Since January/February my goal has been to get into high schools with an international track in Kunming. I have slowly developed a network which has borne some fruit when it comes to finding research informants. Despite the promises of fieldwork leads in March, many of them have turned into dead ends. Administrators of schools and a government affiliated organization I’ve wanted to get into have all stonewalled me in terms of getting interviews. That rejection has made my research progress in terms of field work a bit frustrating. At the same time, through Chinese newspaper articles I’ve read, I’ve been able to get a deeper understanding of the international tracks in Kunming as well as throughout China.
Below is a sample of the rejection I have received (I’ve kept the names of people and institutions anonymous for privacy purposes):
Study abroad preparation education organization affiliated with the Yunnan Department of Education
This organization is under the administration of a public entity in the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education. It works with a public high school in Kunming to oversee an international track that sends kids to private high schools in the US. When I went and visited their office, the dean of the organization wasn’t there but I got her business card with her phone number on it. A few days later I called the dean which led to moments like this:
- After talking about my research purpose and what I wanted to know about her organization, the dean tells says: “If you want to know about our methods, I can’t tell you that, it’s a commercial secret.”
Towards the end of the call, more encouragingly she tells me: “you can come to my office sometime and we can talk some more, stay in contact”
Two days later when I call her again to set up a time to meet:
“Is this Dean ” I asked. No response. Then I repeat the question. Again without any response, she hangs up the phone. When I tried to call her again after one ring, the “ignore” message came up: “the number you are dialing is currently busy.”
Prestigious public high school A
A student of my advisor got me into this school. It was the first school (and only one so far) that I actually got a chance to tour. I came in expecting to interview some teachers there but instead he took me to meet with an employee in the international track’s administrative office. Some of the more frustrating moments from that exchange include:
- After some initial chatting, the woman told me “We don’t accept interviews, even from local newspapers. I’m meeting with you as a favor to [teacher].”
- “What’s the tuition for your international track?” I asked her “That’s kept secret” She replied.
- When I asked about seeing textbooks and the classroom, she responds “I can take you to look at some old textbooks but you can’t take a picture of them nor tell anyone else about them. You also can’t go into the classrooms.”
Prestigious public high school B
I came into contact with a teacher from this high school through the friend of a friend of one of my contacts. Though I wanted to interview her outside of work and the school, she insisted that she needed to get the approval of the international track director.
After I submitted my questions as requested, the director subsequently approved me to interview her. But several days later, when I contacted the teacher on Wechat (a very popular Chinese social network app similar to Whatsapp) to confirm our meeting date and time, the teacher responded: “After meeting with the dean of the high school, the director now won’t let me have the interview with you and I’m not clear about the specific reason why.”
Prestigious Public High School C
I had gotten in contact with this school through a professor I had met at Yunnan University and he served as my intermediary. After submitting my interview questions to this school upon request and waiting several weeks with no response, I finally asked the professor to check again about my interview request.
Their response, according to him: “They say that an interview now would not be appropriate fangbian. They have politely declined your request”
The “international track craze” – a controversial national phenomenon in China
The kind of stonewalling I’ve faced from these schools may be related to the controversies surrounding the international tracks which have been started in public high schools throughout China. First emerging in the top tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai in 2002/2003, by 2010 (with the encouragement of China’s Ministry of Education), they expanded to second and third tier cities as well as lesser developed ones in the western and inland regions. Dubbed “the international track craze guojibanre” the emergence of this phenomenon reflects the increasing desire among middle class parents to send their child abroad to study.
International tracks are typically formed through a partnership between a prestigious local public high school and a private education intermediary entity (jiaoyuzhongjiejigou a for-profit company that provides education services). The latter provides the curriculum, textbook, teaching material and teaching staff for the international track. The format for these international tracks can vary widely in terms of curriculum, textbooks and teaching material but overall they prepare these students to study abroad at a western university and take foreign university entrance exams like SAT and ACT and English proficiency exams like IELTS and TOEFL. Some international tracks offer Advanced Placement courses where students can get college credits while others provide a curriculum where students can get a dual western (British, Canadian, American)/Chinese high school degree, making it easier to apply to universities outside of China. Most of the classes in the international track are also taught by foreign teachers entirely in English.
Though these international tracks have also been criticized in Chinese media for a number of reasons. First, the tuition for these international tracks are obscenely expensive by Chinese standards. Though state high schools in China are not free, their tuition is regulated by the local government but international track tuition usually is not. In Kunming, the international track’s tuition and fees can cost, on average, over 200,000 (over $30,000) RMB for three years of study compared to roughly 24,000 ($4,000) RMB in the regular track of a public high school. These international tracks have been a strong source of revenue for the prestigious schools that start them equivalent to what one article called having its own “slush fund.” Schools can earn up to 30-60 times more from international track students’ tuition than those in the regular track. But the quality of the international tracks can vary widely with little government oversight. Moreover, with test score requirements often lower than the regular track, it can be a back door for students to get into fiercely competitive prestigious public high schools. Finally, the use of public resources to subsidize these privately run international tracks has also been a source of criticism. Such issues have led the city government in Beijing and Shanghai to begin forcing international tracks out of public high schools and the national Ministry of Education to tighten regulations over these entities.
