以下是知名教育專家，Andy老師在多次講座提到的話題:選擇國際學校的方式。

? ? ? 如果你是一個這樣的家長，你跑遍了書店，幾乎買了每一本關于如何選擇學校的書；你花了三個月參觀各個學校，還仔細參觀了學校附近的城市；甚至你還可以清晰回憶起每個校名及學校的地址..

? ? ? 那么，請你停止再去如此搜索更多的學校信息了！

? ? ? 也有很多家長問我：“我做這些到底有什么用？在為孩子選學校這件事上，我跟三個月之前比毫無進展。而且更加愁人的是，我的孩子和我一樣都沒有任何頭緒，不知道自己想去哪所學校。

? ? ? ?好吧，做為家長，為什么你會為選什么學校而犯難，理由非常顯而易見！當面對著很多選擇時，人們常常會出現選擇恐懼癥，在擇校時如果沒有一個選擇尤其突出或是有多個有競爭力學校同時出現時，那么做好準備，你的選擇恐懼癥要發(fā)作了。你問我要如何解決這個問題？我的建議是，當你已經擁有遠遠多于“足夠多”的選擇，就可以放松自己，不必焦慮，你此時應該做的是坐下，然后進行合理分析，關于“為什么某個學校能使你的孩子一夜之間成為奇才”的文章，少看點絕對不是壞事兒。

? ? ? ?所以，是什么關鍵因素能幫助我們選擇一個合適自己孩子的學校呢？我告訴你，是學習風格，是社會環(huán)境，同時也是學校的目標。其他因素，比如學校設施，學校費用難道就不重要了嗎？當然不是，這些同樣也很重要，但他們應該更多地被歸納為一個學校的外部特征，而不是核心因素。

? ? ? ?一個學校的學習風格在這里很關鍵，為什么這么說呢，或許我們在一個更微觀的層面上來說，這也是接近了解學校部門和老師的途徑。相比于被各種學校的廣告蒙蔽，其實你應該更積極研究一下學校的學習風格。比如他們會不會在學習過程中組織很多的小組演講？依靠視覺性學習的孩子會不會在某個特別的學校表現突出呢？以上這些小問題才是你應該重點考察的！

? ? ? ?這是一個我覺得很多家長在把他們孩子送到一個全新的學習環(huán)境都不能自信回答的問題。如果你都不知道你的孩子的學習偏好，那你也就根本沒有辦法確定哪一個學校真正適合TA。盡管對于一個孩子來說，如果能和TA有相似背景的人交個朋友，聽起來是相當不錯的，但是一個學校的首要功能是還是作為一個學習機構，務必要分清輕重。

? ? ? 社交環(huán)境當然很重要，學校平時的氛圍是相當重要的，你可能認為這只是簡單的一群孩子在相互交流，事情可完全不是你想的那么簡單！想想你在一個公司工作的時候，那里每個人說話，穿著和表達的方式都讓你感覺自己與他們格格不入，你會有怎么樣的感覺？現在讓我們換位思考一下，將你自己放在那個并沒有達到成熟年齡的小孩子的立場上，然后這個問題的答案就會更加顯而易見了。

? ? ? 當很多客戶在尋找新的供應商時，客戶都會很嚴密地觀察他們的目標是否一致。一個公司的目標最重要的功能就在此體現了——它描述了他們做事情的方法和他們最終想要傳遞什么。一個家長為他的孩子選擇學校當然也是如此。

? ? ? ?此外，從那些有更多經驗，特別是專家那兒尋求建議也會對學校的選擇很有幫助，但是你要注意，那些所謂聲稱是在國際教育領域的專家卻自身沒有上過國際學校的人，他們也許是有很多開辦經營國際學校的經歷，但是如果他們自身卻沒有上過國際學校，他們就不可能從學生方面考慮，這也是我說過的最重要的一點，因為畢竟是你的孩子將來要上這個學校，你總得考慮到這點。

? ? ? 最后，在現在這個時代，僅僅“上學”是絕對不足以擁有一個全方位的經驗的。這么多家長選擇送他們的孩子去一個國際教育學習環(huán)境，主要原因就是想讓孩子們能開闊視野，但這個也只能通過課外活動來達成，不過也正是課外活動，組成了我的大部分其他為家長和學校做的演講。

以下為英文原文：

How do you select a school?

