opinion, who CCHS would consider for application for the Fall. It is unclear how many students interviewed will follow through with sending applications, school transcripts and English proficiency test scores. We will have a better idea in about two weeks, at which time serious applicants will be reviewed by the Admissions Office staff. If a Chinese student is granted admission to CCHS, he/she will have to make a decsion to accept this offer, make a tuition deposit, and then obtain a student visa from Chinese officials before being allowed to come to CCHS. Much has to be decided and done in a short window of time if this is to happen for Fall 2010. I remain hopeful that CCHS will have a small number of Chinese students enrolling this Fall.

We had hoped to visit thw World's Fair currently being held in Shanghai, but entrance lines were four to five hours wait. Once inside, we were told that the waiting line for the pavilions was also 4-5 hours since over 400,000 people entered the fair each day. As a result, we decided to drive by the World's Fair sites for a quick view. Too bad ! Instead we toured the Shanghai Museum, climbed the 3rd highest TV tower in the world, and ate in the revolvoing restaurent at the top of this tower. Later in the day we walked along the Shanghai waterfront.

I met with a Chinese tailor who offered to make me a tailored suit for $175. I took the leap, he took my measurements and today it arrived at my hotel. It is looks terrific, well-made and fits perfectly.

We leave for the US tomorrow morning, beginning the long 20 hour trek home from Shanghai to Chicago then on to Boston.

China - Day 6 - Shanghai

CCHS and the four other schools visiting China each made 20 minute presentations on their schools to the counselors at the Shanghai headquarters of New Oriental Schools. Following this, we toured their school facilities. The schools are situated in high rise corporate office buildings.

We finally had a free afternoon, so my wife, Kathy, and I went to Old Shanghai, a large commercial area housed in traditional temple-shaped buildings. We stopped in the garment district and perused the hundreds of small shops filled with jewelry, curios and electronics. Turn a corner and the upscale Armani, Cartier, Tiffany & Co. can be found. The contrast of old temple-style structures and modern high-rise buildings and skyscapers tells the story of the westernization of Shanghai. Shanghai's financial district with the banks of many countries and its investment houses is second only in the world to Wall Street.

A real treat...our yearning for familiar food was satisfied by dinner at a Latin Churasco, finally a good steak! The Chinese governmen shut down Facebook and Twitter several days ago becuase they feared both were being used to incite dissension and foment riots over some local issues in some of China's provinces. Despite the overt signs of westernization, China is still controlled by a tight-fisted central government.

Tomorrow morning we have our final meetings to review potential international students. We then will, take a drive to see the World's Fair area. We begin our 19-hour trek back to the US tomorrow with a late afternoon flight.

China - Day 5 - Shanghai

I caught a flight this morning to Shanghai, a city of over 24 million, and the most westernized of cities in China. The flight from Beijing to Shanghai was about 90 minutes, but we were delayed on the runway for an hour due to fog and rain. Newly built skyscrapers, clean streets, western mode of dress, fewer bicycles on the streets and grander hotels tell you this is a city of the 21st century. China's population of 1.4 billion people, four times that of the US, relies on Shanghai as its financial center. Shanghai is presently hosting the World's Fair, a sight we hope to have time to visit. With over 500,000 visitors daily at the World's Fair, this will be a challenge, since we are told that the lines to enter are four hours long.

Due to the delay, we arrived only a half-hour before the scheduled start of the high school fair. A quick change of clothes and off to the fair! Each of the five high schools made a presentation to the assembled 200 hundred or so studenns and parents. About a dozen Chinese students interviewed with CCHS afterward. There were several strong candidates in the interviews; we will see which, if any. complete the application process soon with CCHS and Eduboston.

An interesting meal was served afterward including marinated eel and frog. Anyone for KFC? I went "veggie" tonight.

Tomorrow we will tour New Oriental Shanghai School and then tour Shanghai and explore its hidden mercantilke treasures.

