Page 20: of Marine News Magazine (July 2012)

Maritime Academy (MMA) began a student exchange program with Shanghai Maritime University (SMU) in the late winter of 2009 with a group of ten SMU cadets (Þ ve Marine Transportation and Þ ve International Maritime Business majors). After the Þ rst group of SMU cadets had been here for two weeks, my Academic Dean asked me to meet with the faculty who were assigned to teach classes where the Chinese students were interspersed with American cadets. The faculty was concerned that the Chinese were in over their heads and doomed to fail. The Chinese sat in class, didnÕt respond to questions, took notes and didnÕt participate in the classroom process. The faculty was sure that they were unable to process the complicated information presented at a rapid pace in heavily New England-accented English. The faculty recommended we switch the grading to pass/fail for Chinese students or abandon the project. We pressed on. At the end of the semester, although the Chinese cadets were in a new country with a different culture, learning challenging college-level technical subjects in a new language, they ranked in the top Þ ve spots in almost every class they were in, besting their American counterparts in such subjects as Stability and Trim, Dangerous Liquid Cargo, Principles of Finance, Port/Terminal Operations, Vessel Chartering, and Business Law. We in America need to take a lesson from the Chinese and relearn the Òhard work and higher education equals successÓ lesson or we will certainly suffer the consequences. One answer to our declining place in the world of higher education may well be more choices modeled after our own maritime colleges: an emphasis on STEM subjects, teamwork/leadership training, and months of practical applications to reinforce skills. It may be ironic that the antidote to the sickness sweeping our educational system might come from a moribund maritime industry but if we donÕt do something quickly, the Chinese will be the Þ rst of many countries that surpass the US in higher education opportunities and national success. OP/EDRear Admiral Richard Gurnon , USMS, is the President of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Massachusetts Maritime Academy has been training business leaders, ship captains, engineers, and professional o cers in the 19th, 20th, and now the 21st century. A 1970 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Gurnon  ew the multi-engine P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He was a plane commander, mission commander and instructor pilot for Patrol Squadron 26 in Brunswick Maine and Patrol Squadron 92 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. In 1981 he earned a Masters Degree from Bridgewater State College. Already America no longer has the highest percentage of young citizens (25-34 year olds) with a college degree (we are in 11th place, behind Korea, Japan, Norway, Ireland, Sweden and others). In fact, the United States is one of very few countries where the older generation has a higher level of educational attainment than the younger. Although we still are the number one host country for international students, our market share of those bright foreigners has dropped from 23% to 18% in just the last few years.20 MNJuly 2012