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A Chinese International Student’s Concern in Studying in the U.S.

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About

The population of international students around the world, especially in the U.S. has been increased significantly, the major population among the total is Chinese international students. The paper covers the topic in five parts: the trend of studying abroad in China, the reasons parents sending their children to foreign countries, benefits, and difficulties in real life abroad, and concerns when making decisions to leave or stay. The major focus is to raise awareness of the real situation of studying abroad and suggest people think carefully before they make decisions.

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Main Text

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The trend in China mainland

Overlooking at China’s mainland’s market, English educational association and international schools have been sprouted out like new buds in spring. The trend started within the past five years: learning a foreign language, especially English, became every Chinese student’s necessity. This has reached a peak recently, English learning service is available from kindergarten to seniors. Parents who have a relatively stable income tried their best to find a spot for their children in an international school, which is usually ten times more expensive than public high school. Some parents even hired private tutors or English-speaking babysitters at home, to help their children practice their English. Most of them are hoping to send their children abroad in the future.

Ideas influenced by a traditional culture shaped this trend. There is a saying in China from long ago, ‘the moon abroad is rounder than the moon at home’. People used this common saying as ironically referring to people who blindly worship everything that relates to a foreign country. It sounds dramatic but it is what really happened in the society. People believe that everything in a foreign country is well-developed and more advanced. This was partially influenced by historical backgrounds in the mid-twentieth century: due to the Cultural Revolution movement, education economy, and technology’s stagnation has affected China falling behind for a long-term.

Media plays an important role in flattering things about foreign countries. Under that effect, people will rather pay a higher price to buy imported products, from food to daily necessity, even though there is little difference between. There are indeed some products related to health issues that were made in China, but in many cases, following the trend blindly is dangerous. In most Asian countries, catching the trend is important. There is nothing that makes you feel worse than being different from others. Which a phenomenon occurred, ‘even though I don’t know if studying abroad will suit my child, if other parents are doing it, I may consider it.’ What more serious is, the media are spreading wrong information, which causes citizens’ misunderstanding. What the media said all the time is, learning oversea is relaxing, children in America don’t have homework, their education encourages them to play, and that’s why there are so many great scientists and inventors in America. Also, the media only selected the successful example when they reported “an international student’s real experience”, which gave people the dream that if their children study abroad, they will definitely go to an Ivy League. By using the dream and expectation of parents, agencies who work with students who want to study overseas, usually demand incredibly high agency fee but place students in a random school abroad. At the beginning of the consult, they would make promises that sugar coated everything and convince the parents, who only expected their children can go to a good school and have a bright future. When parents realized the lie, it’s usually too late: their children are already studying abroad.

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Why study abroad?

The massive scale of the trend mentioning above was a summarized result came up with parents who considered the following factors. The environment is one of the biggest concern. China’ an increasing population and boosted development has lead to severe pollution, especially air pollution, in the past decade. The number of cases with children who are diagnosed with respiratory disease and skin problem has been increased drastically. Thus, most doctors will recommend parents who have the ability to send their children abroad. Even though environmental issues happened everywhere on earth, foreign countries are usually less populated and well-reserved on nature compared to China.

Besides the environmental concern, the part that attracts parents the most is that they think their children could have better chances of getting into a high-rank college when they study abroad. China has been commonly portrayed as the “hell” for students: at least 6-hour-homework and 3 to 4-hour-sleep every day, extra tutoring on weekends, one test that “determines your life”. Only the students who bore this pressure could have the chance of competing with other millions of students. Among them, only the one who has the highest test grade can enter the top school. Those are the barriers that not everyone can pass. As mentioned earlier about the media’s portrait, parents are more willing to send their children out, because they think they will suffer less pressure and has greater chances of going to the top school.

Some parents plan even further. China’s market has reached a saturated point. Managing a new business seems impossible. Most people’s goal is to find a stable job in a state-owned enterprise or famous companies. That’s something that could be easily achieved 20 years ago when college students are considered precious at that time. Now, it’s common to find people who owned degrees everywhere. In order to be outstanding, a diploma from a foreign school is necessary, as if an overseas experience will gild their resume.

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The truth about the foreign land

Even though there are thousands of description about life abroad, only the one who experienced once personally knows what’s the reality of living in the United States.


Pros:

Compare with schools in China, even schools with international programs, it’s a more helpful environment for improving English skills when students study abroad. Rather than learning English, learning in English is a more accurate way to describe the process.  Studying in an English speaking country enhances the chance of students practicing their English in daily life. Which not only helps students with their use of grammar but also encourages them to think critically rather than copy down everything the teacher told them. It’s an effective exercise that allows students to develop deeper thinking, which benefits their future studies.

Besides the academic advantages of studying overseas, students become more open-minded in general. The environment where emphasizes the importance of individual offers students to recognize themselves and define their values. Thereby become more self-conscious and independent. Furthermore, because of the sensitivity of different topics within the society, people’s action and words are regulated in a good way. Students’ manner and judgment towards objects change through the swift of the culture. The combination of independent ideology and respect for others blends well in a supportive community like this. The experience of studying abroad teaches students how to become a better person: value oneself, be nice, and be respectful. Another perspective most international students found out worth to talk about is the public’s attitude towards the social issue. Most students in China are not really into politics or social topics. The first possible reason is that China’s political situation does not really include the public’s participation, and the curriculum in school does not include anything about social issues. Unless they have special interest to work in that field in the future or there is political background in their family, most students don’t know or pay attention to information about this. Another factor that restricts students is the high load of school work. As mentioned earlier, students don’t even have time to sleep. How can we expect them to spend additional time on topics that sound far for them? Even when they have some spare time,  entertainment types of news are more popular.

