What Do You Get from a Shu Ren Education

What Do You Get from a Shu Ren Education?
	What We Are	What We Are Not
Goal of Learning	To build problem-solving and critical-thinking skills on top of solid academic skills	To pass standardized tests
	To engage in in-depth learning and inspire a lifelong love of learning	To memorize textbook contents/facts
	To acquire global perspective & competence
Curriculum	Inquiry-based & transdisciplinary: Integrated curriculum in which all academic subjects are united through central themes using both Chinese and English	Academic subjects are taught in isolation
Curriculum	Focused on age-appropriate development of the whole child with art, music, emotional and social development, and physical activity integrated into curriculum	Focused primarily on academic achievement
Immersion Model	Two-way immersion: - 100% Mandarin instruction in Pre-K - 1 hour/day of English instruction in K & G1 - 50%/50% between Mandarin and English from G3	Chinese instruction for 1-2 hours a day
Immersion Model	Mandarin is used to teach all academic subject areas including math, social studies, science, and so on.	Chinese is taught only as a language, but not used as a language of instruction for all academic subject areas
Style of Instruction	Student-centered	Teacher-centered
Style of Instruction	Prioritizes group collaboration, problem-solving, & critical thinking	Emphasizes teacher-directed learning
Teacher /Student Ratio	Low to ensure individualized instruction & differentiated learning (usually from 1:6 to 1:8)	Large classes with high teacher to student ratio (often 1:20 or higher)
School Teachers and Staff	Many with Masters Degree or higher in both China/Taiwan and the U.S.; low staff turnover
	Bilingual and bicultural with in-depth understanding of U.S. and Chinese educational approaches
	Collaborative working-style in curriculum development and lesson planning among teachers
School Community	Diverse and engaged families (from more than 10 countries and many different races and ethnicities)