If high schools North and South looked more culturally diverse than usual these past couple weeks, it’s because a group of eight students from around the world were mingling the halls mingling with WW-P students as part of a global research project.##M:[more]##
From interacting with the students at High Schools North and South, going shopping in Palmer Square, visiting Philadelphia, and simply staying with American families during their time with the WW-P school district, visiting students from the Learning School have formed many impressions of students’ views and life in America in general to take back with them as part of their research.
For most of the students in the group, this is their first trip to the United States, meaning their time in West Windsor and Plainsboro forms a large portion of their impressions of America — impressions they will use in their research into what students around the world see as important when it comes to the future of education.
The program could even work in the opposite direction — if enough WW-P students were willing to participate. Travel and spending money, and almost a year off from formal education are commitments required of a willing and interested student.
The foreign students seeing the U.S. education system through the eyes of the WW-P schools had plenty of opinions. Their first impressions upon landing in Newark Airport were similar to what any tourist would notice — the yellow school buses, the larger portions, and even the bigger cars. “Everyone has a car, even the pet,” joked Javier Vazquez, a 26-year-old from Spain.
But compared with their experiences in other schools around the world, the visitors say WW-P students are more outgoing. “Usually, we go to the students. But in this place, they come to us,” Vazquez says.
In fact, one student, Daniel Thomason, an 18-year-old from Australia, describes socialization with WW-P students in one word: constant.
But, “we like that,” says Desiree Risberg, a 19-year-old from Sweden. “It’s good when they ask a question and want to know more about ourselves and our countries, and the project.”
“Every student asks about our accents, and they ask about their own accents. ‘Are American accents annoying?’” Thomason recalls.
That’s one of the reasons the students say they are here — so people from other cultures can meet and interact with foreigners and learn about their cultures and countries.
But the group’s main focus is on compiling research for a topic they were given to investigate — “A Curriculum for Living and Learning in the 21st Century.” Their goal is to gather student opinion on how they perceive the future of learning, including what, where, how, and with whom it will be. Their research also includes looking into how students think someone their age will be living, including their lifestyles, concerns, and hobbies.
The Learning School is part of the Global Classroom, a partnership of schools in cooperation with the University of Cambridge and Nara Women’s University in Japan founded in 1999. The research project is led by two coordinators who are appointed in the group each year (this year the coordinators are Vazquez and Maya Whittall, a 22-year-old from Scotland) and involves an international team of students visiting each of the partner schools to research aspects of learning and teaching in those schools. The partner schools, located in countries throughout the globe, include those from Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and South Africa. Project coordinators from Anderson High School provide overall administrative support and coordinate travel, while representatives at Cambridge and Nara provide research training and guidance.
The group consists of current or recent high school students from each of the partner schools. Each year, different students from those schools apply to spend 10 months as a group visiting each of the partnership schools to do research on that year’s topic. This is the ninth year for the project. The group’s findings are discussed at a conference held each year, with the location rotating between partner schools.
“This year, we’re talking to students about their views of the future of education, and also their lifestyles of the future, and seeing how those are in line or not in line with the development plans of the schools we visit,” said Marcus Nicholson, 17, of Scotland.
The group’s work at WW-P included meeting with as many classes as they could at both high schools to carry out their research activities, which include interviewing the students. So far, they say they have found that in Europe, students are keen on wanting to use a lot more technology in their classes, including SMARTboards and video conferencing, “although students say that the school building is important for them to be able to go there and meet their friends,” said Karin Rylander, a 19-year-old from Sweden. Students in the U.S. have similar views, the group said. “We expected a bit less homogeny,” said Thomason.
Each year, the new group of students is given a different topic to explore, with the hope that schools will take their students’ views into consideration when planning for the future. The group started traveling to the different schools in October and will continue traveling after it leaves the WW-P area to New York and San Francisco for a one-week spring break. Then, it will head to a school in Australia, then South Africa, and finally to the Czech Republic.
West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional is the only school district in the United States that hosted the students from the program, the first time the district has done so. Previously, another school in New Jersey was supposed to host the group, but could not longer do so this year, the students explained.
So, the Learning School officials reached out through contacts and wound up here, where WW-P school officials took them up on the offer. The hope is that WW-P students will want to travel as part of a future group to perform the research.
In order for the West Windsor-Plainsboro regional school district to join as an official partner in the Learning School, however, school officials here say WW-P students must first be willing to do what visiting students have done — dedicate 10 months to traveling to other school across the world.
Without that participation, and with a lack of families willing to host foreign students at their homes, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services and Planning Thomas Smith says he doesn’t know if the WW-P district can continue its involvement. During their time here, the visitors encouraged students to join. “I think they’ve had a lot of kids who have shown interest, but nobody who’s said yes,” Smith said. “It’s an awesome program, and our kids would really benefit from it.”
Smith says the WW-P district is interested in becoming a partner with the Learning School, but there is no official partnership without the participation. “It turned out that our staff hosted a majority of the kids,” Smith said. “Really the intent is for them to be hosted with students. The staff loved it, but really they (visiting students) want to see it from a student’s point of view.”
Current high school students, or recent high school graduates can attend from WW-P schools. It is a common practice for students in Europe to take a year off before heading to university, but for American students, it’s away from the norm. “The student wouldn’t be entering college in September with their peers,” Smith explained. “You’d have to have a disciplined student who would go back.”
Money needed for trips and visits within each of the countries is the student’s own responsibility. Depending on the school, travel funds vary. For example, students from Anderson High School in the United Kingdom receive a travel grant up to 1,”000 pounds, or around $2,”000 in American dollars.
For the group members from Sweden, their government subsidized their whole trip. “Everyone else pays their own way,” Smith said, adding that the WW-P school district cannot subsidize the trip. For WW-P students, Smith said it was estimated to cost a student about $3,”500 in addition to spending money. At most, students would need about $80 to $100 a week in spending money, but it is the expectation that host families would provide meals. And, if a student was really interested, there probably would be some grant money available from the organization.
Still, despite all of this, Smith says he feels the benefits far outweigh the negative, because it will give students the opportunity to visit many countries and experience the culture there, not just from a tourist’s viewpoint, but by being able to spend time with the host families.
And, the students benefit from having others visit here, he said. “It’s worth the time and the effort it’s been,” he says. “Our students have had a wonderful experience in learning about the rest of the world from kids who are their age or a year or so older.”
For information on the Learning School and the Global Classroom, contact Thomas Smith at 609-716-5000, ext. 5027, or log on to www.learningschool.org.
