YNET Guest Interview – Mr. Wang Benzhong, BCCSC principal

Host: Good afternoon, netizens! “Principals Serial Interviews of Teenagers’ Moral Education” has started recently. This activity is sponsored by Secondary Education Committee of Chinese Society of Education (CSE) and YNET, and organized by Beijing Century Peace International Culture and Education Exchange Centre (CPCE).I would like to introduce our guest for today’s interview Mr. Wang Benzhong, principal of Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada (BCCSC). Mr. Wang will be here to help you solving problems you may encounter in teenagers’ moral education.

Wang Benzhong: Good afternoon, everyone!

Host: Mr. Wang, what are the key points of moral education at the stage of high school?

Wang Benzhong: The stage of high school is the most valuable period in life.Here I summarize it into three golden periods: First, it’s the valuable period to gain knowledge; Second, it’s the valuable period that people's philosophy come into being; Third, it’s the most important period to build people’s soundness of mind, especially physical and mental health.

Netizen: Does BCCSC provide opportunities for students to go abroad?

Wang Benzhong: Most students would love to get further education abroad after they graduate from high school in Beijing. Due to this need, BCCSC has built a bridge for students to get post secondary studies abroad as a group. Our courses are internationalized and rely mainly on Chinese courses. We also include valuable western courses especially courses in language, information technology, computer, and social studies. Upon graduation, BCCSC students will receive dual high school diplomas of both Chinese and Canada. The Canadian diploma allows students to skip the Chinese National University Entrance Exam and apply for Canadian universities directly.

Host: We send our children out to train them to be independent. Some parents worried that their children may become too westernized. Will this play a negative influence?

Wang Benzhong: I think we should always look at things on both sides. Sending students out is positive for china’s open policy and students’ own future. Of course, it has negative side too. However, under the trend of globalization, I believe the positive influences will surpass the negative influences.

Host: Mr. Wang, would you please tell us what parents should pay attention to when they plan to send children out for higher education?

Wang Benzhong: First of all, the language ability. Language barrier is the first thing students must learn to overcome since language is a key to understand culture difference. Second, learn to be independent. It is essential to train students how to make right decisions, to judge things, and to live on their own. Here I want to give you one example, one of BCCSC graduateswrote a book named “I don’t want to be a lambkin ". In the book, the author expressed her feelings of studying under two different culturaland educational backgrounds. Under the speciality of Chinese education system, the standard of the so-called good student is to be obedient. That means good students have to strictly follow rules and regulations, do what parents and teachers ask them to do. Obviously this concept conflicts with the needs in our modern society nowadays. Our children need to learn to make judgments, to think on their own, and to take responsibility for the decision they made in such an open environment.

Netizen: What are advantages of Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada (BCCSC)?

Wang Benzhong: First, BCCSC course system. We offer both Chinese and Canadian courses. Chinese courses follow State Education guidelines and requirements. The combination of Chinese and Canadian courses is accord with the direction of Chinese course reformation. This direction mainly embodies in bringing up student's ability.Our previous course system is mostly knowledge oriented. It emphasize on theory and systematic management. Now we put forth effort to students’ practical ability instead of excessive degree of theorical difficulties. Second,we take advantage of the superior resources from developed countries, such as Canada. Information technology, for example,opens a great field in our new technology.An ordinary Canadian High School offers 2 IT lessons per week. At BCCSC, we offer 3. The lessons are taught by Canadian instructors and coached by Chinese teachers to apply to real life problems. In addition, courses like social studies talk about laws and society. Also taught by Canadian teachers, it is very helpful to open students’ mind by comparing the legal principles of China and Canada.As for English, Chinese and Canadian teachers have one lesson a week respectively. This way, language and other related courses offered at BCCSC in three years are equivalent to nine years in ordinary high schools. Upon graduation, BCCSC students may choose to take Chinese National University Entrance Exam or to apply for universities abroad. We have counselors to help those who are interested in studying abroad. Students can be enrolled in Canadian universities without TOEFL score. BCCSC will also take care of the visa application. As of today, we have 5 graduate classes, totaling 1500 students, enrolled in Canadian universities and they are all doing great there.

Host: As the principal of Sino-Canada High School, what do you think is the difference between Chinese and Western moral education?

Wang Benzhong: A main difference, I believe, is teacher-student relationship.It is an equal relation in western countries. But in China, we relatively emphasize teachers' dignity.From the education philosophy and structure point of view, moral education barrier generally reflects at teacher-student relationship. According to actual effect, I’d rather be students’ teacher and friend. Once this relationship is built, many problems in moral education could be solved easily.

