If you lived in America 50 years ago and wanted to see a Chinese, the way you could do it is to buy a flight ticket to China. But now, as the number of Chinese students studying in American universities increasing rapidly, the easiest way to meet a Chinese is driving to a university campus nearby. In recent years, with the growing trend of Chinese students come to study in America, some people begin to show an interest in the reasons behind this change. For those Chinese students who study in American universities, what actually makes their decisions for being college students in America? Should more Chinese students come to study in America or not? There are several main factors that affect those Chinese students’ decision making. First, the strict Chinese educational system has become a burden for many Chinese high school students, which makes some students tired of the way they study in China and interested in the way that American students study. Also, the huge population has made it harder for Chinese students to be admitted to a good university and only those who are extremely smart are able to get a chance at attending good universities. As for the quality of American education, many Chinese students believe that American college degrees can benefit students not only for their college life, but also for their future development. On the other hand, Chinese students studying in American universities can also bring a large amount of money to the United States’ economy and can help American students learn more about Chinese and world culture. With all of these reasons in mind, Chinese students should see studying in American universities as a good choice for them, because it can benefit both Chinese students and American students.

For most Chinese students, their lives are hard and tiring due to the strict and traditional Chinese education system. Like Jordan and Chen said in the article “Why So Many Chinese Students Come to the U.S.”, “there’s no meaning there” is the most appropriate description of what Chinese students think about their experiences as students studying in China, because Chinese education only focuses on students’ scores without balancing other aspects. If a student only has great academic performance without good personality, can he or she be considered as a successful student? If a student only studies the academic knowledge from books without learning independence ability or other virtues, will she or he be useful and beneficial to the society? If China’s education system can only cultivate students like this, is there any meaning for being students and getting educated in China? For those students who decide to study in American universities instead of Chinese universities, the answer, obviously, is no, which is an important motivation for them to make the decision of coming to America. In China, from grade 5 to grade 12, every student has to stay up until at least 11 at night in order to be able to finish the homework they have for that day. The life of grade 12 students is especially tiring and exhausting, for everyday they have oceans of papers to do in preparation for the college entrance examination. Unlike the SAT in America, Chinese college entrance examination requires students to memorize a lot, but does not care about their thoughts or ideas on the content of the exam (Jordan and Chen). Therefore, students have to complete a lot of meaningless, repetitive tasks and that makes many students less interested in studying. 

Furthermore, lots of Chinese schools have strict rules about students’ behaviors, such as uniform requirement. The majority of Chinese students do not like to wear uniforms, for they think the uniforms are ugly and uncomfortable. They want to have their rights to wear whatever they want wear. Similarly, Chinese universities have many limitations for students choosing the subjects they are going to study the whole four years. What a student is going to major in is assigned by the university, and once it is assigned, it hardly can be changed. "I want to go where I can learn whatever I want", and that is an important reason why many Chinese students choose American universities instead of Chinese universities (Svoboda). The American education system is very flexible, and students are able to choose whatever subjects they like to study as well as change to another major if they find something more appealing.

China has a very large population with only hundreds of good universities for people to choose, which is another important reason for Chinese students to come to study in American universities. The number of good Chinese universities, compared to the large amount of China’s population, is too small, and that increases the difficulty for Chinese students to be admitted by a good Chinese university. Due to the low acceptance rate and the severe competition among Chinese students, some Chinese students choose to apply for American universities in order to avoid the fierce competition of Chinese college entrance exam. Like many Chinese students think, the competition among Chinese high school students in the college entrance examination is too intense, and this comment is widely accepted by Chinese people on China’s education system. The result of this situation is the increasing trend of studying abroad, especially studying in America. 

When Chinese people talk about a high-quality education environment, they often refer to an education system such as America’s, because there are several advantages of the American education system as well as American universities. First, students in American universities have the freedom to choose the subjects they are really interested in and are also allowed to change their majors at any point of their college life. The way Chinese universities assign majors and subjects for students to study differs from American universities because the American universities let students decide what they want to study. This makes it much easier for students to accept their studies and it also improves the efficiency of students’ studies because people are always better at things they are interested in and willing to do. American universities require student attendance throughout the whole semester, which ensures that American students will attend school every day. On the other hand, Chinese universities focus only on the final exam at the end of each semester, which leads to a popular phenomenon where only a few students go to classes every day. For students who are studying at American universities, every effort is important and every assignment completed though the semester has an effect on the final grades. For students who are studying at Chinese universities, only the grade of the final exam matters. It is so important and necessary for students to work hard during their college life, because the grades that American students get at the end of the semester are accumulative, and each assignment as well as project assigned through the semester takes points. In this way, American universities help students work hard and learn more for students who want to get good grades in American universities have to make efforts on every homework or assignment that takes points; however, Chinese universities cannot make students study and work hard throughout the whole semester. 

