Honest Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing a School

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As teachers, we want what is best for our students. But every child is a unique individual and when it comes to education, one size does not fit all. I strongly encourage all of my prospective parents to do their due diligence. Just because your friends send their kid to my school, or it’s close to your home, or you read about one child who got into XYZ prestigious whatever after attending my class doesn’t mean this is the best place for your child. So, look at all the options and really think about where your child will thrive and what environment will help them become their brightest, boldest, most confident self.

In Beijing that can be a daunting task. According to the International School Database, there are 40 registered international schools just within the 6th Ring Road. It’s amazing to have those kinds of choices but you could never visit all of them. That’s why the Jingkids International School Expo (JISE) this Saturday (Apr 17) is such an important resource for parents. JISE is an excellent opportunity to narrow the field by asking some important questions ahead of site visits. Here are a few questions I suggest parents ask themselves and school administrators prior to making such an important choice.

Questions to ask yourself/family:

Be honest with yourself about these. There is no correct answer to any of these questions. Just because something matters to your best friend or all the people on a WeChat group doesn’t mean it needs to be a deciding factor for you!

What is Your Child’s Learning Style? Some children excel in a hyper-structured environment. Some children need a more experiment-based approach to learning. Some kids actually do better in a competitive environment while others thrive in a collaborative setting. There is no right or wrong answer but knowing how your child best learns and then expresses their knowledge base will help you find the best fit for them.

What’s important to you? Do you want a bilingual school? Do you want a specific curriculum like IB, AP, or Montessori? Distance from your house and provided bus service? It doesn’t matter what your needs are but I suggest making a list and ranking them in order of importance. This will help you immediately discard a lot of options and focus on schools that fit your family’s needs.

What’s important to your child? Don’t be shocked if this list doesn’t match yours. If you have a little diva or divo a school with a strong theatre program may be important to them. A blossoming scientist might want state-of-the-art labs or maybe your gamer really wants a coding program. Obviously, you have the final say but invested kids are more likely to excel so if your child has reasonable requests take them into consideration.

Questions to ask the school:

I stayed away from the more obvious questions that I’m sure you have seen a thousand times. Here are a few less frequently asked questions that may give you some different insight.

What support and resources do they offer? Third culture kids often face different challenges than other students. Because they move so much learning disabilities can go unnoticed for example. They also deal with additional social and emotional stressors. Making new friends can be difficult or being separated from extended family for long periods can take an emotional toll. Not to mention things like pandemics and emergency evacuations or quarantines.  At some point, your child may struggle with a multitude of issues so find out how the school handles them. Do they have on-site councilors, a tutoring program, reading specialists, etc.? Not all of these are mandatory but knowing what’s available is important.

How diverse is the student body? What is the current make up of the school. Is it 99% local students or is there a wide range of expat kids from different cultures. If your child is the only third culture kid in ther grade it could get lonely for them. On the flip side being fully immersed could be exciting and intriguing for the right child. You will need to decide what’s best for them but you should know going in what there class culture will be like.

Extracurricular activities: This may not seem important but find out what is on offer and how much participation is expected of each child. If your child doesn’t enjoy team sports but it’s a huge part of the school culture making friends and forming a supportive social circle might be difficult. If your child does enjoy social activities but not a lot is offered in their area of interest are you willing to do the leg work to find after-school programs and transportation that work around the school day?

What is the average student experience? Almost every school can point to a few shining stars who went on to win at the Olympics, got into a prestigious university, or made a massive scientific break thru. But what about the kids who got mostly B’s, were in the choir but didn’t solo, and had close friends but didn’t sit at the varsity lunch table? Do they generally go on to good universities, have rewarding careers, and happy social lives?

How do they handle discipline? This is a big one that not many parents don’t think about after preschool. But it’s almost more important for a 16-year-old than a 16-month-old. Every culture has a different expectation of children and young adult behavior. They also have a different way of handling discipline when that expectation is not met. Choose a program that aligns with your own family’s expectations and values.

What are the school’s goals and focus? This can be tricky. Most parents ask what a school’s philosophy is and get a long explanation of educational pedagogy or a list of core values from the pamphlet. Don’t get me wrong, that is all important, but it won’t tell you what that looks like in a child’s day-to-day existence.  I suggest asking. “In your opinion, what is the marker of a successful student? How do you know when a child is excelling?”  The answer should be telling. If they say “When they get good grades” that is a very different type of program than one who responds “When they ask a lot of questions” or “When they are excited to come to school.” All of these are perfectly acceptable answers and they tell you as a parent more about what a school’s real focus is and the culture and values of the staff and student body.

Photo: Pexels

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