One elementary case of success

Frank Cai of Beijing sent his daughter to an elementary school in the US in 2005 while he was studying for a doctorate in American studies at the University of Kansas.

"The strongest impression US education left on me is that it's very personalized and student-oriented," Cai, a college teacher, says.

He recalls that when his daughter, who he preferred not to name publicly, was in the third grade, her teachers realized that she was highly intelligent. They invited her to join a special education program in which each student was provided with tailored courses and guidance in tune with their personalities and academic strengths to better cultivate their talent.

Cai's daughter showed a strong talent for reading, so the teachers offered her a specialized reading list and enrolled her in a reading competition, which greatly increased the amount she read and her ability to comprehend difficult texts.

Under the guidance of the teachers, Cai's daughter read a large number of books, and her first literary offering, a poem, was first published when she was 9. She has now had about a dozen works published.

Because she performs well in maths, playing piano and basketball, the girl, now 16, is very close to her father's definition of "all-around development".

In 2012, Cai's daughter took the US Secondary School Admission Test, and, having scored 2,200 points out of 2,400, was admitted to Miss Hall's School, a private college preparatory school for girls.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/14/2014 page24)