Receiving their share of parenting

Of the 49 international students in grades seven through 12 this school year at Lawrence Woodmere Academy (LWA), two mothers have accompanied their children from China and will stay as the students complete their education.

Chang Hua, who hails from Shanghai, came to Woodmere last fall thinking her son Harry, now in ninth grade, could receive a better education in the United States “I had a friend who had a child who went to Lawrence Woodmere Academy and while I was visiting my friend I came to visit the school and my son had a chance to talk to the principal,” Hua said through translator La Zhong, the international student coordinator at LWA.

Zhong, who also teaches anatomy and biology the school, serves as the go-to person for international students and their parents. She came to the U.S. from China 10 years ago. “I was an international student,” she said. “So I have a passion to help them because I was one of them.”

According to Hua, Harry enjoys playing the saxophone and Headmaster Alan Bernstein is an accomplished saxophonist. “They were very happy together talking about the saxophone and I thought they could bond [over their shared interest],” she said. “He also loves basketball and the school’s team is one of the best so I knew he would be happy here.”

Yanghua Song came from Beijing over the summer to check out Lawrence Woodmere Academy and ran into Bernstein outside the school. “He was very polite, nice and welcoming,” said Song, who is living in Rockville Centre. “Even though he didn’t know I was a perspective parent.”

The parents dislike for the Chinese educational system pushed them to make the nearly 7,000-mile trip for their children’s education. “They teach to the tests and if you don’t do well on the tests, you’re a bad student,” Song said. “Adam is a hands on learner and I feared that his teachers wouldn’t help him as much because he wouldn’t study as much as they’d like. There are also between 40 and 60 students in a class and I was worried he wouldn’t get individual attention.”

As a population control measure, China implemented a one-child per family policy in 1979. Families, Hua said, want the best for their only child. Concerned about the Chinese educational system, she also wanted her only son to learn values about interacting with others. “He was exposed to the Chinese educational system from first to seventh grade and now he’s being exposed to American education so he has the best of both worlds,” she said. “I’m also able to teach him values such as how to share with others.”

Being far away from their families has been made easier through technology. “We talk over the Internet often and whenever I get the chance to go back I do,” Hua said, noting she and Harry will return to China over Christmas break.

“It’s a sacrifice we make for our children,” Song added. “It makes it easier for them that we’re here, even though I miss home.”