Fastest Growing US Export To China: Education 147
hackingbear writes "While we are importing billions of 'cheap' products labeled 'Made in China,' the fastest growing export from U.S. to China does not even need a label. Chinese parents are acutely aware that the Chinese educational system focuses too much on rote memorization, so Chinese students have flocked to overseas universities and now even secondary schools, despite the high cost of attending programs in America. Chinese enrollment in U.S. universities rose 23% to 157,558 students during the 2010-2011 academic year, making China by far the biggest foreign presence. Even the daughter of Xi Jinping, the presumed next president of China, studies as an undergraduate at Harvard. This creates opportunities for universities to bring American education directly to China. Both Duke and New York University are building campuses in the Shanghai area to offer full-time programs to students there."
Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFA:
So those parents send their kids to US schools to learn "morality"?
Re:Econ 101 (Score:0, Insightful)
They should raise tuition significantly- each seat filled by a foreign student is one less domestic student in that seat and robs the US of future domestic production, especially if that seat might have contributed positively to the domestic economy (ie: sciences/computer science/engineering)- I doubt these foreign students are here for liberal art degrees. Unless you actually build new facilities, enlarge existing lecture halls, and hire additional faculty, this is the simple math of the situation.
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Better question: So those parents send their kids to US schools to avoid a curriculum focused too much on rote memorization?
Re:Econ 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
each seat filled by a foreign student is one less domestic student in that seat and robs the US of future domestic production
Are you kidding me? Foreign students are doing more than just getting an education here... they are learning the American way. They're being exposed to our values, life-style, religions, government institutions, free-market economy, etc, etc, etc.
Some of those foreigners will one day run their country (or be near the top), and they will have more American values than if they did not attend. You're creating a potential ally, or at least someone who is likely to be more friendly to the US.
That is worth a lot.
The US's is better? (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess our educational system is the same as our democracy, it's the worst kind of that type (education/government,) except for all the others that have been tried?
Re:IQ vs Street Smarts (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The US's is better? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Econ 101 (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:IQ vs Street Smarts (Score:5, Insightful)
Those kinds of things America works real well at because they take SOCIAL SKILLS. It involves dealing with controversy, arguments, and idiots on un-named web message boards.
And America is the king of social skills. We teach people how to get along without the rule of an Iron Fist.
America's definition of "compromise" is "our way or the highway". It's not social skills you're good at, it's might makes right.
Re:Econ 101 (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, you're completely right. You're making them more like us--creating more shared values between us... but it's those values that give America its competitive edge. So if they adopt them, they will be more friendly toward us, but also more competitive with us. It's a double-edged sword.
Re:Econ 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
Or you are creating the biggest competitor imaginable. Imagine a China in 30 years that can innovate like the US, China where people can think about science and engineering like the US has in the last 50 years. If you are a dairy farmer you want to sell milk, not your best cows to your customers.
It is not a zero sum game. The industrial might of the US didn't make Europe poorer. In fact a rich US and a rich Europe provide trade opportunities that enrich both.
Right now a poor China is stealing shit from the US. But if a rich China can innovate like the US, it won't need to steal. It will trade with the US and the world will be better for it.
Re:Econ 101 (Score:4, Insightful)
Not only that, many of them want to stay here. It's the Chinese brain drain.
Re:The US's is better? (Score:5, Insightful)
Key distinction: The US *grade school* educational system is awful. The US college/university system is excellent. It kinda has to be, to repair the intellectual shambles found in the average US high school graduate's head.
(Full disclosure: I'm a college professor, so I'm kinda biased.)
A lifesaver for many colleges (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm a professor. My college's strategy for dealing with the economic crisis basically boils down to "let's get us some wealthy Chinese students up in here." They don't qualify for financial aid or tuition reduction, so it's full-price, cash money on the table. And it's a great cross-cultural thing for both them and our American students.
Somebody elsewhere said that bringing in Chinese students is wrong, because they are displacing qualified American students. But for many colleges, that's not how it works right now. With the economy down, colleges are having more trouble filling seats with qualified students who can pay. Chinese students aren't kicking out Americans: they're taking empty seats left by Americans who can't afford college because their Dad got laid off. (That shouldn't be allowed to happen. But trust me, it does.)
One bad effect of the Chinese influx is that it does allow colleges to keep charging high tuitions rather than lowering them as the demand drops. But for a lot of reasons (tenure, pension debt, health insurance costs), tuition prices are not very elastic. For quite a few colleges, the choice is stark: admit more international students, or wither and die.
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure. Have you any idea of what Chinese ethics consist of? Typically, it's "I got mine, screw you" and "how can I work this situation to my personal advantage?" I'm not saying all Chinese are like this, but it seems pretty common to me in their culture.
So I see we have already successfully exported US ethics.
GP is a troll (Score:4, Insightful)
GP is nothing but a lousy troll
If you forgot, here's what GP wrote:
Have you any idea of what Chinese ethics consist of? Typically, it's "I got mine, screw you"
How can anyone ever take such crap seriously?
People, of any racial background, come in all kinds of personalities - some good, some bad, some in between
By saying that only the Chinese have the "I got mine, screw you" mentality, GP has shown off two fallacies:
I. People of all races - not just those from one specific racial background - have this "I got mine, screw you" trait
II. The Chinese, like all people, come in the "Good", the "Bad", and the "Ugly" varieties
Sure, there are Chinese with the "Screw You" POV
But there are also Chinese who do not subscribe to that POV