U.S.-China Cooperation Relies on Education

For the United States and China, cooperating and cultivating mutually beneficial talent will depend upon diplomacy based on education, said Headmaster Temba Maqubela in a keynote speech November 2 at the U.S.-China High School Education Summit in Seattle, sponsored by Tsinghua University, the Tsinghua GIX (Global Innovation Institute), and the World Leading Schools Association.

 

“A new form of diplomacy rooted in education is needed,” Mr. Maqubela said. “As competition for markets—for resources such as energy, clean air, potable water, etc.—as these arise, prospects diminish if educational ties are not intentionally strengthened.”

 

Mr. Maqubela explained that the first step must be to establish trust, through educating around shared interests—most notably the need to address climate change. “When there were major earthquakes or disasters in the world or even when the World Trade Center collapsed, the world came together,” he said. “With the existence of our species at risk due to climate change, a more focused rather than nuanced approach needs to be established in the curricula in schools in both countries. From science to statistics, history to economics and even poetry inspired by rivers and abundance, educators have low-hanging fruit when it comes to teaching about the environment in a coordinated, multi-disciplinary fashion.” 

He noted other opportunities for cooperation as well, such as through education around Artificial Intelligence and other technology, and through cross-cultural communication.

 

In his speech, which will be translated into Mandarin and shared at Tsinghua University, Mr. Maqubela distinguished politics—“about pendulum swings from one administration or regime to another”—from education, which he described as “a continuum where we build upon previously acquired knowledge.”

 

The education summit was held at the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a Microsoft-funded collaboration between the University of Washington and Tsinghua University in Beijing and the first Chinese research university's presence in a building at a U.S. university. 

"The refined product of human wisdom has always incorporated elements of universal thinking and personal experience. Headmaster Temba Maqubela's speech was indicative of this fact," said Professor Gang Peng, vice president of Tsinghua University.

Pervading Mr. Maqubela’s address was the conviction that collaboration between superpowers is critical to the future of the world. “Unless and until we come to terms and communicate the importance of collaboration between our competitive and powerful U.S. and Chinese leaders, retaliatory acts based on suspicion and mistrust stand in the way of progress for humanity and at worst threaten our mutual co-existence,” he said.

 

Cultivating talent is up to educators in both the U.S. and China, who, according to Mr. Maqubela, should focus on:

“When we remember this,” he said, “I can answer with conviction that the prospects for future cooperation, development, communications, and talent cultivation between the U.S. and China will be very good indeed.”