Patterson Mill principal Wayne Thibeault, C. Milton Wright  principal Marlene Moleter, Edgewood principal Larissa Santos, and superintendent Robert Tomback attended a school sponsored trip to China. This expedition was funded partially by taxpayers in Harford County to learn more about China’s education program. That is, if the horrendous excuse for an education system in China can even be called one.

In China the excuses for special education programs are a complete travesty. A report published in the International Journal for Special Education on China’s education system cites a lack of special education in the rural areas of China. The issue is that this is where eighty percent of Chinese live. Eighty percent of Chinese with special needs such as Autism, or Down syndrome do not have access to proper education. However, Harford County Public Schools just spent thirty-six hundred dollars of taxpayer money for this trip.

In addition, the criminal justice system is a complete mockery of natural rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Under Chinese law you can be submitted to “re-education through labor”, which are forced work camps, for four years without a trial or being told what you are being accused of by the Government. Every year the country executes more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined. Those who did confess to these crimes do so because of torture induced confessions that are regularly used by the Chinese law enforcement.

            China is also considered a black hole for journalism and free speech. For its actions the country has been criticized by the Committee to Protect Journalist, an international group that fights for freedom of the press. Every year China imprisons more journalist than any other country in the world. Most internet sites are blocked, and all web use is monitored. There is simply no privacy in China. News in the country is not freely circulated and all of the news comes from the government.

            The government of China also controls the life of families as well, instituting a strict one child policy that leads to forced and gender specific abortions. China also is suppressing an entire ethnic group. Tibet, a region located in the western section China, is currently occupied by the communist government of China that controls the everyday lives of those in Tibet. Tibet’s spiritual leader, the peaceful Dali Lama is considered a “separatist threat” by the Chinese government.

            Now given all the horrendous acts of the Chinese government it needs to be known that each of the four attendants of the China trip had to pay a nine hundred dollar registration fee to the Chinese government for the trip. This cost was in fact covered by the school system meaning Harford County public Schools paid thirty-six hundred to China for this trip. All other expenses were covered by College Board; however the fact that one cent of tax payer money was spent to learn about China’s horrendous education system is  despicable and an affront to our democratic principles of freedom, and equality for all. These are values we, as Americans, hold dear but a communist country such as China does not.