Before the start of the fall semester, telephone calls from abroad asking about Hsinchu's National Experimental High School were a not uncommon occurrence: "Hello. Is this the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park? Is it true that you have a high school for foreign students?"... "Hello. Is this the Hsinchu National Experimental High School? I'm calling from the University of Michigan. Could you tell me when your autumn classes begin?"

Who are these parents who want to know more about the National Experimental High School? Some are Chinese who are being educated abroad. Others are Chinese scholars and businessmen in America who plan to return to Taiwan with their families. Yet others are foreign businessmen with plans to reside in Taiwan for a period of time. All write or call to find out about what type of education will be provided for their children.

The National Experimental High School is located at Hsinchu's Science-Based Industrial Park, Taiwan's equivalent of the Silicon Valley in northern California. The school was founded over two years ago by the National Science Council and the Department of Education, and is the newest high school in Taiwan. It contains two main departments: the experimental department and the bilingual department.

The experimental department is based on the structure of the Chinese school system. Its 694 students are divided into 25 classes of all grade levels. Despite the school's name, it teaches students from kindergarten through high school. Classes in the experimental department are taught in Chinese, to primarily Chinese students.

The bilingual department is the first and only of its kind in Taiwan to provide elementary and high school education using both Chinese and English materials. Based on the western system of elementary, junior high and high school grade levels, it has 37 students, currently ranging from grades one to ten. The department's courses and teaching materials are the same as in the U.S., with the addition of classes and materials for Mandarin Chinese, Chinese history and Chinese culture. The department has both foreign and Chinese students.

The National Experimental High School grounds are an interesting sight between classes. Uniformed students from age four to 18 spring from the classrooms. Blond-haired, green-eyed English-speaking students walk with texts in hand to their Chinese language classes. Chinese students are on their way to science and math classes, taught in English by Chinese teachers. A variety of ages, backgrounds, and native tongues make for a truly unique student body.

The school is limited to the children of those employed in Hsinchu's Science-Based Industrial Park. Its principal, Chang Yu-ch'eng has explained the reasons for this. In order to face the challenge of Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea in promoting industrial growth and economic progress, Taiwan must adopt and develop advanced technology. The Science-Based Industrial Park was established for the cultivation and development of the technological sector. This work requires new techniques, new talent, and investment from abroad.

Many talented Chinese have gone abroad for higher education. They often remain there for reasons of work environment, higher salaries, opportunities for continued education, or the desire to give their children a western education. Much of the talent needed for a successful industrial park includes foreigners and Chinese with western educations and a number of years of work experience. But many of them have children already in school in the U.S. These parents are reluctant to move their families to Taiwan for fear that their children, fluent in English and accustomed to the western educational system, will have difficulty adjusting to school in Taiwan. The National Experimental High School, with its bilingual department and westernized system, was established in order to ease the worries of both overseas Chinese and foreign parents.

The school opened in August of 1983. With a generous budget of US$3,750,000, it was carefully designed and built with the students in mind. The buildings were constructed around a circular plaza using windproof materials for protection against the area's gusty weather. The health center, student store and library are centrally located for students' convenience.

The four-story library, housing 100,000 books, provides spacious reading areas to allow students to rest and read in a comfortable, unregimented setting. Children in the younger grades are patiently taught how to look for and check out books, preparing them for the time when they will confidently do their own research. In such an atmosphere, it is no surprise that over 100 books are checked out daily, and students are often reluctant to leave.

Teachers must meet stiff requirements in order to qualify to teach at the National Experimental High School. In the first year, the school had 2,549 applicants. Only 16 were chosen, 12 of which had master's level degrees. Applicants underwent a series of three rigorous examinations, including two oral tests, one given by a group of university professors from the Hsinchu area, the other by the school's principal, Chang Yu-ch'eng, as well as a general written exam.

