The Sunday Times reported on Sunday (April 17) that 50 international schools run by British educational institutions in China are considering pulling out of the country and moving to countries such as Vietnam, Africa or Egypt because they face tightening restrictions on teaching that could damage their reputation. The news sparked an outcry from Chinese netizens.
The news sparked polarized reactions from Chinese netizens. In particular, Chinese social media users on Weibo have been particularly vocal and negative about international schools in China. But according to videos provided by some netizens, there are also many Chinese parents who are rushing to get their children into international schools that cost a lot of money and have competitive entrance exams.
In response to the rumors, two education analysts told the Voice of America that they have not heard of any international schools planning to pull out of China, although the worsening relationship between the U.K. and China has certainly affected the operations of British schools in China. One of the educators also argued from a business perspective that international schools “have had a taste of making money in China and will not pull out of the country easily.”
One-sided diatribe
In response to reports that British schools are pulling out of China, netizens in China have been trolling the microblogging site with almost unanimous messages. Several posts told the British school to “get the hell out of here!” A netizen signed by “Gengzi Hengmei” even criticized the British school as a “training base for anti-China agents”. Another netizen signed by “Changsha Seeking Wisdom” criticized the British school for “cultivating the seeds of color revolutions, and if they could not succeed, they had to withdraw early to avoid wasting money.”
Among the nearly 30 negative comments, only one posting by a netizen signed by “Anton has no story” reminded that “the most accomplished scientists and humanities figures of modern times …… The majority of the comments were, I’m afraid, directed at the most accomplished scientists and humanists of modern times. I’m afraid that most of the people in the comments are those who can’t afford to go to private schools, right?”
However, someone also uploaded a video on Weibo showing a large number of “anxious” parents taking their children to the Shenzhen International Communication College (SZIC) entrance exams, a scene of a rush to the head. The Chinese netizen, named “Yu Lei,” also posted: “As relations between China and the U.S. deteriorate, more and more parents from across the country are bringing their children to apply for the SZIA, and the competition is getting fierce.”
In contrast, on Twitter, the mainstream Western social media, tweeters were mostly supportive or sympathetic to the news of the possible withdrawal of the British school.
Most tweeters were supportive or sympathetic
One tweeter said, “This is a good development for private schools, don’t continue to help the Communist Party push political propaganda.” Another tweeter said, “China’s schools on the ground have to follow the Chinese Communist Party’s brainwashing education, and now even international schools are not immune.” Another tweeter reminded British international schools, “It’s RMB or reputation, it’s one or the other.”
According to the Sunday Times, China’s Ministry of Education released its latest teaching assessment guidelines in March, requiring bilingual private schools and international schools with Chinese students to follow the Chinese national curriculum in their planning. The report quoted two British interviewees as saying that many British schools are considering pulling out of China for fear that their curriculum will be politically abused, affecting their brand reputation or losing control of their schools. However, the report did not specify which international schools.
Of the top 10 brands of British international schools in China, Voice of America has asked the British principals of three schools by phone and email, but none have responded, including the Wellington (China) Group, which has close ties to the British royal family, which wrote back but did not respond to Voice of America’s inquiries by press time.
There are two types of international schools in China: bona fide international schools, which are for the children of foreign envoys or foreign businesspeople and are limited to students with foreign passports, and are therefore not regulated by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The other type of schools are private international schools or bilingual schools, mostly run by private individuals or licensed by foreign teaching institutions and brands, which are open to Chinese students in addition to foreign passport holders and are therefore regulated by the Chinese Ministry of Education and must include a compulsory national curriculum.
“Ridiculous” rumors
In response to reports that private British international schools are considering pulling out of China, Julian Fisher, a British education consultant based in Beijing, said that he was not convinced that the school would be able to offer the curriculum. In a written interview with the Voice of America, Julian Fisher, a Beijing-based British education consultant, said the rumors are “ridiculous.
Fisher is a co-founder of Venture Education, a Beijing-based British education consultancy. He said he knows that the top British international school brands are successful in China in terms of enrollment and operations, and that they are continuing to expand, especially as many real estate companies are actively partnering with international school brands to get more land from local governments, and as more middle-class families in China are looking for more options for their children’s education.
China’s education regulations are really catching up and tightening up because of the increase in new schools, he said. In addition, the past year has been difficult for foreign teachers to enter the country and obtain visas because of the new crown epidemic. This, coupled with increased competition among students for admissions, has made it more difficult for new schools to recruit the best students, all of which are challenges for international schools in China.
