HOUSTON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The United States and China should continue their educational and cultural exchanges especially at a time when the bilateral relationship is facing challenges, an American educator has said.

The comment was made to Xinhua on Tuesday by Eddie Conger, superintendent of International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas), a free public charter school with many locations throughout U.S. state of Texas.

With about 21,000 students, ILTexas offers a trilingual curriculum of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Having close ties to China, it employs many Chinese teachers and educates Chinese international students.

Commenting on current U.S.-China relations, Conger said even though it's difficult for both countries, the bilateral relationship remains important.

"I think most parents understand that and most businesses understand that. And I think our school is even more important now so that we can have students learning each other's language," he said.

Besides Chinese language, students at ILTexas also have the opportunity to have a touch of Chinese culture and history.

"I think for us it's very important, for it's the longer term that all of us keep doing the cultural exchange in the learning of each other's culture," Conger said. "For us to look at our kids' future and our grand kids' future, it is more important now than I think it's been in the past."

Explaining his future plan, Conger said he always wanted to expand the exchange program and build closer ties with China.

"We want there to be more American students learning Chinese," he noted, adding that he hoped students at the high school level to be able to interact with U.S. government officials and Chinese government officials.

With a motto of "others before self," ILTexas serves students of grades K-12 in its 19 locations across Texas.