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I recently spoke with Professor Yong Zhao from Michigan State University, a leading international education expert who worries that American fears for its economic competitiveness are actually fueling counterproductive education policies.

A native of China, Dr. Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State, the founding director of the US-China Center for Research on educational Excellence and a Phi Delta Kappa International Board Member. He and I spoke about the dangers of following in China's educational footsteps, the kinds of skills youth need in a global society, the promise of educational technology, and the importance of international education.

Listen to the following excerpts of our conversation, or read through the highlights below:

• American Competitiveness (3:51)
• Skills for the 21st Century (2:13)
• Equity and Standardization (5:42)
• China’s Educational Reform (2:51)
• Technology in Schools (0:37)

To learn more about Professor Zhao's views, have a look at his article in the most recent edition of School Administrator.

Highlights
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: There's been so much concern these days that shortcomings in the American K-12 education system are endangering our ability to compete economically with India and China. Could you give me your perspective on that issue?

ZHAO: That's just not true. You look at the kind of jobs in China, India, while technically they've been outsourced from the U.S...[They] are not really the kind of high-level skills. It's very different. So I think it's just a gross misunderstanding of what China and India are doing with their education systems. And this close connection of economical changes with education is just not true. We've copied from China or India; we're going back.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: So you see us as the vanguard.

ZHAO: Yes. We have been, that's where we should be. And definitely, you know, copying from the countries [that are] hundreds of years behind us is not a good way to do it.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: [Laughing] Do you think that there's any danger that some of the higher order skills could be outsourced as well?

ZHAO: Nothing prevents any jobs to be outsourced to other places. But I think a lot of the outsourcing has more to do really with the country's salary, wages and immigration policies. For example, you know, if you ask many people, they say, "Well, we can't find the talent here in the U.S.," hence working into India and China. But really, I think the bottom line is that they can find basically the same talents at cheaper rates.

Today's children are going to enter job markets in about 18, 20 years. And we should think about what will help our children in 18, 20 years to lead-not about right now. We have to think about what in our education system, and through our schools...what we can [do to] help our children to develop skills that may not be available other places.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: And do you have a sense of what those skills could be?

ZHAO: Creativity, a generous spirit, and the right-brain directed skills such as the ability to design, the capacity of telling stories. Those skills are not the typical, traditional, the simple and kind of logical engineering skills. And [another such skill is the ability] to be aesthetic. And also what for me is really critical is the ability and aptitude to create, to be innovative, to take risks.

And of course, adding to that, because we are living in the global society, the ability to work with other people becomes important; henceforth, the foreign languages, knowledge of other cultures. And also because of global issues, we need to develop a sense of global citizenship. We need to understand how globalization affects all of us, how we are so interdependent with people living thousands of miles away, so we have to develop a different perspective to look at the world as we are part of this global supply chain.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Do you think there's a role that technology should play in American schools to help us get this future orientation?

ZHAO: Technology today...That's another, I think, defining factor, too. It has pushed for globalization. It also can help our schools...to connect ourselves with the schools, with the communities globally. American schools have a tradition of being inward-looking. We were trying to teach our children, "Only think about our local community." And now we need to help them realize there are other communities outside, and their lives and our lives now are intertwined.