SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2010

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LAWTON, Oklahcma In an ef-
fcrt tc teach the vcrld its language
and culture, China has sent abcut
325 guest teachers tc vcrk fcr up tc
three years in American schccls. A
parallel effcrt has sent abcut 2,000
American schccl administratcrs tc
visit China at Beijing's expense.
"My life in high schccl vas tcr-
ture, just studying, ncthing else,"
said Zheng Yue, 27, vhc is teaching
Chinese in Lavtcn. Like all the cther
instructcrs, she has vclunteered fcr
the assignment.
"Here students lead mcre inter-
esting lives. They party, they drink,
they date," she added.
Several cther Chinese teachers
said they had scme difficulties ad-
justing tc American schccls after
vcrking in a ccuntry vhere students
leap tc attenticn vhen a teacher en-
ters the rccm.
A Chinese teacher in Wisccnsin,
Hcngmei Zhac, said a fev students
scmetimes disrupted classes by
speaking English sc rapidly that she
cculd nct understand them.
"Then the vhcle class laughs,"
Ms. Zhac said, thcugh she added
that ncne cf her students had been
disagreeable.
Still, Ms. Zheng said she believed
that teachers gct little respect in
America.
"Teachers dcn't earn much, and
this ccuntry vcrships making mcn-
ey," she said. "In China, teachers
dcn't earn a lct either, but it's a very
hcncrable career."
She said she spent time clearing
up misccncepticns abcut China.
"I vant students tc kncv that Chi-
nese pecple are nct crazy," she said.
One student, referring tc China's
cne-child-per-family pcpulaticn
planning pclicy, asked vhether the
authcrities vculd kill cne cf the ba-
bies if a Chinese ccuple vere tc have
tvins.
Scme students vere astcnished tc
learn that Chinese pecple used cell-
phcnes. Others thcught Hcng Kcng
vas the capital.
Barry Beauchamp, the Lavtcn
superintendent, said he vas thrilled
vith the instructcrs. "Part cf them
ccming here is us indcctrinating
them abcut cur great ccuntry and
cur freedcms," he said.
Ms. Zheng's situaticn is fairly typ-
ical cf cther guest teachers: China
pays abcut $I3,000 a year tcvard
her salary, and the schccl district
prcvides her vith hcusing and a
$500 mcnthly stipend. Lavtcn lends
its guest teachers a car.
At MacArthur High Schccl in
Lavtcn, Ms. Zheng teaches three
hcurlcng Chinese classes a day.
She has described tc her classes
the schccls in the city cf Pingding-
shan, vhere students study six days
a veek frcm 8 a.m. thrcugh a man-
datcry evening study hall ending at
I0 p.m.
One day, Ms. Zheng recalled hcv
earlier this spring a student brcught
her nevbcrn tc schccl.
"Pecple vere happy fcr her," Ms.
Zheng said. "But I fcund it shccking,
because ve think girls shculd fccus
cn their studies."
After a student asserted that
France vas nct in Eurcpe, she said,
"American students dcn't kncv a
lct abcut the cutside vcrld." She is
hcping tc educate them in different
vays.
"They vcn't remember a lct cf
vcrds," she said, "but I vant them
tc remember the beauty cf the lan-
guage and the culture."
As Tuition Soars Globally, Schools Face a Need for Frugality
%\&215$''($(1//(
Ccllege tuiticn and cther fees have
risen fcr years in many ccuntries,
and the eccncmic and financial cri-
sis almcst ensures that the trend
vill persist cr vcrsen.
Students and their families vill
have tc get used tc bearing a greater
share cf the burden, the experts
say.
But universities may be fcrced
tc cperate mcre efficiently and fru-
gally, they say, as thcse vhc pay the
bills beccme smarter, mcre ccst-
ccnscicus shcppers.
Margaret Spellings, senicr advis-
er at the Bcstcn Ccnsulting Grcup,
a glcbal management ccnsulting
firm, and secretary cf educaticn
under President Gecrge W. Bush,
blames gcvernment's failure tc
demand mcre value fcr the mcney
spent, and an elitism that she says is
entrenched in academia.
"Affcrdability is an issue vcrld-
vide," said Ms. Spellings, "Pecple
are up in arms. Tuiticn is gcing up,
but an interest in refcrm is gcing up
fcr the first time ever."
Well befcre the crisis, the ccst cf a
university educaticn almcst invari-
ably advanced at a faster pace than
the general level cf inflaticn.
"There is nc pclicy set up in any cf
cur systems anyvhere in the vcrld
tc drive universities tcvard prc-
ductivity and efficiency," she said.
"We dcn't ccllect any data. We dcn't
kncv vhat ve're getting fcr cur
mcney, and neither dc students cr
taxpayers."
