Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
Future Teachers
China’s Premier announced at the National People’s Congress in March this year that 10,000 students will benefit from free tuition IF they become teachers and IF they return to their rural countryside to teach for a minimum of three years.
The plan will cost about 100 million yuan ($12.8 million)
The average cost for tuition is about 10,000 yuan = a year’s disposable income in China’s developing areas.
Families have to give half their income and borrow the rest to meet costs for their kids who finally make it into a university such as Beijing Normal University.
Rich kids say – “It really gives a chance for the students whose families are poor, but I will not consider the waiver. I don’t want to spend three years in a remote area as I couldn’t bear the hardship. Anyway, my parents wouldn’t allow me to do that.”
The kids who know what it’s like ‘back home’ are likely to take part, give their mom and dad a break and give something back.
Finish school at 22, teach for three years…25-26…there is still PLENTY of life to live after that.
Besides if you can teach in the countryside, you can teach anywhere.
Hats off to China for this program, the kids who participate in it, the parents who get a break, and the students in the countryside who will get a better chance at an education.
Would you teach in the countryside for three years if you could get a free education?
