Even as US citizens stand in awe of the Shanghai high school performance in the recent International Student Assessment, more and more Chinese middle school and college graduates are flocking to US universities. One has to ask, what has gone wrong with our higher education.

The answer for many is a lack of good professors. Going to seminars, watching the news and reading articles by leading scholars in the United States, I feel constantly reminded of the kind of professors our schools urgently need.

Larry Summers, professor at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, talked about Asia and the global economy at an Asia Society meeting last week. Summers was director of the White House National Economic Council until the end of last year. A former treasury secretary, former World Bank chief economist and former president of Harvard University, he is teaching two courses this spring semester, one on the policy response to the Great Recession and the other on US economic policy.

The same is true for Condoleezza Rice, who returned to Stanford University in 2009 as political science professor after serving as secretary of state and national security advisor during the George W. Bush administration.

A former Stanford provost and a professor who has won two of the highest teaching awards, Rice is popular with students even with those who have a different world view. Last September, Rice became a faculty member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB).

Having chatted with Rice and sat in the Stanford class of William Perry, the former defense secretary, on world security, I know why their classes are relevant, popular and inspirational.

At Stanford GSB, many professors have either worked in government economic departments or are successful entrepreneurs. When Silicon Valley companies are discussed, founders or chief executives of those firms are often invited to the classroom.

While it is true that similar things are happening now in China. The former chief of the State Council Information Office Zhao Qizheng is now dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China and former vice-foreign minister Wu Jianmin was a president of China Foreign Affairs University.

The number of former Chinese officials going to teach in schools is miniscule compared with the US, where professors who once held prominent positions in government, business and international organizations are in almost every school.

In the US, going back to school is never a loss of face or status. Last week, I met a former senior US State Department official, who is teaching at a prestigious university. I remember he said years ago that he only intended to work for the government for two years. He likes his teaching job.

While Americans like Summers and Rice hop between government and school, it is often one-way traffic in China. Once you join the government, it becomes a lifelong career. The benefits and opportunities it provides often discourage any idea of going or returning to a teaching job that is often poorly paid.

Of course, not every official and businessman would make an excellent teacher. But not having people with that experience in our schools only makes our schools and students disconnected with the real world.

When our professors have little experience except with textbooks, it is not surprising to see an exodus of our students to US and European universities.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily US edition. E-mail: chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/29/2011 page8)