Global Junior Challenge 2002 Video John Wu's Inter-cultural Exchange Project

Culture Exchange Go-fourth to CHINA My Albums About Me History The News G0-fourth-in-China Newsletter Israel

Dragon Boat Race 2003 (June 1st ) in Shaoguan City,China.   United Nations Flags Ceremony in Shaoguan

Japanese Class from Yokohama City. Chinese children and American children played bascketball game in Shaoguan Jan.14,2003. Language was no barrier, as the ball passed among players, and children of both countries scrambled to score a goal. This event was the epitome of cooperation and friendship cutting through social and cultural barriers.

China National News Agency (CNNA) website one of the most authoritative news agencies in China reported the peace pole ceremony in Zhixin Elementary School campus(with one photo).The browser Encoding is : Chinese Simplified (GB2312)

http://www.chinanews.com.cn/n/2003-01-17/26/264569.html

Chinese People's Liberation Army(JieFangjun Daily) newspaper and its Website also reported the news about go-fourth celebration in Shaoguan.

http://www.jfdaily.com.cn/gb/node2/node142/node155/userobject1ai71862.html

Guangdong Satellite TV News also reported go-fourth celebration in Shaoguan on Jan15.2003 ,the TV signals could be received from Australia(south) to Russia(North).and from Egypt (West) to Japan (East)

South China Daily Newspaper also have the go-fourth celebration news.

http://southcn.com/news/dishi/shaoguan/shehui/200301160507.htm

http://www.southcn.com/news/dishi/shaoguan/shehui/200301230700.htm

Emails from Paula Christine from NGO of UN and the travel agent for US go-fourth group.

[feedback for US school] August 5, 2002

Mr. James J. Young III, Headmaster

Rocky Hill School

530 Ives Road

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

U.S.A.

Sino-US Go-fourth families:

(one) (two) (three) (four) (five) (six)

Mr. Wang Xiangquan

Zhixin Elementary School, Zhenjiang District

Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province

People~{!/~}s Republic of China

Dear Mr. Wang,

I am in receipt of your kind invitation to Rocky Hill School for a peace mission to China. We are most grateful that you have extended this invitation to our families and faculty. On behalf of Rocky Hill School, I wish to thank you for your efforts to bring our children and teachers together, face to face, to discuss the topics that stem from our ~{!0~}Go Fourth~{!1~} curriculum under Mary Wright~{!/~}s tutelage. As I am sure Mr. Wu has discovered in his correspondence with Mary, she is a very passionate educator and she has worked hard to bring children together around the hurtful issues of bullying and teasing.

Rocky Hill School is a country day school, set along the shores of Narragansett Bay in the smallest state in the union. Our current enrollment is 350 students within a Pre-Kindergarten through prep school continuum. In America, unlike Britain, a private school operates as a non-profit institution that is privately funded. Although we provide financial aid for those in need, and we have a somewhat diverse student body, most of our students hail from the upper class. Many of our parents work professionally in medicine, law and business. Our students are well educated and are future leaders of their communities. As a school, we believe we must do everything that we can do to promote respect for one another, not only throughout our own community, but wherever we travel. We have incorporated this social curriculum into our daily lives at school and, philosophically, we believe that, in addition to parents, we are in the best position to reach our young children before they learn to become intolerant of differences and disrespectful as a result of these attitudes. It is apparent that civility must be modeled at home and at school in an effort to teach children tolerance at an early age. At Rocky Hill School, we believe these teachings and open discussions among children, their families and teachers is more important than ever in a world where civility is fast waning.

We are delighted by the prospects of visiting China, and in particular, Guangdong Province, to participate in a forum with other families and teachers in an effort to discuss and, perhaps, resolve some of the issues that are inherent with growing up in a world full of conflict. Our students will enjoy having the opportunity to learn about life in China and how children learn to demonstrate mutual respect. We have a great deal to learn from one another, and perhaps your families and teachers would enjoy an exchange visit here some time in the future. We are in the process of arranging travel plans to China, the details of which will be communicated to Mr. Wu, as soon as possible. I know that you will understand that, as Headmaster, I reserve the right to cancel the trip at any time, if I believe that it is in the best interests of our families with regard to travel. As we have experienced last fall, no one can predict what the future holds, and I need to be as assured as possible, regarding the safety of Rocky Hill School families. With that thought in mind, we are proceeding with plans to be in China in January, 2003. We look forward to our visit and to meeting you, your students, teachers and parents face to face!

Kind regards,

James J. Young III, Headmaster

Email: jyoung@rockyhill.org

http://www.rockyhill.org

Mary Schachtel Wright's 4th grade class ( ...site)

~{!!~}

~{!!~}Hi! John, (July,2002) Can you imagine, children from China and The USA getting together to try and stop teasing and trying to promote respect? Adults don't seem to be able to do this!!What I foresee for our meeting in January would be an opportunity for children from two countries which are very far apart physically and culturally, to meet together to share ideas about respect for diversity, no teasing, and how to promote peace for now and in the future. Always children have been told that they are the future of the world and yet each generation has not yet been able to solve the destruction from ongoing wars,blatant terrorism, and perpetual disrespect for one another's beliefs. Maybe by getting American and Chinese children together to speak,to learn, and to play, we can begin to demonstrate how important respect is for one another and then begin to believe that this generation of children can make the future of the world more peaceful. Would you have a letter sent to me speaking about what you would have planned if we come to China. My headmaster says to go ahead but some official letter would be great. Please address it to me and I'll give it to him. His name is Mr.James Young.Thanks so much, the sooner the better, we need to start travel arrangements as soon as possible. The letter is great! You should go ahead and mail it if you haven't already.I have a meeting at school on Monday to discuss our next step. We want to start letting the parents know of our China plans. Then we want to plan the travel.I am excited about this! I spoke to a lady who is a friend of my mother's. She is on a major television station which broadcasts to all over the world. She is television shows called 60 minutes, Dateline, and Good Morning America. She thinks that"Go Fourth" and our trip to China and a forum on respect for diversity and no teasing, etc. with Chinese and American children, parents, and teachers would be a great television report. She wants me to send her our plans!The television reporter wants as much information as she can get. Also if you could send a description of why you think the Go Fourth program and our trip to China is so important in today's world, I can send her your comments as well. I would appreciate this so much. Isn't that great. also i spoke to another lady who will find out if she can get some help from a non profit organization for funding for the airfare and hotel and train. I really am excited. Take Care, Mary