Conversations with Chinese students
According to a government report, in 2011 there were over 700,000 foreign students studying in the U.S and this number keep increasing each year. The highest numbers among them are Chinese, Indian, and S. Korea. Few years ago, there were more Indian studied in the U.S but in the past years, the number of Chinese students have passed Indian by a large number. The report found that in 2010-2011 school year, there were 170,000 Chinese students and 105,000 Indian students came to study in U.S Universities.
A Chinese student told me: “The reason that many of us go to the U.S because it has one of the best education systems in the world. Another reason is to avoid the competitive pressure at Chinese's universities. Beside the pressure of being the only-child, you are expected to perform extremely well because your parents, grandparents, and relatives are always looking at you and compare you with others.”Another student explained: “There are only few good universities in China and they are extremely difficult to get in. There are not enough spaces at local universities to meet the huge demands. Each year as many as 20 million students want to study at university but only 12 millions can get in. Even when you are in, the competition is fierce. In contrast, there are a lot of universities in the U.S. so you have many choices.”
A student complained: “American students have their choices on what to study and where to go. Most Chinese student's choice of degree and school are decided by their parents. Every parent wants their child to go to Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford, and University of California at Berkeley. Recently many parents check the ranking of U.S. University through the internet. Most use the U.S News and World Report to select schools for their child. Among degrees, the number one choice is Medical Doctor then Business, Engineering and Computer. In our culture, it is still a virtue to obey your parents until you get married.”
I asked: “But the cost of these schools is very expensive. The tuition fees are $40,000 to $60,000 per year. How could they afford it?”
The student replied: “Most parents already know about the costs. However, it is an expected part of our culture that parents give everything for their children. In return, they expect to be taken care of after old age. Of course, we will do the same sacrifices to our children. With one child policy, we are the single hope of our family so the entire family supports us. That is why we study much harder than most American students. We often study in the library rather than go home. Over the weekend, most of us would choose to study rather than go out.”
Another student added: “It is a major investment. One reason for studying abroad is to differentiate yourself from the other. You must understand that in our country, relationship determine almost everything. You can be the best student and graduate from top university but without knowing the right person, you will have difficulty getting good job. There are several million graduates had yet to find jobs and probably never find jobs relate to their degrees. These are issues that almost every student in China faces. If your family is not well connected, the best way is to have a degree from a top U.S university as it can change many things.”
A student explained: “By study oversea we have the language skills. Today every business needs people with language skills. Chinese students often have English in their school but most struggle because they do not use it often. Many can read and write but not speak English well. The reason is that most learning is done via lectures with a lot of grammar rules and theories but not very practical for common usage. Just by listening to someone speaking, we know that person is learning from a local Chinese teacher or from an English native speaker teacher.”
Another student added: “There are fundamental differences between Eastern and Western thinking. Westerners focus on logic and getting straight to the point. Easterners examine an issue from all angles. When a Chinese student tries to write an essay with Eastern thinking, the result is an unreadable lengthy essay without any conclusion. That is why most western companies operate in China only hire Chinese who study abroad so there is huge advantage in learning language in a foreign country. We also learn more from living in a foreign country beside improve our English too. These experiences are becoming more important in a globalized economy.”
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
