Despite vast cultural differences, Chinese educators who spent a week in Ithaca to learn about U.S. education proved that the two countries' systems have much more in common than might meet the eye.

The entourage of 15, for the most part Chinese high school principals and university administrators, visited Cornell July 15-22 for a conference tailored especially for them. Called "Trends, Opportunities and Challenges in High Schools, Colleges and Universities: A Conference for Educators," the pilot program was sponsored by Cornell's Office of the Vice Provost for International Relations and the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions.

The visitors were affiliated with East China Normal University in Shanghai and with Renmin University in Beijing. Equipped with several translators, the Chinese educators spent time with local high school teachers and principals, as well as Cornell professors and administrators, to get an overview of U.S. trends in education.

"The purpose is to introduce our Chinese colleagues to the way we educate our high school students, and how that feeds into post-secondary education, and to give them a sense of best practices in our education system," explained Laurie Damiani, director of international initiatives in the Office of the Vice Provost for International Relations.

Highlights of the trip included: a presentation by Ithaca High School principal Joseph Wilson on the role of high school principals in American education; sessions on pedagogy in math, science and English by various local high school teachers; tours of the Johnson Museum, Cornell Plantations, libraries and main campus; and presentations on social sciences and life sciences from Cornell Vice Provost David Harris and Cornell developmental genetics professor Kenneth Kemphues.

"We are hoping that through such conferences, students from both countries can exchange and learn from each other," said Jiang Wenbin, deputy director of the National Training Center for High School Principals, based at East China Normal University, through translation by his assistant director, Zhang Jun Hua.

During a roundtable discussion at Ithaca High School, hosted by area high school principals, the Chinese educators answered questions on what their students and faculty need the most and what they, as principals, need the most. The broad discussion topics unveiled similarities in the countries' overall missions of educating students.

These included: helping students realize their potential; allowing every child to succeed and to contribute to society; and teaching students to live in communities and respect each other. As the themes were repeated by the Chinese administrators, their American colleagues nodded in agreement.

Capping a week of topic-specific sessions was a talk on "U.S.-China Relations: The Role of Higher Education," by Cornell history professor Chen Jian. An expert in U.S.-Chinese relations and the two countries' intertwined histories, Chen provided his own Chinese-to-English translation and highlighted higher education exchange as a key method of bringing the two cultures together.

"We must educate the next generation to develop a shared understanding of the strengths of the two sides of the Pacific," Chen said.

Zhang Jun Hua, assistant director of the high school principal training center in Shanghai, said he could sum up his impression of Cornell in four terms: Spacious, he said. Beautiful. Free -- that is, students seem to dress casually but also think freely and independently. And finally, strict.

"I mean, the learning atmosphere," Zhang said. "Because when I walk into the library, students seem to be studying very hard."