At the same time, because of the absence of their parents, most students have to worry about chores, grocery shopping, and transportation. This experience helps international students to be more mature than students who are at the same age in China. Also with students who come to the U.S. in a relatively younger age, because of the previous experience, they are able to quickly adapt to the independent life in college.


Cons:

Many people have been overwhelmed by the flawless description the media portrayed, thereby ignore potential harms of studying abroad. One of the most serious mental issues that students are facing is a series of impact started with the sense of loneliness. Even though most of the time follow by this consequence, loneliness doesn’t only mean the loss of the company and to sit in the bedroom by oneself, but the helpless feeling when one is not able to explain or deliver his or her message to others who don’t understand them. In the course of time, a habit forms: if talking to others is tiring and nobody could understand, there is no necessity of talking to others. This thought usually leads up to two results. If the students are able to access more professional help or advice from others, or they have strong mental strength, luckily they will gradually digest the stress and transform that into their motive or parts of the experience which helps them passing that hardship. This reflects a famous saying from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “that which does not kill us makes us stronger.” However, not everyone could overcome this problem. Some of them will fall into a dead cycle and separate themselves from others, which causes physical and mental isolation and disorder. There might be a temporary moment of relaxing and relief when students are assured that nobody has any access to them. However, the joy would be soon replaced by the stress that builds inside of students and couldn’t be released out, which finally leads to the stage of depression. The loneliness has shaken their confidence and stir up their recognition of their values. From many perspectives, students started to question or even have hatred toward themselves. When thoughts like “the world abandoned me” or “I hate the way I am” developed, things are usually not so optimistic. People imaging to escape. The simplest way of escaping is to go back home directly. However, students are afraid of others’ judgment to them and their parents if they go back to China. During that time, what is even more serious is that students don’t want their parents to know and they think they are fine to handle the stress themselves. Alcohol, drugs become their way of escaping. Not mentioning what harms those things bring to young adults, even adults who have better self-control couldn’t guarantee to shake off the addiction. Many of them have to drop out of schools and are sent back to China. Some of them even started to hurt themselves, in more serious cases, suicide occurs.

Besides the mental issue mentioned in the last paragraph, another part of the stress comes from society’s judgment. Chinese international students have been spread around the world, someone even jokes about that as long as there are people living on that land, there are Chinese students. However, the public still has misconceptions about international students. China has been representing the world a conservative country for a while, and the firewall has blocked out foreign access, so people in foreign countries do not really know what has been developed in China. For nearly every Chinese student who studies in the U.S., there is a time that they have been asked questions that makes them laugh, like “do people in China sleep on beds?” or “is there any McDonalds’ in China?” Most of the time, the misconceptions are understandable and means nothing harmful, but there is some misunderstanding that makes international students uncomfortable sometimes. People commonly believe international students are rich, like the way they portrayed in Crazy Rich Asian. Even though most of them have a stable, well-off family background, it doesn’t mean every student can squander unlimitedly. Besides, most students’ intention of studying abroad is to receive higher education. Fuerdai with luxury lifestyles is only a few that were over exaggerated by media. Most parents who work hard and are willing to pay a high amount of tuition because they love their children and hope they can receive a better education. Many students have mentioned that despite the necessary expenses, they are cautious about spending money because they don’t want their parents to have too much pressure. Some of them even feel sorry, thinking what they have achieved couldn’t compare with the tiniest bit of what their parents have offered them.

At the same time, even it’s a conflict not only Chinese students faced, racism still hurts students’ feeling. Especially most students grow up in China, where there isn’t a clear definition of race and people never have to worry about that. However, after coming to the multicultural U.S., the recognition of race becomes a first cultural shock. Other than that, being forcefully told and tag what race you are, that makes people feel depressed. After knowing that they could be mistreated because of their race, students’ feelings are hurt.

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Hesitate, Return

Stay or leave? That’s a question that every Chinese international student would ask themselves. According to research, there is only a small portion of the overall population have the thought of settling in the foreign land forever. Most people who may vary from different stages of their lives will finally go home. Some are students who mentioned previously, who couldn't endure life in foreign land anymore and go home without finishing school. Most are students who earned degrees and interned in an enterprise for a couple of years and return home for more job opportunity. There is a traditional saying in China called Luo ye gui gen. Even though most students who study abroad currently are the younger generation, the tradition has ingrained in everyone's heart. Unless you immigrated to the U.S. at a young age, people could never forget their memory of home. Also, parents and elders in the family all wish they could be accompanied by their children when they get old. Filial duty is an unforgettable culture.

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Home

After a few days, the joy of coming home has soon replaced by the worries. A problem that many students face is that they feel isolated and disconnected in the city they grew up. Things changed fast, and it’s hard to catch the trend that people back home are doing. Studying overseas has changed the way people communicate and think, for that it’s tiring to engage with people who are accustomed to the typical Chinese style of communication. Gradually, students will rather stay at home or only hang out with family members. The sense of loneliness comes back again because people could not fit in. At that moment, people started to recall their experience abroad, and doubt the choice they made. Whether coming home is the right choice? Or should I ever book the ticket across the Pacific?


Whether it’s a quick stop or eternal stay, people hesitate and tend to look back at the past when they don’t know what to do in the bright future. However, the past has already passed, and it wouldn’t make any difference because of the feeling of regrets. Instead on stuck on the past, focusing planning on the future, and it might be the turning point. Like studying abroad itself, it is an important decision. Rather than following the trend, think carefully and figure out the pros and cons before making the decision. It doesn’t mean everything mentioned above would happen, but there are risks that need to be considered. There is no path that is absolutely safe and correct, but when people are brave enough to step into a different area, in order to avoid unnecessary harm, it’s better to be prepared for what might happen next.

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