The teachers chosen for the experimental department view themselves as pioneers in a new form of elementary and high school education on Taiwan, and are continually challenged in the adoption of new teaching materials and procedures. For example, the school's higher grades were the first to use the new series of teaching materials that was adopted a year later by all of Taiwan's high schools. Junior high classes in the department have moved away from the Chinese tradition of dividing students into separate classes based on achievement. The elementary curriculum will soon include computer and English classes. Time, energy and devotion is required of the teachers in order to make for effective adjustment to all of these changes.

The goal of the experimental department is to develop more effective methods of teaching students how to "use their minds, hands and mouths". Using their minds means developing analytical and critical abilities. Using their hands means learning by doing, through practice and experience. Using their mouths refers to the ability to express questions and opinions, essential to the growth of an inquisitive, creative mind.

Results have been positive. Teachers note that students enjoy expressing questions, and often seek the advice of university teachers in the area while working on research projects for class. Many have taken a special interest in the chemistry lab or computer lab, and often stay after school to work on experiments and programs.

Wang Chia-li, instructional affairs chairman, notes that students attending the National Experimental High School have particularly high I.Q.'s and strong self-confidence, due in part to their family backgrounds. Most of their parents are well-educated managers, professionals and professors. One out of every three students has a parent with a master's or Ph.D. degree.

An example is Lin Chen-chih, an overseas Chinese student who moved with his parents to Hsinchu at the age of 15. Lin had a particularly high I.Q., and as early as the eighth grade scored 790 out of 800 in the SAT examination. Educated in English, he began learning Chinese when he arrived in Taiwan. After one year at Hsinchu he jumped ahead two grades, and began attending classes in Chinese. Using English college texts in math, chemistry and the natural sciences, and elementary level texts in Chinese, Lin's unique education requires tutoring for most classes.

Because of such variations in the academic and language abilities of students from abroad, many of those in the bilingual department are tutored. Classes are taught at different levels in both Chinese and English, allowing students a novel educational experience, and helping to make the bilingual department a particularly lively part of the school.

Greater individual attention to students combines with superior facilities and new teaching methods to give Hsinchu's National Experimental High School a special reputation among scholars and professionals abroad. For they are the first to appreciate how this novel high school can provide their children with a positive atmosphere which encourages critical and analytical thinking and the spirit of research and innovation.

(Jill Ardourel)

[Picture Caption]

1. On a weekend afternoon, students make wall posters in the main hall of the school's "headquarters"--the student library. From the students' enthusiasm and concentration, and the words on the poster, one can see the special nature of the experimental high school. 2. The school emphasizes learning by doing, and places particular stress on natural sciences experiments.

1. In order to provide students in the bilingual department more opportunities to come into contact with Chinese culture, courses were set up in subjects such as Chinese musical instruments and kungfu. Pictured are students listening to tapes in the musical instruments class. 2. Chang Yu-ch'eng. the school's principal explains the two main goals of the National Experimental High School: to provide education for the children of foreign and overseas Chinese scholars, and to experiment with new teaching concepts for eventual application in Taiwan's school system. 3. Novel architecture designed with the students in mind.

1. First year students in the bilingual department cheerfully attend their arts and crafts class. 2. A kindergartener uses his imagination to build a styrofoam structure, an activity which helps him to develop hand coordination.

Two young students emerge from the library, unable to tear themselves away from their magazine.

2. The school emphasizes learning by doing, and places particular stress on natural sciences experiments.

1. In order to provide students in the bilingual department more opportunities to come into contact with Chinese culture, courses were set up in subjects such as Chinese musical instruments and kungfu. Pictured are students listening to tapes in the musical instruments class.

2. Chang Yu-ch'eng. the school's principal explains the two main goals of the National Experimental High School: to provide education for the children of foreign and overseas Chinese scholars, and to experiment with new teaching concepts for eventual application in Taiwan's school system.

3. Novel architecture designed with the students in mind.

1. First year students in the bilingual department cheerfully attend their arts and crafts class.

2. A kindergartener uses his imagination to build a styrofoam structure, an activity which helps him to develop hand coordination.

Two young students emerge from the library, unable to tear themselves away from their magazine.