Recently, New York Times published a article that showed a statistic of Asian-American enrollments in American Ivy League schools. There have been a near 50% decline of Asian enrollments over the last two decades. 25% of the Chinese exchange student will likely to drop out of their Ivy League schools. 40% of the current student enrolled in Cal Tech are Asians with some Chinese descent. Those who graduate, majority of them return home to China and seek their careers there.
Most of the current upper-middle classes of the Chinese social-economy are educated in either America or Europe. By studying abroad, these graduates were able to take the business, marketing, management, and technical skills the have learned to apply them to China's vast human and natural resources. Thus, producing the current modern economic power that U.S. is becoming so wary of.
Should U.S. be concerned? Maybe. Since the main reason why these Chinese students are dropping out are due to the lack of social skills with the native-born Americans. Chinese students emphasize a great deal in studying over partying and socialization. This is a concern because, these exchange students represent some the best educated and financially well established families in China. And they are essentially the next generation of leaders of the Chinese politics and economy.
While a total war with China may seem unlikely in the present. Since China knows in realpolitik they lack the current military and economic power to challenge NATO for military hegemony. But what about in 20 years or 30 years? When these Chinese Ivy League graduates becomes the Premier of the Communist government or the CEO of Baidu or the Commander in Chief of the Chinese Armed Forces, and they don't get along with the American Ivy League graduates (since the majority of U.S. Presidents and top officials are Ivy League graduates), what then?
I think the best solution to prevent future wars between the two greatest superpowers is to be friends with the Chinese exchange students that are studying here. Let them come to our frat partying, be less awkward. We know they are incredibly smart and ambitious, they like to study, it's cool. In 30 years when they become President(s) of China, and we became CEO of Bloomberg or Secretary of State, we can say hey we were friends in college. Lets not fight each other.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/12/19/fears-of-an-asian-quota-in-the-ivy-league/statistics-indicate-an-ivy-league-asian-quota
http://shanghaiist.com/2013/10/30/25_of_chinese_students_in_ivy_leagu.php
http://qz.com/287327/six-charts-that-show-dilma-rousseffs-challenges-in-brazil-are-just-beginning/
Your post presented me with a brand new, interesting perspective to international relations between the United States and China. At the same time however, it raises a new question. Is the lack of interaction between Chinese exchange students a result of unintentional, irreconcilable cultural differences or a result of intentional exclusion? Having attended boarding school prior to college, I believe I have some experience in this situation. At the boarding school I attended, of the 100 or so boarding students, 20-25 were South Korean. The South Korean students were in no way intentionally excluded from any events as such an action would result in immediate expulsion from the school and would be morally reprehensible. However, they instead often chose to spend time with one another as they shared many cultural similarities, a common language, and similar hobbies foreign to American-born students. While this is just one example, I believe it properly illustrates my point that even if no attempt is made to exclude the foreign students, exclusion may occur inevitably due to the connection the foreign students feel towards each other and the similarities they share.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that this exclusion of Chinese exchange students from American students could be more the result of comfortability levels. In a strange new world, Chinese exchange students will most likely stick to themselves because they feel more comfortable with something or someone of familiarity. While this is an interesting argument you bring up, I don't think it's logical to say that the best way to prevent wars between the United States and China is to be friends with Chinese exchange students that are studying in our country. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, if the United States is ever on the brink of war with China, and the two leaders happened to be friends in college, I don't think it could prevent a war that most likely stems from bigger issues. The leaders also have their people to think of in such situations as well.
ReplyDeleteThere was an example during the Cold War, when an Soviet lt. colonel named Stanislav Petrov's raised an false alarm that almost caused an all out nuclear Armageddon. But many sources have indicted that many of the top ranking officials wanted to use the false alarm to launch the nuclear attack against U.S. regardless, Oleg Kalugin stated that the real danger was the mistrust between in the Soviet leaderships and the American leaderships, these individuals are the cause for the almost all out nuclear war not the international politics.
ReplyDeleteI think some of these Chinese students are dropping out because the culture here is so different from back home. The students start to feel like outsiders and feel like they won't ever fit in. This makes them feel homesick so they return home to where they will feel more comfortable. Not everyone is cut out for studying abroad for an education.
ReplyDeleteNice thread! There is recent research suggesting that educational background affects one's worldview. And there is forthcoming research suggesting that exchange students take back cultural practices with them.
ReplyDeletehttp://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~scn407/documents/NelsonIOApril2014.pdf