以下是知名教育专家，Andy老师在多次讲座提到的话题:选择国际学校的方式。

      如果你是一个这样的家长，你跑遍了书店，几乎买了每一本关于如何选择学校的书；你花了三个月参观各个学校，还仔细参观了学校附近的城市；甚至你还可以清晰回忆起每个校名及学校的地址..

      那么，请你停止再去如此搜索更多的学校信息了！

      也有很多家长问我：“我做这些到底有什么用？在为孩子选学校这件事上，我跟三个月之前比毫无进展。而且更加愁人的是，我的孩子和我一样都没有任何头绪，不知道自己想去哪所学校。

       好吧，做为家长，为什么你会为选什么学校而犯难，理由非常显而易见！当面对着很多选择时，人们常常会出现选择恐惧症，在择校时如果没有一个选择尤其突出或是有多个有竞争力学校同时出现时，那么做好准备，你的选择恐惧症要发作了。你问我要如何解决这个问题？我的建议是，当你已经拥有远远多于“足够多”的选择，就可以放松自己，不必焦虑，你此时应该做的是坐下，然后进行合理分析，关于“为什么某个学校能使你的孩子一夜之间成为奇才”的文章，少看点绝对不是坏事儿。

       所以，是什么关键因素能帮助我们选择一个合适自己孩子的学校呢？我告诉你，是学习风格，是社会环境，同时也是学校的目标。其他因素，比如学校设施，学校费用难道就不重要了吗？当然不是，这些同样也很重要，但他们应该更多地被归纳为一个学校的外部特征，而不是核心因素。

       一个学校的学习风格在这里很关键，为什么这么说呢，或许我们在一个更微观的层面上来说，这也是接近了解学校部门和老师的途径。相比于被各种学校的广告蒙蔽，其实你应该更积极研究一下学校的学习风格。比如他们会不会在学习过程中组织很多的小组演讲？依靠视觉性学习的孩子会不会在某个特别的学校表现突出呢？以上这些小问题才是你应该重点考察的！

       这是一个我觉得很多家长在把他们孩子送到一个全新的学习环境都不能自信回答的问题。如果你都不知道你的孩子的学习偏好，那你也就根本没有办法确定哪一个学校真正适合TA。尽管对于一个孩子来说，如果能和TA有相似背景的人交个朋友，听起来是相当不错的，但是一个学校的首要功能是还是作为一个学习机构，务必要分清轻重。

      社交环境当然很重要，学校平时的氛围是相当重要的，你可能认为这只是简单的一群孩子在相互交流，事情可完全不是你想的那么简单！想想你在一个公司工作的时候，那里每个人说话，穿着和表达的方式都让你感觉自己与他们格格不入，你会有怎么样的感觉？现在让我们换位思考一下，将你自己放在那个并没有达到成熟年龄的小孩子的立场上，然后这个问题的答案就会更加显而易见了。

      当很多客户在寻找新的供应商时，客户都会很严密地观察他们的目标是否一致。一个公司的目标最重要的功能就在此体现了——它描述了他们做事情的方法和他们最终想要传递什么。一个家长为他的孩子选择学校当然也是如此。

       此外，从那些有更多经验，特别是专家那儿寻求建议也会对学校的选择很有帮助，但是你要注意，那些所谓声称是在国际教育领域的专家却自身没有上过国际学校的人，他们也许是有很多开办经营国际学校的经历，但是如果他们自身却没有上过国际学校，他们就不可能从学生方面考虑，这也是我说过的最重要的一点，因为毕竟是你的孩子将来要上这个学校，你总得考虑到这点。

      最后，在现在这个时代，仅仅“上学”是绝对不足以拥有一个全方位的经验的。这么多家长选择送他们的孩子去一个国际教育学习环境，主要原因就是想让孩子们能开阔视野，但这个也只能通过课外活动来达成，不过也正是课外活动，组成了我的大部分其他为家长和学校做的演讲。

以下为英文原文：

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老师简介:

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

多文化和多语言: 在多个国家成长和居住；美籍华人， 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

为企业培训和招聘人士提供领先评估体系和游戏化的项目式学习的职场教学法领袖

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

十年以上的学生教育和企业培训的经验: 并被很多本土和国外人士称为“中国通”

- UC Berkeley Alumni Club Ex-Leader and Recruitment Ambassador

毕业于世界名校加州伯克利大学并担任校友俱乐部前任负责人和前任招生大使

- Third-party Interviewer for College Admissions

美国第三方面试官 (很多大学现在需要学生在提交申请书与第三方机构进行面试)

- Helped build a number of college admissions counseling departments

负责搭建多个海外升学指导中心

- 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

相比其他所谓的“教育专家”，从小上过十几所学校，亲自体验过AP、IB、英国、新加坡和香港的教育制度

欢迎大家关注其自媒体平台Andy Z 老师。