This is an excerpt taken from a speech that renowned educational expert, Andy Zhang, has done a few times regarding school selection.

“Assuming you are one of those parents that probably have bought every book out there, spent the past 3 months attending every school open house there is and even those in neighboring cities and can memorize every single school and its address, then here’s one very useful tip I can offer.

STOP Reading More about schools then!

Then I hear many parents actually ask me,‘wait, why on earth would I actually do that? I am no closer to selecting a school for my child than I was 3 months ago. What’s more, my child is just as clueless as I am as to which school he/she wants to go to’

Well, it doesn’t take an expert to guess why you are still stuck on selecting schools. People tend to display traits of selective phobia when offered too many options, especially when no option stands out or there are multiple solid contenders, which is almost always the case in school selection. So, relax you already have more than enough options and it is time to sit down and analyze properly and stop reading articles emphasizing why this and that school will turn your kids into child prodigies overnight.

So, then what key factors should contribute to a proper school selection? They are learning styles, social environment and the school mission.Other factors such as facilities and school fees are definitely vital as well, but they are considered a school’s exterior feature and not its core element.

The learning style of a school is key here, and perhaps at an even more micro-level which is the approaches of different department and teachers. Instead of staying passive and continue getting bombarded by school advertisements, you should actively research this. Do they tend to incorporate a lot of group presentations in their learning? Are they more final exam focused or do they split into multiple quizzes? Do visual learners tend to excel at that particular school? This is just a small list of questions you should draw up.

This is one area which I feel most parents cannot confidently answer before sending their kids into an entirely new learning environment. If you do not even understand the learning preferences of your child, then there is no way of making sure a particular school is the?“right fit”?for him or her. While it is great for the kid to be able to make friends with similar backgrounds, the purpose of a school first and foremost is a learning institution.

Social environment is of course critical, the general vibe of the school is quite important because while you may think it is simply a group of kids interacting with one another, imagine working at a company where everyone speaks, dresses and acts a certain way and you are the odd one out, how would you feel? Now put yourselves in the shoes of your child, who is yet to even reach the age of maturity, and this issue is magnified exponentially.

Many clients when seeking out new vendors to work with tend to scrutinize very closely its mission to see if it aligns with what they are looking for. A company’s mission usually describes their approach to doing things and what they can ultimately deliver. A parent selecting schools for their child should be no different 。

Furthermore, seeking out advice from those with more experience and especially professionals will greatly aid school selection, but beware of professionals that claim to be an expert in international education without ever attending one themselves. They may have all the experience in the world operating and running international schools, but without attending one they can never think from a student’s perspective, which like I said is the most important because it is your child attending this school after all.

Finally, in this day and age simply attending school is not sufficient for an all-round experience. The very reason why many parents elect to send their children to an international education learning environment is to broaden their horizons, and this can only be done through co-curricular activities, which constitutes the majority of most of my other speeches for parents and schools.”

AndyZ老師簡介:

- Multicultural and multilingual: Grew up and lived in a number of countries,? American-born Chinese and Third Culture Kid (TCK)

多文化和多語言: 在多個國家成長和居住；美籍華人， 典型第三文化人士(TCK)

- Leader in empowering corporate training and recruitment professionals with assessment methodologies and project-based learning andragogy

為企業(yè)培訓和招聘人士提供領先評估體系和游戲化的項目式學習的職場教學法領袖

- Decade of experience in education and training, and expert in China

十年以上的學生教育和企業(yè)培訓的經驗: 并被很多本土和國外人士稱為“中國通”

- UC Berkeley Alumni Club Ex-Leader and Recruitment Ambassador

畢業(yè)于世界名校加州伯克利大學并擔任校友俱樂部前任負責人和前任招生大使

- Third-party Interviewer for College Admissions

美國第三方面試官 (很多大學現在需要學生在提交申請書與第三方機構進行面試)

- Helped build a number of college admissions counseling departments

負責搭建多個海外升學指導中心

- Unlike most “education experts”, personally attended more than a dozen schools growing up and personally went through the AP, IB, British, Singaporean and Hong Kong education systems

相比其他所謂的“教育專家”，從小上過十幾所學校，親自體驗過AP、IB、英國、新加坡和香港的教育制度

歡迎大家關注其自媒體平臺Andy Z 老師。