After getting a glimpse of the endless cramming for China’s grueling college entrance exams from the seniors in his high school, 16-year-old Zhang Kaisheng decided to take a different path.
Like a growing number of Chinese teenagers, Zhang plans to enroll this fall in a private US high school where he and his parents hope he will get a more well-rounded — if far more expensive — education. Tuition, room and board can cost about US$40,000 — three to four times more than an elite private school in China.
“I feel like the US education fits me better and will allow me to do things I like to do,” said Zhang, who loves playing basketball.
With more than 333,000 of its students in US colleges and graduate schools, China has long been the top feeder of international students in the US. Now Chinese high-school students are following suit in astonishing fashion: Last year US schools welcomed 50 times more of them than they did just eight years earlier.
The high schoolers want to escape the rat race at home, where students often study late into the night with little opportunity for extracurricular activities. They also believe studying in the US will help them snag coveted spots at more prestigious US colleges.
“The competition has grown fiercer, and there has been pressure to go to US high schools to gain an edge,” said Xu Yi, who runs a tutoring and consulting agency for Chinese students called Focus Education.
Though international surveys have shown that Chinese students perform well ahead of their US peers in subjects such as math and reading, top-level US schools remain highly regarded among educated Chinese for developing critical thinking and communication skills.
“China boasts solid elementary and secondary education, especially in math, but it lacks innovation,” said Wang Huiyao, president of Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization. “Chinese students may be able to memorize formulas, but they lack ‘soft skills’ such as people skills and the ability to communicate with global language and culture.”
Young Chinese with US college degrees usually can expect broader career prospects, as China has become increasingly globally minded, with more opportunities for foreign-educated youth.
Last fall, the US issued 31,889 F-1 student visas to Chinese youth planning to attend US high schools, up from just 639 in 2005. China also has overtaken South Korea as the No. 1 country of orgin of students to US high schools, with its elite families leading the way as their children are vying for spots in prestigious US preparatory schools.
China’s rising financial might is fueling the rise.
“Chinese families did not have the choices in the past, and they did not have the financial means, but with the rise of the middle class, Chinese families now can scour worldwide for schools,” Wang said.
Chinese parents see the hefty cost of private US high schools as a worthy investment.
“If he can develop a multitude of skills and be a well-rounded person, it would be money well spent,” said Zhang Kaisheng’s mother, president of a state bank branch in Beijing.
For many students, the chance to study in the US opens up new opportunities. Riley Peng, the daughter of a successful entrepreneur, disliked the emphasis on rote memorization in China, and now is engaged in a variety of classes and extracurricular activities at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, including running on the cross-country team.
“There are many things I now get to experiment with,” she said.
Peng’s friend, Lisa Li, who attends Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, said she felt like a failure if she did not get the top test score in her class in Beijing. Her academic work in the US is also rigorous, but she says she does not feel the same kind of pressure, and is now encouraged to explore other interests — like music composition.
“It is so worth it, although it is highly challenging,” Li said. “US prep schools are demanding intellectually, but they also emphasize creativity. It has helped me find my direction — turning the impossible into possibilities.”
Her mother, Jin Min, is pleased.
“Now she has creativity, instead of being a copying machine of knowledge, or an encyclopedia,” she said.
It helps that teens from affluent Chinese families are often well versed in English and American culture. Chinese students usually are required to demonstrate English proficiency before attending US high schools, although some US schools offer remedial courses.
In any case, it is a big adjustment to study far from home. Experts warn parents to think twice before sending their children abroad and urge them to find proper guardianship or choose reputable boarding schools.
Keith Hernandez, vice president of the consulting company Duewest Education, also cautions that a US high-school education might not help Chinese students get into the top US universities. Sometimes, too much US experience could hurt an applicant’s chances if admissions officers are seeking more diverse backgrounds, he said.
“They are better prepared, but it’s not going to be easier,” Hernandez said.
Still, the rising demand is creating new opportunities for US schools and enterprising educators.
In Pennsylvania, Chinese investor Jiang Bairong has bought the grounds of an old school and opened the new Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science — miles away from Princeton University — in a partnership with the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, an elite school in Beijing. Principal Max McGee said he had about 30 students last fall and that the goal is to have 250 students in five years. Half would be international students — mostly from China.
“The students are immersed in English, and they learn how to write better,” McGee said. “Even after one year, they have become accomplished writers, and they can present with eloquence, power and self-confidence.”
US public schools also are jostling for a slice of the cake.
In Michigan, the public Lake Shore High School in the Detroit suburb of St Clair Shores gets about 90 Chinese students each year, all from the Beijing Haidian International School. The students pay tuition and living expenses to spend 11th grade at Lake Shore High along with US students. A once-abandoned elementary school has been converted for use as a dormitory.
Unlike private schools, US public school districts cannot enroll foreign students for more than one year because of federal restrictions, though a bipartisan bill in Congress seeks change that.
Sponsored by two New York congressmen, Democrat Bill Owens and Republican Chris Gibson, the bill proposes to remove the one-year restriction on foreign students attending US K-12 public schools as long as they pay the full, unsubsidized per-person cost of attending the school district.
In a written statement, Owens said the change would help public schools improve their bottom line at the time of flagging enrolment.
Lake Shore Schools superintendent Christopher Loria said that his district’s program benefits both US teenagers, who “get a better view of the world,” and Chinese students, who get a taste of American culture.
“They absolutely love it here. Many will comment that they’d rather stay here sometimes,” Loria said. “Obviously they don’t, but most of them will come back and go to a college in the US”
To ensure that the Chinese students will be able to pass high-school graduation exams back home, the Haidian school sends its own teachers to Lake Shore High to provide tutoring classes on math, physics and chemistry. It also provides English tutoring, said Wang Yingkun, a Haidian principal.
Marcus Barnett, a Lake Shore graduate now studying engineering at University of Detroit-Mercy, said Chinese students helped raise the academic bar at his old school.
“They go above and beyond when it comes to studying,” he said. “I came to the realization I needed to do the same thing.”
Barnett began taking Mandarin Chinese in seventh grade, traveled to China three times and has gained several Chinese “brothers” — students his family has hosted. The experience has helped him understand the importance of being competitive in school and in life.
“They’re coming here to go to [college] here. Could that have been my spot if I tried harder?” he said. “On a higher level, what happens after you graduate college? Those same people might want the same thing you want.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number