| | Oct 30th, 2004
| | | Educator strives to combine East & West
| | | China Daily
2004-10-30 08:05
Francis Pang is a busy man. Over the past few years, the Chinese-Canadian has spent much of the time flying across the Pacific Ocean. He has devoted himself to his plan - to seek a way to combine the traditional Chinese education system with the Western one, or with the Canadian way of teaching.
He has succeeded.
Pang, chairman of the board of AKD International Education Inc in Canada, set up two bilingual schools in China - the Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada (BCCSC) in 1997 and Shenzhen (Nanshan) Concord College of Sino-Canada in South China's Guangdong Province in 2001. He is planning to have the third in Shenyang, which is scheduled to open next year in the capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
"I'm trying to provide an international educational platform for Chinese young people," said Pang, also chairman of BCCSC.
The students in these schools take integrated Chinese and English curricula and receive double programmes and double high school diplomas issued both by China and Canada upon graduation. Most graduates choose to go abroad to continue their further studies, mostly going to Canada.
"I feel so grateful for BCCSC. It is its unique way of teaching that helps me know how to be independent and how to be creative," said Yu Jinye, a graduate of the school, who is now studying her MBA at the New Brunswick University in Canada.
What impressed her most is the different ways of teaching - Chinese teachers strengthen basic education while the Canadians encourage creativity.
"That's what I'm trying to do - to combine the best of the Eastern and Western education systems," Pang said.
Early dream
"I have a deep passion for education," the 53-year-old man said. "I believe that better education can give a person confidence and self-esteem."
Born in 1951 in Hong Kong, Pang went to Canada for his higher education in 1966. After finishing his studies in MBA and computer science at University of Waterloo in Ontario, he went back to Hong Kong to help his family business in clothing.
As early as 1972, when he came to the Chinese mainland for the first time to attend the annual Chinese Export Commodity Fair in Guangzhou, Pang thought of doing something in education on the mainland.
"It was then in the turmoil of the 'cultural revolution (1966-76).' I was shocked to see so many unhappy and expressionless faces. I felt that people had lost their confidence and self-esteem," he said."I want to see happy faces and I know education is one of the best ways to cheer up."
Not until the late 1980s and earlier 1990s had Pang seen his plan work.
His family was one of the first groups of Hong Kong business people to establish their factories in the Pearl River Delta in southern Guangdong Province. Its business once worked in 30 different fields and employed more than 50,000 people.
"We had to localize the management of those enterprises since my family was not able to handle them all," Pang said. He started various courses to train his local managers. "My training courses have also attracted many other foreign firms which sent their staff to our classrooms," he said.
But the training courses were only the beginning of his education plan. The turning point in Pang's life-long pursuit came in 1994, when he joined a delegation led by Canadian Premier Joseph Jacques Chretien to visit China.
Following a memorandum signed by the Sino-Canadian governments to promote education exchanges, Pang, who immigrated to Canada in the mid-1980s, started lobbying to establish a co-operative educational programme.
He suggested setting up a bilingual school in Beijing that was able to absorb the best of East and West education culture through combining the best of each education tradition.
Seeking partners
But the best laid plans are often far from smoothly implemented. It took quite a long time for Pang to choose partners in both China and Canada.
In China alone, he failed several times. Through a friend he got in touch with Wang Benzhong, then principal of the Experimental Middle School attached to Beijing Normal University.
Wang became his first Chinese partner. "It was true that we had been considering co-operation with foreign schools," said Wang, who is now the principal of BCCSC after retiring from the former school.
Back in Canada, Pang's plan was warmly welcomed by the education department of New Brunswick, a bilingual province in the country.
After three years' preparation Pang's first such school was set up in Songzhuang in the east suburbs of Beijing with an investment of 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million).
The Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada has formed its unique curricular system, with Canadian courses integrated into Chinese high school courses.
"We have 12 required courses, among which mathematics, physics, sociology, Chinese and English are the most important," said Wang, who is in charge of the Chinese programmes. The college's vice principal, appointed by the Education Department of New Brunswick, is responsible for the Canadian courses. There are also 40 optional courses.
The school has seen five batches of 1,500 graduates, most of whom are now studying in Canada. There are now 34 classes in the school - more than 1,000 students. In 2001, Pang set up the second school in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong.
Warmly appreciated
What Francis Pang has done is not only appreciated by his students but also in Canada, where he is well respected.
"I'm proud of Francis Pang," said Canadian senator Pierre DeBane, who has given a lot of support to Pang's education ideas. "Educational exchanges build a bridge between China and Canada and cement the relationship between the two," he said.
Each year many of the students from BCCSC and Shenzhen school choose to spend either two weeks at the winter camps or one semester studying at the local high schools in New Brunswick, British Columbia and Alberta.
"It helps me understand Western culture better," said Ren Di, who is now studying at the Abbotsford Senior High School in British Columbia. The 17-year-old girl from Shenzhen is one of the top students in the class. She chooses IB (International Baccalaureate, a well-known programme in maths).
"I like the way of learning and I like to learn more about other cultures," the girl said, who will stay there for five months.
According to Madeleine Dube, minister of the Education Department of New Brunswick, the Chinese students have had a great impact in their schools and communities.
"Not only do the Chinese students learn about our culture but our people also learn about Chinese culture," she said.
The education programme at the same time speeds up the growth of the local economy, she said. Because the students don't get in for free. Each pays 3,500 to 3,600 Canadian dollars.
Apart from his new plans in China - one school in Shenyang and another in Shanghai - Pang is also pouring investment into the Canada-China University. It is a joint project between Beijing Union University, Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada (BCCSC) and the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV) in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
"It is of great importance for China's higher education to be introduced abroad," said Pang. The first-phase will start enrollments in 2005.
Happy family
The tight schedule, however, has never weakened Pang and his family ties. "Although my family can be together no more than three months in a year, the quality is the best when we are together," Pang said.
"My wife is even busier than me," he said. His wife Angel Pang, is vice president at Toronto Elegant Lion Club, a charity organization. She gets involved in a lot of social work. They have a son and a daughter, Charles and Joyce, who are all helping Pang in his two schools with the son in Beijing and the daughter in Shenzhen.
Pang is optimistic and energetic as well. "I never complain," he said. "Working in education is what I love to do. I don't feel exhausted.
"I am a workaholic," he said. |
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