Public schools woo foreign students to boost rank

[Infohawk]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110404/ap_on_re_us/us_far_east_to_down_east

MILLINOCKET, Maine – Northern Maine is 7,000 miles and a world away from China, but that's not stopping a school superintendent from recruiting Chinese students to attend public high school in this remote mill town.
Faced with declining enrollments and shrinking revenues, public school districts from Maine to California are seeking out students from overseas, particularly China, to attend their high schools. At least two public schools in Maine have 10 tuition-paying Chinese students in classes this year, and the superintendent in Millinocket is the latest to set his sights on China.
It's a growing trend: Other schools are doing the same in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia and Washington, according to a student recruitment agency in San Francisco.

Honestly I'm not sure what to think about this. Obviously there's no budgetary argument against it as these foreign students are paying for their education. It bothers me though because it's yet another sign that the US is willing to sell off all its comparative advantage in a short-sighted manner to China. Eventually the US will having nothing over China except its natural resources. Any third world country can have natural resources.

It also reminds me a little bit of the relationship between the Greeks and the Romans. The Greeks had a more advanced civilization but were a more democratic and loosely-knit people. They were conquered by the Romans and many of the great Great thinkers were enslaved to teach Romans about the Greek ways. The Romans integrated Greek culture but ultimately perverted it and turned into an empire.

The USA is the more democratic and individualistic society. We need to take a step back as a group and really start thinking about preserving the few advantages we have left, which include our university system and intellectual property. There are already stories of Western teachers being killed in China. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42362031/ns/local_news-orange_county_ca/

 

[Zebo]

Why the fuck would Chinese want to come to our dumbed down lowest common denominator public schools? They know calculus and a couple languages by 5th grade there. Guess he wants someone else to do the teaching, teach them nothing in HS, and get all the credit when they 1400-1500 a SAT.

 

[Infohawk]

Why the fuck would Chinese want to come to our dumbed down lowest common denominator public schools? They know calculus and a couple languages by 5th grade there. Guess he wants someone else to do the teaching, teach them nothing in HS, and get all the credit when they 1400-1500 a SAT.

It's a smart move. First of all you're learning English first hand. Second of all, China is a giant rat race of over-achievers. If you're lucky enough to know calculus better than the other billion people there you might get into another rat-race university. In the US they will put in a little effort and be able to go to an American university where half the kids will be drunk during finals. (Remember American schools don't usually respect degrees and grades from foreign countries even though academics are more challenging in other countries.) American universities are still pretty good, especially if you're willing to work hard. Basically you're be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

All this also reminds me of the "tiger mom" in the news. She and her daughter are feeling smug right now because the daughter got into Harvard. That's great and it doesn't come as a surprise to many people. The problem is when you have 500,000,000 tiger moms in China you just get a stagnant culture like they had for so long. I don't think it's that big of an advantage to force kids to play violin and learn calculus. In the end, the kids who like it on their own are the ones who are going to have an artistic voice or to conduct game-changing research. Boys and girls who secretly want to be mechanics or fashion designers are not going to be happy pretending to be engineers. (It's a tension you see in so many recently immigrated families to America: the parents insist the kids need to be rocket scientists while the kids understand that that is not necessarily how you get ahead in America like it is in the third world.)

America in the 20th century was not dominant because its kids were being forced to play violin and learn calculus. It was dominant because people had the freedom to become mechanics or mathematicians if that's what they wanted to do. I've heard older teachers explain how the math requirements have actually gone up in the past decades.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I never got why Asian parents wanted their children to go overseas for secondary education. At that level I'd say Chinese schools are superior to most Western schools, and because the culture is so different and there's a sudden lack of close parental support, guidance, and supervision a lot of kids just go completely off the rails.

 

[Infohawk]

I never got why Asian parents wanted their children to go overseas for secondary education. At that level I'd say Chinese schools are superior to most Western schools, and because the culture is so different and there's a sudden lack of close parental support, guidance, and supervision a lot of kids just go completely off the rails.

Again, it's an extra hurdle to try to convince an American university that your foreign high school grades are better. (American universities have no incentive to give foreigners a faster track to a degree either; might as well milk them for what they're worth.)

Applying to an American university (which most people still consider to be superior around the world) with a 4.0 grade point average from George Washington High School and a 1600 SAT is going to be a lot easier.

I highly doubt these kids are just planning to return to China for college. The plan is mostly likely to obtain a university or higher degree in the US to lord over their poorer countrymen. In many ways this is just rich people being rich. This kid from Shanghai (a very rich city in China) is paying to get advantages that poorer Chinese can't.

 

[theeedude]

Haven't those kids heard the Republicans? Our teachers are a bunch of super wealthy leeches who do nothing but ask for more money and benefits.

 

[DaveSimmons]

to boost rank

No, to boost funding.

The University of Washington is accepting more out-of-state and foreign students because they pay three times as much as in-state students, and help subsidize the locals.

With Washington's budget shortfall and cuts to funding, adding more out-of-state students lets the university also keep enrollment higher for in-state students.

 

[Macamus Prime]

I thought Americans didn't want any foreigners?

Unless they wash your dishes, do your landscaping,... and NOW your homework for you?

 

[JS80]

Why the fuck would Chinese want to come to our dumbed down lowest common denominator public schools? They know calculus and a couple languages by 5th grade there. Guess he wants someone else to do the teaching, teach them nothing in HS, and get all the credit when they 1400-1500 a SAT.

If you understood the Asian educational system you would understand.

 

[Zebo]

If you understood the Asian educational system you would understand.

All I know is you can drop a penniless FOB off in any city in America and they are millionaires in like 5 years and kids are in Medical school. I've seen it. Grew up in Costa Mesa with lots of Asians and they are well educated.

 

[JS80]

All I know is you can drop a penniless FOB off in any city in America and they are millionaires in like 5 years and kids are in Medical school. I've seen it. Grew up in Costa Mesa with lots of Asians and they are well educated.

Think about what you just said, and think about that same kid drop them off in a Chinese school where they would end up.

 

[Binarycow]

Think about what you just said, and think about that same kid drop them off in a Chinese school where they would end up.

they probably have the same amount of opportunities as we do. However, the good of them has to fight with the best of them so the chance is not too great. The same good students would have a much easier time competing with the mediocre over here. So it's not really about the amount of opportunities but rather whom one is competing against.