Four students from the World Leading Schools Association (WLSA) Shanghai Academy participated in the East to West Exchange program at the Upper School from Jan. 27-31. This is the second year that the exchange program has taken place at the school after being paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The exchange students, ranging from grades nine to 11, shadowed their host students for one day and then followed a class schedule specifically curated for them by a group of student volunteers and Kutler Center Director Jim Patterson.
Patterson said the program allows exchange students to increase their cultural competency and to experience what life is like abroad.
“One of the best ways that you can learn about cultural differences is by visiting other countries and interacting with folks who have grown up and live in those countries,” Patterson said. “These exchange students come from China, and so there’s also an interest for our Chinese language students here to be part of that particular exchange. Beyond that, it is about having that type of cultural exchange between students here and students who are growing up in a culture that is in many ways, vastly different from the culture here in the United States.”
Katelynn You ’26, one of the students who volunteered to organize the exchange program, said she cherishes the connections she created with the exchange students.
“I chose to help organize the exchange program because I believe it is important for students from different backgrounds and cultures to experience each other’s school environments firsthand,” You said. “This unique opportunity allows the WLSA students to immerse themselves in a different setting, which really broadens their perspective and helps them navigate future international experiences. Overall, the experience was incredibly meaningful because these interactions fostered great cross-cultural understanding, built friendships and created lasting bonds beyond the classroom.”
Maggie Zheng, a ninth grader at WLSA, said she enjoyed the freedom that Upper School students have.
“While WLSA is a good school, because everyone is friendly there and the teachers are nice, it’s definitely not comparable to Harvard-Westlake,” Zheng said. “It’s a very free school, [which is] the type of school I like because everyone can express themselves. Everyone is so independent and flexible.”
English Teacher Jill Turner taught English at Hefei University in Anhui, China, from 2002-2006, and said the teaching styles in Chinese schools and American schools are very different.
“In America, our literature classes are Socratic, in that I ask students questions and they answer,” Turner said. “We see a lot of value in student interpretation of the literature. At the university where I was teaching, my students found it really unusual when I asked them what they thought about the literature, and it made them really uncomfortable. They were used to a teacher presenting the leading critical views by prominent professors about pieces of literature. When I would ask them what they thought of something, after class they would tell me that that question was really hard for them, and they just wanted to know what the experts thought about the literature they were reading.”
In agreement with Zheng, Angela Zhang, a 10th grader at WLSA, said she commends the open-mindedness of American students and plans to apply to American universities.
“Students here are freer and more open to new opinions and new ideas compared to students in China,” Zhang said. “They often accept new things and ideas really quickly, and that’s one thing that I really admire a lot. I always planned to come to the U.S. for university, but I want to even more now. It’s only been two days, but I’ve already made some friends and I think they’re really nice. They tell me stories about their experiences living in America and California. I really love the city of Los Angeles, and I’d say my desire to live here got stronger.”
