I’m always interested to hear about Chinese people who live and work in America and their experiences.  I had a number of years living in China and I know my experiences but what about the other way around?  I found this article the other day about Chinese students studying at John Hopkins University on the East Coast in America.

The article is basically talking about the Chinese students’ opinions about life in America, studying with Americans and the differences between studying in China and the US.

Of life in American schools, one of the students said:

“People individually choose classes and clubs or organizations to participate in…In Chinese universities there’s sort of a homeroom organization, and there’s more of a feeling of connection.”

Totally true.  When I taught in a university in Shanghai the classes were really tight and close knit.  They did everything together.  Good things and bad things.  Sometimes there would be bad blood and that would really spread through the class and hurt a lot of people.  A good time together is a good thing but when your whole class hates you…nothing you can do!

The student goes on to explain about the classes and the differences:

“We [students] feel like we’re family, and we influence each other, whereas here in America, there are only small circles of friends.”

Again, exactly right.  I had a small circle of friends when I was in college but they were from all different groups and classes and majors.  I personally think that is a better thing than only knowing your classmates.  Seems to me this is nothing different than Chinese high school.  Class 1 goes to this room and this class and this class… we never mingle with Class 2.

The title of the article is a bit misleading.  “Chinese students report discrepancies in education systems” sounds a lot worse than what they are really talking about.  Some of the students talk about not being able to really interact with American students.  Then the classic reason from another student:

“I spend more time doing research and studying so I haven’t been really engaged in any student activities.”

DING DING DING DING!  That’s the reason why you can’t interact with American students.  I bet if they interviewed the American students they would say… they are a bunch of book worms!!!

Later on a graduate student at John Hopkins says:

“I feel that most of the Chinese students have a hard time making close American friends…We can collaborate well at work, but there are some cultural differences that prevent us from becoming close, though we try very hard.”

Hmmm… no explanation of WHY or WHAT the differences are… but then she actually explains why very very clearly:

“I would feel bad asking someone to do me a favor, and even though people are nice, they are still very independent so favor-asking is much more rare…”

DING DING DING DING DING!!! That’s right folks.  Welcome to America!  So we can’t be friends with Americans because they won’t do favors for me??  What kind of a friend is that??  I feel bad asking someone to do me a favor?  SO DO MOST AMERICANS!!!  That’s not exactly what you have friends for!!  What kind of favors are you asking for or thinking about??

Talking about the actual classes and workload a student explains that:

“…classes at Hopkins are more challenging and more complete, particularly because lab research is a required in certain classes, in addition to attending class daily.”

Daily attendance makes classes in America more challenging???  Hilarious!  I’m sorry that you have to come to class everyday.  My students in China came to class but my class was actually interesting.  The other classes were described to me as less than interesting.  I walked by their classes from time to time to see them in class and I was shocked to see most of them either sleeping, sending short messages on their mobile phone or just chatting.  Welcome to America where studying in university actually means something!!!

The journalist goes on to quote other students saying:

“In his Chinese undergraduate university, one professor would teach all of his classes, offering only a general introduction to most subjects.”

This I don’t know to be true.  I doubt that this is true.  Does anyone know this to be true?

The end of the article explains that all the students who are studying at John Hopkins University would like to stay in America and get a job on the east coast.  Why?  With China’s development going like crazy over the past couple years you could go back and have a very good life in your home country!  You think American universities are culturally different… wait till you enter corporate America and start your life here.

Lastly I would love to ask this question.  When Chinese students go abroad to study in different countries do they go through some sort of training sessions or preparation training before going?  Are they told about the major differences between the two cultures?  Are they told about how Americans make friends?  Are they told what British don’t like?  Are they told the similarities?  Are they told to lower their expectations?  Or is it all word of mouth from other Chinese people who have lived and worked there and learned by making mistakes?

Well, if not, good luck to you all!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under 2009, Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.