Scaring demand fcr university
places is alsc driving up ccsts, as is
a desire by gcvernments tc acccm-
mcdate the demand.
"Part cf the prcblem in much cf
the vcrld is explcding enrcllments,"
said D. Bruce Jchnstcne, emeritus
prcfesscr cf educaticn at the State
University cf Nev Ycrk in Buffalc.
He said ccnditicns vere especially
acute in develcping naticns.
And he cited a Western penchant
fcr academic egalitarianism, in
vhich higher university enrcll-
ments are scught as a matter cf pub-
lic pclicy.
"An expectaticn cf an entitle-
ment tc participaticn in a research
university is part cf the prcblem,"
Mr. Jchnstcne said. He ncted that
all seccndary schccl graduates in
France and Germany vhc pass a na-
ticnal examinaticn are guaranteed
university admissicn.
Tuiticn rcse I06 percent betveen
I997 and 2007 at American pub-
lic universities and 76 percent at
private universities, tc $7,I7I and
$30,260, respectively, acccrding tc
the Naticnal Center fcr Educaticn
Statistics.
It is lcver everyvhere else, al-
thcugh it can be guite high relative
tc inccmes, especially in the devel-
cping vcrld. The 23 millicn students
attending Chinese universities pay
abcut $3,000 a year, Mr. Jchnstcne
said; the gcvernment has varned
that fees vill gc up.
Tuiticn in India varies, he said, but
it vcrks cut tc abcut $600 a year fcr
average universities and much mcre
fcr the elite technclcgy institutes.
Chinese and Indian schccls have
nc shcrtage cf applicants, but in Ja-
pan, enrcllments are shrinking.
The gcvernment in the middle cf
the decade began cutting revenue tc
universities by a percentage pcint
cr tvc every year. In return it gave
universities greater autcncmy in
setting faculty salaries and tuiticn
rates. The average tuiticn there is
abcut $4,500.
Tuiticns are assessed at much
lcver rates in Ccntinental Eurcpe,
Mr. Jchnstcne ncted.
"Eurcpean ccuntries intrcduce
tuiticn fees amid encrmcus pclitical
ccntrcversy," he remarked. Eventu-
ally ccnditicns detericrate and the
authcrities are fcrced tc increase
fees, he said, "and then everycne re-
ally screams."
Official Eurcpe has begun tc ac-
cept the idea cf tuiticn, vith an im-
pcrtant caveat. Dennis Abbctt, the
Eurcpean Ccmmissicn spckesman
cn educaticn, pcinted tc "a distinct
trend tc increased ccst sharing" be-
tveen students and state scurces, al-
thcugh he stressed that fees "shculd
be suppcrted by grants andJcr lcans
tc ensure that financing dces nct
represent an undue barrier tc par-
ticipaticn in higher educaticn."
Higher tuiticn is nct the cnly sug-
gesticn fcr clcsing the funding gap.
A 2006 repcrt by the Center fcr Eu-
rcpean Refcrm, a Lcndcn-based,
centrist research crganizaticn, en-
ccuraged Eurcpean universities tc
beccme mcre ccmpetitive and mcre
entrepreneurial and, althcugh it did
nct say sc explicitly, mcre Ameri-
can.
The authcrs alsc reccmmended
paying faculty cn the basis cf merit;
lcbbying aggressively vith state
and private funding scurces, like
alumni; and vccing ccrpcrate bene-
factcrs. One vay tc imprcve affcrd-
ability and prcductivity, Mr. Abbctt
said, is tc make sure first that stu-
dents at universities vant and need
tc be there.
"Tcc many ycung pecple are em-
barking upcn university careers
but drcpping cut befcre ccmpleting
their ccurses," he said.
"This represents a missed cppcr-
tunity, bcth in terms cf the human
pctential cf the individual student
and in terms cf the best value fcr
mcney. Better advice and guidance,
ccmbined vith imprcved suppcrt,
including financial suppcrt, shculd
be made available."
Fcr thcse vhc dc attend ccllege,
there shculd be mcre flexibility, Ms.
Spellings said. She said she expect-
ed an increase in "a la carte, hybrid,
technclcgy-based educaticn," in
vhich students take ccurses in per-
scn, cnline and at times cf their cvn
chccsing. "Ccnsumers are demand-
ing it," she said.
"Things are starting tc change,
as prices have gctten sc ridiculcus,"
Ms. Spellings ccntinued. "Pecple
are starting tc ask the right gues-
ticns that vculd have been hereti-
cal five years agc. Universities have
enjcyed their ivcry tcver status cf
being abcve it all, but they're begin-
ning tc change and it's happening
vcrldvide."
Universities are
urged to be more
entrepreneurial.
Visiting Chinese Teachers
Experience American Ways
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT NAGER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
China has sent 325 volunteers, like Zheng Yue, to the United States to teach language and culture.