CCHS in China - Day 4

This was our longest work day in Beijing, the captial city of China, a city of 21 million. The work day started with more meetings and tours in classrooms filled with Chinese students learning Enhglish, prepping for the GMAT, SSAT, TOEFL in New Oriental's educational facilities. Many classrooms with 50 or more were filled with students on a Saturday with hopes of coming to the US for college, grad schools and high school. The Chinese students and parents are convinced that the only path to success in life is to achieve top scores on high stakes tests. As a result. memorization and regular drill are the techniques used in China's educational system. Whether students are happy with their school expereince or are well-rounded takes a back seat to numbers. Only test results matter. getting into top high schools, elite colleges and grad schools, they believe gurantees a worthwhile life. One can undertstand this obsession in light of the fact that in China unless one has graduated from a "big name" or elite university, whether in China or abroad, Chinese companies or institutions will not give serious consideration to a candidate for employment. Wihtout a top grade and top college, an aspiring young person will be relegated to low paying, menial jobs in China It was clear to me from my conversations with students and parents that they were very impressed by the success of our students on AP Exams and the college placement resluts of our graduates.
10 million students in China graduate from high school each year, but Chinese universities can accommodate about 6 mliion students. Others are forced to go abroad, largely because of a test score, no matter what grades they've attained in school over the years.

Today CCHS participated in the Beijing high school fair with four other Mass. high schools. Despite having one week to promote this with the students of Beijing New Oriental School over 350 students and families attended. You can imagine that very few had heard of CCHS or the other Mass. schools. The fair was scheduled for 4 hours, but due to signficant initial interest in CCHS, students and parents remained to speak with me until 8:30 PM.

This is a first effort by CCHS and its partner placement companies, so many details need to be buttoned down in a short time frame by students and famiulies before acceptance and enrolling at CCHS can happen. Ideally this information and application process should have been scheduled four month ago. I have little idea right now how many will go through with the application process to CCHS. The next few weeks will shed light on this. I did meet with a handful of students who seemed very interested in CCHS for grades 9 and 10. A modest beginning of a few international Chinese studetns is our goal. Hopefully the most interested students will expediently complete the application process. Certainly I emphasized this with the candidates.

Tomorrow I fly to Shanghai to take part in another high school fair. Based on my experience today I might expect another signficant number of students exploring CCHS.

China -Day 3

Today was a wonderful, yet arduous day of climbing and walking several of the most notable historical sites in China. We traveled to Badaling, about 2 hours away from Beijing , to the Great Wall, one fo the 7 wonders of the ancient world. My group of school reps spent two hours climbing and traversing the Great Wall. It was exhausting for at times the angle of ascent reached 70 degrees in bringing you to the top of the section we visited. Sorry, I am unable to post photos on the blog due to an internet problem. The Great Wall extends nearly 4000 miles along China's border and is visited by over 2 million people each year I'm told. From the Great Wall, we returned to Beijing where we experienced the Forbidden City where China's emperors and imperial families in the Ming and Tsing dynasties lived and ruled for centuries.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will take part in an international high school fair and meet with students who wish to attend US high schools, and an undetermined number who may be considering CCHS. I will do a quick review of any applications and plan to interview interested students to determine the seriousness of their interest and their potential for success in the academic program at CCHS. I'll bring back the information on these students and with our admissions staff reach a decision on the most interested and qualified applicants.

Have you ever tried eating cooked seahorse? I did today; and truth be told I'm unlikely to order it in the future.

Beijing, China - Day 2

Today, Thursday, was a very warm, sunny day in Beijing with temps reaching in the mid-90's. Beijing is an incredibly large city with a circumference of over 160 miles and a population of over 21 million residents. The streets are crowded with many means of transport: cars, busses, subway, bicycles, electric motor bikes, bike caddies, motor scooters. The city skyline is a blend of the old and new with traditional Chinese temple architecture blended with high rise buildings and skyscrapers. At many corners you will see 500 or more bicycles parked outside buildings having been parked there by workers who will return at day's end for their commute home.


CCHS and other school reps spent the day visiting with top officials of New Oriental Schools and touring one of their 42 schools and 409 learning centers in China. New Oriental has over 2 million Chinese students in their English language learning programs, many of whom aspire to attend high school or college in the US. New Oriental is sponsoring the high school fairs that CCHS will be part of. This is a first venture for New Oriental in partnering with private day high schools in the Boston area.

After meetings in which CCHS made a presentation along with other schools, we toured Tiennamen Square, the Forbidden City and Chairman Mao's Tomb and Memorial. Dinner today included shark stomach soup, donkey meat, Peking duck, rice and a myriad of vegetables and much more. I sampled most everything with mixed results!

CCHS accepted its first international student from China, Ruochen Cheng, a bright, motivated 15 year old girl. More interested students will meet with CCHS on Saturday to begin to learn what CCHS has to offer as they begin to explore US high schools with their parents.