Millinocket brings Students from China

In the New York Times, Abby Goodnough describes how Stearns High in Millinocket, Maine has developed a transfer program for Chinese students from China. Their intent is to invest in this project which includes building a dorm system and weekend programs, and hopefully become firmer and more stable financially. Superintendent Kenneth Smith has already gone on frequent trips to major Chinese cities for recruitment. He has also invited Ms. Fox, who has experience working with Chinese transfer students, to help his faculty learn new ways of teaching these transfers.

There is one hitch. Under State Department rules, foreign students can attend public high school in the United States for only a year, a system that Dr. Smith considers unfair, given that they can attend private high schools for four years. He is pressing Maine’s Congressional delegation to seek a change, but in the meantime, he intends to recruit a handful of Chinese students to attend Stearns next year.

This is attempt can only be seen as a desperate last resort by Dr. Smith in order to revitalize his outdated school. Facts such as small size of the town, lack of high quality diverse educational classes, as well as minimal low-quality school materials all work against the logic of this idea. However, if this plan does succeed and if Chinese students are willing to transfer over to this school, then the profit would be substantial since the boarding, room, and tuition fee would be $27,000 a year.