World Chinese Conference Remarks
Gaston Caperton's Remarks for the World Chinese Conference on July 20, 2005
Thank You.
It's my honor to be here today with these distinguished leaders: Mr. Li Changchun, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, State Councilor Chen Zhili, and Minster Zhou Ji,Honored guests, distinguished speakers and education leaders from around the world, ladies and gentlemen,
The ancient Biblical writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that: "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to keep silent and a time to speak."
It is clear to me, and to many leaders in the United States—whether they be in education, government, or business—that this is the season and the time to speak Chinese.
As president of the College Board—the largest non-governmental organization in the United States for improving high school education, and preparing students for colleges and universities—I am pleased to report our commitment to play a leading role in encouraging the study of Chinese language and culture in the schools, colleges, and universities of the United States.
I am standing here today to share my personal passion and commitment to building bridges between the United States and China, by bringing the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture to high schools across the United States. The study of Chinese will not just connect American students with the language, but also with the literature and rich history of China.
The College Board is a one hundred year-old nonprofit membership organization. We have members from 5,000 colleges, universities, and schools. We provide the country's major college entrance examination, called the SAT®. Last year, more than 3 million tests were taken by high school students across the United States and the world.
The College Board also offers college-level courses to students while they are still in high school. These are called "Advanced Placement" classes, or AP®. They are high-quality courses, developed with the input of professors from our finest colleges and universities.
The College Board provides special training for high school AP teachers, and helps them develop a curriculum of the highest academic intensity. Students who take Advanced Placement classes can earn college credit while in high school.
During my time as the president of the College Board, I have worked hard to expand the opportunity for Advanced Placement to more high schools, so that whether a student is in a small rural school, a public high school in a large urban or suburban center, or at a private school, they can take advantage of AP classes.
We made the decision to develop the AP Chinese Program back in 2004. The AP Chinese course will launch in 2006. This is the first-ever national course in Chinese language and culture in the United States. Our surveys of high schools show that there is already great interest among American students in learning Chinese. I know from my visits to high schools and colleges around the country that the anticipation for this course is very high.
We share with everyone here at the World Conference today, the enthusiasm about this great opportunity to bring Chinese language and culture to our classrooms.
At the College Board, we would have never been able to accomplish this effort without the continuing strong support of Mr. Zhou Ji the Minister of Education of China, and especially the expertise of the Director General of Hanban, Xu Lin and her outstanding team, who have worked tirelessly to support this important goal of developing world-class materials, professional development, and a comprehensive test, for teaching American students Chinese.
We have great opportunities and great challenges ahead of us, but we have made a good start.
As we have learned from the Chinese: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Thirty years ago, there was almost no communication between our two great nations. In my many visits to China over the past 25 years—as a business executive, a lecturer, and the Governor of West Virginia—I have personally witnessed amazing progress on all fronts. I now sense a great hope in the formal relations between our governments, but even more important, is the hope that comes from educational exchanges, cultural exchanges, and the person-to-person connections among our teachers and students.
On a personal note, I'd like to share that my family is also committed to building bridges through educational exchanges. My wife, Dr. Idit Caperton, will lecture on Education Technology Entrepreneurship at East China Normal University next fall. And our youngest daughter will be a student in the eighth grade in Shanghai. Both are excited about studying Chinese language and culture!
China's decision to make English the second language of its schools, and the College Board's decision to create a new Advanced Placement Program® course in Chinese Language and Culture, will encourage deeper understanding and respect between the next generations of Chinese and Americans—while building a greater partnership between our two great nations.
As I said at the beginning of my speech today: "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to keep silent and a time to speak. A time for war and a time for peace."
We must choose peace, and the learning of each other's languages and cultures is an important step.
As Confucius said, "If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself."
The young people of the United States and of China, and all other nations, need to learn about, know, and understand each other—because they will be creating and sharing the same future.
I know each of us here in this great hall, at the World Chinese Conference, stand ready to build bridges and be partners in this great task of teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language.
Thank you.