Fisher said that this year’s impact of the new epidemic has certainly made the outlook for some schools less optimistic than before, and that tensions between the U.K. and China will affect the decisions of some school operators. But he said the decision to withdraw schools or not has always depended on financial and operational performance, and that the schools, whether they go to Africa or Eastern Europe, are usually there to expand the education market, “not to consciously decouple from the China (market).”
Fisher said international schools that want to enroll Chinese students have been known to seek out Chinese shareholders to co-operate with the school before entering China and, in terms of curriculum, incorporate the core syllabus set by the Chinese Ministry of Education. But that doesn’t stop schools from offering courses required for the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), or courses in social and emotional intelligence, or even Advanced Levels of Secondary Education (A-levels), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced Placement (AP) courses, he says. Of course, finding the balance and the right teaching model among such a diverse curriculum is one of the challenges of running a school in China.
According to Asktron’s 2021 annual report released in January, there are 27 British private school brands setting up a total of 55 schools in China, including 14 opening in 2020, with another 43 British private schools expected to open in the future. In addition, according to education media outlet New Schooling, there are currently 907 accredited international schools in China, including 113 schools for children of expatriates, 535 private international schools and 259 international departments (classes) in public schools. 12% compound annual growth rate.
The benefits of making money
Another Chinese teacher, who declined to be named and has taught at several international schools, believes that most international schools are unlikely to pull out of China unless they lose money. In writing to Voice of America, he said that from a business interest point of view, “these old and famous schools, having tasted the benefits of making money in China, will not pull out of China easily.” As for international schools expanding to countries such as Vietnam, he said the likelihood is high because, locally, demand for international schools is also on the rise.
While the news that British international schools are pulling out of China is still rumored, it is indisputable that China is increasingly tightening its “educational sovereignty” by requiring international schools or bilingual schools with Chinese students to follow the national curriculum and offer a compulsory course of study that includes political thought.
In response, non-Chinese parents and students who choose the international school education system say they have no choice but to respect and accept it. However, they generally believe that China’s more conservative and dogmatic curriculum in political thought has little substantive impact on students.
Ricky, a Taiwanese businessman’s son who returned to Taiwan last year to attend college because of the epidemic, said in an interview with the Voice of America that he grew up in China and attended Taiwanese schools in the Shanghai area from kindergarten through high school. He said that just like international schools that only accept foreign students, the three Taiwanese schools in China only accept Taiwanese students and will not accept Chinese students. Therefore, the teaching materials they use in school are flown in directly from Taiwan.
Rigid political thinking
Only, Ricky said, after the textbooks are censored by China, the schools will cover up politically sensitive areas, such as the school movement, June 4 and political party rotation, with sticky white stickers. But he said such a practice is not effective in the age of information flow, because as long as there is a VPN (virtual private network) to climb over the wall, most students can still find a lot of relevant information on the Internet. In addition, he said, if curious students raise politically taboo issues in class, Taiwanese teachers will not shy away from providing explanations, especially when it comes to the scope of the exam.
Ricky said he respects the Chinese system, after all, every country has its own educational sovereignty, and it is impossible for him to change the Chinese educational system when he is a guest in China. But he said that if he had a choice, he would not let his children receive this more restrictive education in the future. He said he has many friends of Chinese nationality, and for similar politically taboo topics, if one really wants to, one can look up many facts or opinions that are different from those in textbooks if one goes through the Internet.
Another parent, whose children attend both American schools and the international section of Shanghai’s Soong Ching Ling School, said that American schools, which focus on critical thinking and “a high degree of autonomy,” are very unlikely to include such political ideology in their curricula, because American parents would also strongly oppose it.
The parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said that not many Chinese children of Chinese nationality attend American schools, but are mostly children of returnees with foreign passports. He said his observation is that these children and their parents with high political and economic status belong to a “biaxial system” in terms of national identity. That is, they expect China to be strong but also embrace Western liberal and democratic thinking, hoping that China will move closer to the West in this regard or that East and West will merge.
The parent said that he has business friends who have confidence in China’s future and therefore send their children directly to local schools in China. But they create a freer space for their children in the homeschool atmosphere, hoping to balance the more rigid mindset of Chinese schools.
This parent said that most parents who spend 200,000-300,000 RMB ($45,000) per year to send their children to private international schools want to choose an educational environment for their children that is internationally compatible. As a result, some parents reject the inclusion of the Chinese curriculum, but others believe that the Chinese curriculum does not carry much weight and that the development of political thinking in their children is therefore no greater than the invisible indoctrination of the family or the individual parent by example and word.
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