Thoughts about Supporting a Rural Chinese School

     One morning at school this week I had to wait a few minutes for the principal to come by and give me the details for my subbing assignment that day.  I stepped outside the empty administrators' office and passed the time looking at a display in the hallway about a charity project that the school has been supporting in a province west of here.  School families  have been encouraged to donate money to support a small rural school there.

     Great idea, I thought.  I'd like to donate to this effort.  I can't think of a better way to promote a more civilized world than through educating young children, especially those who live in poverty.  I also like the idea of the privileged families at this private school in Shenzhen sharing their good fortune with some students who need help. 

     Later I began thinking about this charity project in light of what I'm reading in Out of Mao's Shadow:  The Struggle for the Soul of a New China.  The author, Philip Pan, is a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post who based this 2008 book on seven years of research throughout China. There has been political progress since Mao's demise, but the one-party state remains firmly in place.  Pan asserts that the party's unchecked power has created opportunities for greedy, corrupt bureaucrats to continue to inflict misery on people, especially in rural areas.  He writes that party policy has favored the development of industry and urban areas over rural agricultural areas where the majority of Chinese live. In particular, rural people have been taxed at significantly higher rates than urban Chinese.  Furthermore, some rural officials have gotten away with arbitrarily raising taxes and fees to increase their own salaries and benefits, while spending next to nothing on local public services, including schools.  

     I wondered if this charity project exists because of money mismanagement by local Chinese officials.  Even if that's not the case, perhaps China could afford to fund its public schools more generously, especially in poor rural areas.  There seems to be plenty of money to lend to the U.S. to fund our overspending.  There's also been plenty of money to fund infrastructure for such projects as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, and the newly created Special Economic Zone of Kashgar on China's northwestern border.  It seems a shame that piecemeal charity projects do the job that government could and should do to educate the country's children.

     On the other hand, the U.S. pumps enormous sums into its public education system.  Yet a number of students fail to learn much in our American schools.  Money alone won't assure an education.  It takes desire and effort from  teachers, students and students' families/communities.  It seems a greater shame that the privilege of 13 years of free public education available to every young person in the U.S. does not inspire the desire and effort to make it happen.  

     The kids and teachers pictured outside their rural schools in the display by the school office would most likely be thrilled to have such a privilege.