Word: americanizing
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Chinese students are no less fun-loving than the average American student. We used to complain all the time to our teachers about our heavy workload, but their response was always that examinations were the fairest solution for a country in which 10 million students apply to college every year. If China adopted the American system, the argument went, not only would there be huge logistical problems, but it would also be practically impossible to prevent corruption. This makes sense. However, I would argue that logistical and fairness problems alone cannot explain the difference. If there really were a strong...
...suspect that there is a deeper and more fundamental cultural difference between American and Chinese education. Historically in China, going to school was about acquiring knowledge. Students memorized passages from ancient authors like Confucius over and over again until students fully grasped the underlying meanings of the texts and were ready to take the Imperial Examinations—which were first instituted in 605 CE—to become a member of the Chinese bureaucracy. It wasn’t about doing community service, learning leadership skills, or building social networks. This tradition was so strong that even Mao could...
Furthermore, while I personally chose to study abroad because of the wide range of opportunities that American education offered, I do believe that the Chinese system still has many advantages. Chinese students excel at math and science because they do a lot of practice problems and become good at it. Socially, because everyone takes the same classes, students are in one classroom with the same fifty classmates for most of high school. Classmates bond with one another in this close environment and establish life-long friendships. In comparison, American students can meet more people in their different classes...
...that flight to America. Of course, I miss my family and friends back home, as well as the food (no offense to HUDS). Nevertheless, I have never regretted coming here for school. I have had access to resources and opportunities that were unimaginable in China, and thanks to American education I have been able to develop both personally and intellectually. I hope that in the future, more and more of my American friends can take a journey in the opposite direction and grow by experiencing China, just as I had broadened my perspectives by coming here...
...people who cannot afford rent, a car is the last rung of dignity and sanity above the despair of the streets. A home on wheels is a classic American affair, from the wagon train to the RV. Now, for some formerly upwardly mobile Americans, the economic storm has turned the backseat or the rear of the van into the bedroom. "We found six people sleeping in their cars on an overnight police ride-along in December," says John Edmund, chief of staff to Long Beach councilman Dee Andrews. "One was a widow living in a four-door sedan...