Netizen: People say moral education is better than preachment. How does BCCSC let students experience moral education in practice?

Wang Benzhong: Personally I have query to this parlance and have been thinking about it all the time. I am afraid that we may have created an unnecessary problem bringing up moral education as a substantive system. Education should be considered as human development in moral, intelligence, and physically strength.We shouldn’t lay particular emphasis onmanagement itself.For example, in a school, some departments manage students' activities, some manage teaching.Since moral education cannot be discussed on its own, I shall say moral education does not exist. It does not tally with the development of people with abilities. This concept may not be easily accepted at this point since China is still very traditional. The phenomenon of “double standards” still exists.

Netizen: There are many activities in the society nowadays, such as “Super Girl” and “Lovely Student”. I am afraid that it will bring the incorrect direction to students. Should parents forbid children to participate in these activities? Mr. Wang, do you have any suggestions?

Wang Benzhong: Generally speaking, prohibitionis passive method.However it’s unrealistic to live without it. Drugs and violence must be prohibited. As part of the spiritual field, it’s aesthetic conception that can only go for research and discussion. There’s a great water-control method invented by Da Yu used to shunt and lead water. This is a typical water conservancy.In people's inner world, indoctrination is very close to forbiddance which we use to pass our opinion to others. We often say that we need to enhance thought transference and moral education. This kind of enhancement is not effective at all. I have contacted quite a few students, it will sure make a difference when you discuss with them as their friend and father. The communication can be very effective. As I mentioned before, we sometimes have to act like student’s friend to avoid generation gap. Many student-related problems are not scientific and can be solved by respect and understanding.I feel listening is the key to understand students’ thought. It is also a sign of respect and understanding. I would strongly recommend parents to listen to your children before jumping to any conclusion. We all have different opinions on activities, society, even fashion. We should not father our opinion upon our children.

Netizen: Mr. Wang, what do you think is the position of moral education?

Wang Benzhong: It is very clear.Moral education teaches us how to behave. The characters of modernist are virtuousness, honest and sincerity. It’s the first priority to teach students to contribute and to serve the society. But how? We could simply set standard for students to follow and practice in real life. I hope we could free students’ mind and give them more time to think on their own. Meanwhile, we also need to correct and restrain their behaviors.

Netizen: Is psychological problem a part of the moral education? We often hear teenager crime and suicidefrom the news. Is this kind of incident relevant with students' mentality?Should parents pay more attention in this respect?

Wang Benzhong: After liberation, we interpret moral as the choice of politics and the choice on political ideology.We need to communicate with each other and deal with conflict of interest between self, group and society. The psychological problem does not belong to the question of moral from the traditional concept but a very important problem in people's evolution.

Netizen: How can school and parents avoid educational misleading?

Wang Benzhong: It is still an idea to educate our children.We need to set more standards for our children. There’s a saying of “more standards, more talents”. What does that mean? We used to judge people in one single way. For instance, we used to think a good student should always score high so that he/she could get enrolled in famous university. We may also think a good child should be obedient. However, this standard is not applicable any more nowadays.Our educators offer abundant services to students' development.The design of course system allows students to choose and be flexible. On the other hand, there’s a bottom line. Just like a citizen shall always obey the laws, a school has its own rules and regulations that need to be followed. We cannot change a student but rather give them advice. I believe they are able to analyze, to judge and to choose on their own in such an open environment and be responsible for their decisions.

Host:Is it true that schools implement individualized education now? Could you please explain to us what individualized education is?

Wang Benzhong: Education is rather complicated.It offers abundant services to students' development. There are many ways to teach students. For example, BCCSC offers great amount of elective courses. Instructors will post course subject and goal for students to choose. This kind of service is individualized education. Our government has improved a lot in course reformation. It’s more flexible and gives school more opportunities to teach students based on their own personalities.

Netizen: BCCSC students can go to Canada to gain further study once they complete high school courses. How can students link up and hold this transition period?Wang Benzhong: There are three methods: First, take a unique step in internationalized courses. BCCSC offers courses in language, social studies, and technology. Second, BCCSC has over 100 Chinese and Canadian teachers on campus whose experiences help students to learn cultural differences.Third,BCCSC offers special courses to guide students in potential development and vocational selections. These courses are planned to be offered in G10 to introduce Canadian society and the classification of Canadian universities. Students will have a primary idea of where to go after graduation.