Name: Why So Many Chinese Students Come to America
Uploaded: 2019-09-13T04:31:17.000Z
Duration: 13 min 18 s
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In 2018, the U.S. imported $540 billion worth of goods from China, but exported only 120.

In response, President Trump imposed tariffs, immediately shaking the Chinese, American,

But while the trade war defines today's economy, another deficit will decide tomorrow's.

In the 2017-18 school year, 363,000 Chinese students came to study in the U.S., while

This, on the surface, isn't all that surprising.

What's weird - really weird - is how fast it happened.

All of a sudden, starting in 2007, Chinese students in the U.S. absolutely exploded,

accounting for 93% of all international student growth in the last decade.

More students come from China to America than the next six countries combined, including

India, despite having almost the same size population.

And is the U.S. right to worry about incoming spies?

The answer has less to do with academics and more with economics, complex social dynamics,

On June 7th, Chinese cities become… eerily quiet.

Traffic is as busy as ever but no horns are honking, stress is collectively unusually

high, free water bottles are handed out, and drones watch overhead.

Today, tomorrow, and sometimes, on a third day, 10 million students across China take

the National Higher Education Entrance Exam, aka the Gaokao, aka, the most important nine

The test covers Chinese language and literature, math, foreign language (usually English),

and a choice of social or natural science.

The top roughly 7-million scorers are admitted to college, and a select few are offered places

in the C9 - mainland China's equivalent to the Ivy-League.

But unlike the SAT, AP, or IB, Gaokao scores are really the only factor in Chinese college

The first 18 years of your life, therefore, are dedicated to preparation.

Leading up to the big test, parents burn incense, pray, and book hotels near the exam to avoid

Some, known as “Gaokao migrants”, travel to other provinces with higher admissions

quotas in hopes of having a slight advantage.

When the day finally comes, provincial governments order quiet streets for concentration and

Supporters of the Gaokao say it levels the playing field - creating a meritocracy wherein

any student, from any geographic or socioeconomic part of China has the same opportunity for

Critics, in turn, argue a level playing field is only ever an illusion - that success is

handed to those with families wealthy enough to afford private tutors.

Like continued middle-class growth, the national exam is both a practical and political tool

for maintaining stability - shifting questions of who has power and who is entitled to riches

The extreme, sometimes insurmountable stress, they say, doesn't even produce good citizens

While Chinese students rank very highly in math and science, they're often seen as

lacking in other skills like creative and critical thinking, a side effect of their

Classrooms are dominated by the teacher, who lectures behind a podium to a sea of totally-silent

students expected to memorize as much as possible.

To ask questions is both to disrespect your teacher and admit to your peers that you don't

Finally, discipline is placed above all else, with low performers at one high school not

For any number of these reasons, some, disenchanted parents seek a way out.

If their child performs poorly on his or her high school entrance exam, rather than lose

face, families may place them in international schools, designed to prepare them for exams

Others pursue an education abroad with the intent of eventually migrating the whole family,

The perception is that, while school in China is more intense up until the Gaokao, afterward,

students feel they've satisfied their family's expectations and can relax at university,

whereas American college is when students start getting serious.

In other words, students leave China on their parents' suggestion, who usually pay their

There are English lessons, extracurriculars for admissions, exam fees, and travel costs.

On top of that, families pay agencies about $10,000 per child for help in the process.

In other words, this is only possible thanks to China's rising, newly-wealthy middle-class,

and the demographics which leave parents with only one child to pay for - and, more importantly,

The truly wealthy get started even earlier - sending their child to an elite American

feeder middle school, which can charge up to 60, $70,000 a year.

And when old fashion studying doesn't work, upper-class families resort to “gifts”

- usually about $250,000, and as much as $6.5 million.

There's one more, unexpected reason Chinese students come to America…

When Deng Xiaoping began opening up the country in the '80s and '90s, creating thousands

of newly rich families, he also, for the first time, allowed students to study overseas.

For this reason, the first international students who returned to China were its most well-off,

launching high-paying, high-profile careers.

This association of studying in America and success in life has never faded.

So, while the American Dream may not be alive and well in America, it certainly is in Beijing.

Americans have Louis Vuitton, McMansions, and Porsche's.

One hospital in central China even named its maternity wards after Ivy-League schools for

All of these factors help explain this, but they don't justify this.

To answer that, we need to understand how schools really make money.

Broadly speaking, in the U.S., there are two university business models.

The first way a school can make money is simple: charging students.

Private schools are the Apple of education - they forgo massive market share in exchange

for a smaller number of higher-paying students.

And, because they attract high-income families, they can expect good, lifelong customers - aka