Overall, though frustrating, the initial rejection has led me to consider other avenues for developing my social network (like language exchanges with local English teachers) here to gain the guanxi (connections) necessary to get relevant interview contacts. I haven’t lost hope; I just need to revise my strategy.
Below is a sample of the rejection I have received (I’ve kept the names of people and institutions anonymous for privacy purposes):
Study abroad preparation education organization affiliated with the Yunnan Department of Education
This organization is under the administration of a public entity in the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education. It works with a public high school in Kunming to oversee an international track that sends kids to private high schools in the US. When I went and visited their office, the dean of the organization wasn’t there but I got her business card with her phone number on it. A few days later I called the dean which led to moments like this:
- After talking about my research purpose and what I wanted to know about her organization, the dean tells says: “If you want to know about our methods, I can’t tell you that, it’s a commercial secret.”
Towards the end of the call, more encouragingly she tells me: “you can come to my office sometime and we can talk some more, stay in contact”
Two days later when I call her again to set up a time to meet:
“Is this Dean ” I asked. No response. Then I repeat the question. Again without any response, she hangs up the phone. When I tried to call her again after one ring, the “ignore” message came up: “the number you are dialing is currently busy.”
Prestigious public high school A
A student of my advisor got me into this school. It was the first school (and only one so far) that I actually got a chance to tour. I came in expecting to interview some teachers there but instead he took me to meet with an employee in the international track’s administrative office. Some of the more frustrating moments from that exchange include:
- After some initial chatting, the woman told me “We don’t accept interviews, even from local newspapers. I’m meeting with you as a favor to [teacher].”
- “What’s the tuition for your international track?” I asked her “That’s kept secret” She replied.
- When I asked about seeing textbooks and the classroom, she responds “I can take you to look at some old textbooks but you can’t take a picture of them nor tell anyone else about them. You also can’t go into the classrooms.”
Prestigious public high school B
I came into contact with a teacher from this high school through the friend of a friend of one of my contacts. Though I wanted to interview her outside of work and the school, she insisted that she needed to get the approval of the international track director.
After I submitted my questions as requested, the director subsequently approved me to interview her. But several days later, when I contacted the teacher on Wechat (a very popular Chinese social network app similar to Whatsapp) to confirm our meeting date and time, the teacher responded: “After meeting with the dean of the high school, the director now won’t let me have the interview with you and I’m not clear about the specific reason why.”
Prestigious Public High School C
I had gotten in contact with this school through a professor I had met at Yunnan University and he served as my intermediary. After submitting my interview questions to this school upon request and waiting several weeks with no response, I finally asked the professor to check again about my interview request.
Their response, according to him: “They say that an interview now would not be appropriate fangbian. They have politely declined your request”
The “international track craze” – a controversial national phenomenon in China
The kind of stonewalling I’ve faced from these schools may be related to the controversies surrounding the international tracks which have been started in public high schools throughout China. First emerging in the top tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai in 2002/2003, by 2010 (with the encouragement of China’s Ministry of Education), they expanded to second and third tier cities as well as lesser developed ones in the western and inland regions. Dubbed “the international track craze guojibanre” the emergence of this phenomenon reflects the increasing desire among middle class parents to send their child abroad to study.
International tracks are typically formed through a partnership between a prestigious local public high school and a private education intermediary entity (jiaoyuzhongjiejigou a for-profit company that provides education services). The latter provides the curriculum, textbook, teaching material and teaching staff for the international track. The format for these international tracks can vary widely in terms of curriculum, textbooks and teaching material but overall they prepare these students to study abroad at a western university and take foreign university entrance exams like SAT and ACT and English proficiency exams like IELTS and TOEFL. Some international tracks offer Advanced Placement courses where students can get college credits while others provide a curriculum where students can get a dual western (British, Canadian, American)/Chinese high school degree, making it easier to apply to universities outside of China. Most of the classes in the international track are also taught by foreign teachers entirely in English.
Though these international tracks have also been criticized in Chinese media for a number of reasons. First, the tuition for these international tracks are obscenely expensive by Chinese standards. Though state high schools in China are not free, their tuition is regulated by the local government but international track tuition usually is not. In Kunming, the international track’s tuition and fees can cost, on average, over 200,000 (over $30,000) RMB for three years of study compared to roughly 24,000 ($4,000) RMB in the regular track of a public high school. These international tracks have been a strong source of revenue for the prestigious schools that start them equivalent to what one article called having its own “slush fund.” Schools can earn up to 30-60 times more from international track students’ tuition than those in the regular track. But the quality of the international tracks can vary widely with little government oversight. Moreover, with test score requirements often lower than the regular track, it can be a back door for students to get into fiercely competitive prestigious public high schools. Finally, the use of public resources to subsidize these privately run international tracks has also been a source of criticism. Such issues have led the city government in Beijing and Shanghai to begin forcing international tracks out of public high schools and the national Ministry of Education to tighten regulations over these entities.
Overall, though frustrating, the initial rejection has led me to consider other avenues for developing my social network (like language exchanges with local English teachers) here to gain the guanxi (connections) necessary to get relevant interview contacts. I haven’t lost hope; I just need to revise my strategy.