“What kind of person do you expect your child to be?” “Responsible.” “Be who he/she is.” “Having a happy and meaningful life.” “Able to control themselves.” “A person who can contribute to the society”… Meilian Experimental School, CCNU No.1 Middle School held a public lecture on “International Education” on March 17th. The executive principal of the school, Yi Mengde, motivated brainstorm and kept raising questions to more than 400 parents, which resulted in frequent interactions among the parents and a lively atmosphere.

On the scene of the activity, Yi Mengde, with decades of experience in running schools abroad, combined his rich teaching experience, put forward a though-provoking question “What’s the goal of education?” at the beginning. Parents passed on the microphone to each other to speak out their ideal education goals in turn.

Centered on the simple definition of “person”, Yi Mengde quoted a dictum from educator Cai Yuanpei, “To have a good society, it must have good individuals and good education,” and “What determines the life of a child is not his academic performance, but his sound personality.” Yi Mengde then stated it is necessary to “learn to be independent, self-reliant, self-esteemed, self-respecting, self-loving and self-improving; be able to think, be able to reflect; having no doubt, no worry, no fear; learn to respect others and to be tolerant with dissents; learn to be kind and grateful…” Then, he explained the differences between Chinese and foreign teaching systems and nurturing concepts to parents vividly.

Taking the international teaching system of “2+2+2” in the school as an example (i.e. at least two vocal music/ instrumental music skills, two fine arts/ artistic skills and two sports skills), Yi Mengde mentioned that unlike the traditional Chinese teaching method, international education would pay more attention to all-round development, focus on the respective characteristics and strength of each students, and cover a wider range of interesting courses.

Through the 2-hour open dialogue, parents who attended the lecture got a deeper understanding of the teaching concepts of CCNU No.1 Middle School. Some agreed by nodding and some uttered exclaims from time to time. In the interactive session at the ending part, parents asked questions and communicated on the education and nurturing of students actively. Many parents said that the teaching salon provided a good platform for Chinese parents, which broadened their horizon and enlightened their thinking.

For the next step, the school will continue to launch a series of educational salon activities, so as to provide Chinese parents with more educational experience from the international perspective. And from this autumn, the school will recruit grade-one, grade-two, grade-three, grade-six and grade-seven Heibei students, cultivate students with an extensive range of knowledge and elegant interests, develop both their interest and special skills, and strengthen and cultivate their international vision and scientific and technological innovation ability.