How does East meet West at The Roeper School? by Lily Zhu
Lily Zhu PHOTO BY DOUG ELBINGER
… our program not only helps students master a functional proficiency in Chinese language, but more importantly, helps them develop a respecful attitude toward multiple perspectives and a mind open to the world.
Mike Ruddy PHOTO BY DOUG ELBINGER
The Chinese Language and Culture program at our school was established in 2007. When being asked about its background, Emery Pence, one of the community members who took great initiative to help establish a Chinese language and culture program at our school recalls, “As a Middle School administrator at Roeper, I had the opportunity to attend National Association of Independent Schools conventions. While at one in 2005, I attended a workshop on the efforts of NAIS to encourage member schools to start Chinese language and culture programs. What was interesting was that in and on the media there were, at that time, many stories of schools doing just that very thing. I had an epiphany — we should have such a program at Roeper. Our school has a history of breaking down walls between people and of developing citizens of the world.” In 2007, with the support from Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, also known as Hanban, and with the support from the whole school community, our school started to offer the Chinese language and culture program to both Middle and Upper School students. The program has grown steadily over the years. We now have five different levels of Mandarin language study at the Birmingham campus. Besides the study of the language, which is so different from western languages, students are also immersed into Chinese culture, which is closely integrated with the learning of the language. As a result, our program not only helps students master a functional proficiency in Chinese language, but more importantly, helps them develop a respectful attitude toward multiple perspectives and a mind open to the world. The thought of valuing diversity of all kinds is deeply rooted in our school’s Philosophy in Practice. We also strongly believe that “diversity and interdependence foster competence as much as compassion, and nurture excellence as much as empathy.” Meanwhile, Confucius also advocated similar thought in his great book Analects. “The nobleman always stays in harmony and is open-minded with others.” And while our school philosophy may not sing with the elegant
terseness of Classical Chinese, both the Roepers’ and Confucius’s notion of gaining an open mind for our students today is clearly recognized. Under the light of this notion, our Chinese language and culture program helps East and West meet each other.
Broadening Horizons by Mike Ruddy Roeper students have been involved in global learning outside of Roeper’s walls for many years. The areas include course or grade trips, club and special trips, school exchanges, and summer foreign travel. Both domestic and foreign experiences have contributed to global learning for Roeper students, ranging from trips as close as the DIA or as far as Russia, Japan or South Africa. An annual Spanish course trip contributing to greater knowledge of Hispanic culture is the November Dia de los Muertos trip to Mexicantown to view ofrendas and sample Mexican cuisine. Other learning-outside-Roeper course trips by Art History, European History, and French language have involved visits to various museums including the DIA, U-M Art Museum, and Chicago Institute of Art, to expand student knowledge through the observation of varied topics, including global art history, French painting, and Chinese arts. Roeper language classes have travelled abroad to their specific linguistic regions, including Spanish to Costa Rica and Spain, French to Quebec and in France, to Paris and Provence. Latin students experienced a special trip to Rome and nearby areas of classical antiquity. Club and special trips have involved Roeper students doing significant global learning outside of Roeper. Special International Relations Seminars in Washington, DC, in 2004 and 2006 were organized by alum and former board member Nina Beebe ’87. These arranged for juniors and seniors to meet with officials from the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, Homeland Security, at the IMF and World Bank, and with social justice NGOs, foreign representatives, and international lawyers. Students gained an inside look at a variety of institutions, interacting and querying policymakers regarding decisions.
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