Since American universities can benefit students in many ways, many Chinese parents whose children did not get a chance of entering a top university in China are willing to send their children to study in America. However, only families who have the ability to afford the high tuitions for American universities are able to do so. As a result, a large part of Chinese students studying in American universities are coming from Chinese middle class families and some from rich families (“Rising number of Chinese students from middle-class families…”). Since China is experiencing a rapid development in the economy, there are many middle class families appearing in the society (Iskyan). And many of them have children studying in American universities, for they are able to pay for the expensive tuitions to American universities and they have a great need of creating a better education environment for their children. 

What is more, Chinese students who have American college degrees have an advantage when they look for jobs in China (“Why Chinese Students…”), which is also a determining factor and attractive benefit that make Chinese students decide to come to American universities. There are more and more Chinese companies beginning to show an interest in students with an overseas education background, because they are more intellectual than students who have only studied in China. It makes sense that Chinese students who have studied in America have seen more people from countries all over the world, and thus, most of them gained the ability of perceiving the world from an international point of view, which makes them unique and outstanding from domestic Chinese students. Since China is undertaking a process of a rapidly increasing economy, the need of many companies to explore their overseas market is increasing as well, and with the help of people who have really lived in places overseas, the company can do a better job. This is why students with an overseas education background are welcomed by many large Chinese companies. 

Thinking back to the 1960s, a group of the first Chinese students with the intention of studying abroad emerged, because they realized how developed education was in other countries, such as America, when compared with China’s own education. But, “the narrow door”, a strict policy made by China’s formal government 40 years ago which limited the number of people travelling abroad, made studying abroad very difficult and inconvenient (Qian and Chu). However, those students decided to overcome all of the problems they met and came to developed countries like America to study no matter what, because they knew that if they learned something useful and helpful, they could go back to China and make an effort to aid in China’s development. During that time, there were many students who studied abroad and brought a lot of developed knowledge and techniques to help build a new China. Although China has developed a lot in many ways during the past years, it is still weak in education, and there is still a great need for well-educated people in order to make China better. Therefore, Chinese students should come to study in American universities not only because the firms and companies are looking for intellectual people with overseas education background, but also because their country needs them for higher development. A Chinese student, Wang, who has an American college degree, talks about her own story about how competitive she became when she returned to China in a YouTube video, in which also states that it is good for Chinese students to have some experience studying abroad, especially in a country like America. Because of the advantage that students with American college degree have when seeking jobs, many Chinese parents ask their children to study in America in order to make them a better future.

Not only do American universities benefit Chinese students but also America  and its people as well. In recent years, many American schools have been willing to provide international programs and admit more international students, such as Chinese students, because each Chinese student has to pay an expensive tuition and that helps boost the economy of America. As Gross said in his article “Seeking Admission to Top Collages, Chinese Students Flock to U.S. Private Schools”, many schools, including private schools  and public schools, look at international programs as a solution to their financial problems, because international students have to pay the out-of-state tuition, which is much higher than the tuitions that most American students pay for. It is true that the influx of Chinese students could solve a lot of the financial issues of American schools, but there are also some effects in the humanities that Chinese students have on American students. For those American students who have Chinese students as their classmates, they get a chance of seeing peers coming from a totally different cultural background as well as knowing more about China, a country with a long, attractive history. For those American students who have never been to another country, they get a chance of seeing this world as a whole via the communication with Chinese students.

However, there are also some people, like Professor Barker , who works at Arizona university with a lot of experience of teaching Chinese students and think that Chinese students cannot achieve their academic success in American universities because they speak poor English and often cheat in exams (Barker). Besides, many of the Chinese students who study in American universities now have a lot of stress because of “language, achievement, and interaction with faculty” (Berliner and Kun, pp. 939-960). There are some international students cannot speak English very well and have a lot of trouble in communicating, dealing with social life and homesickness, and their lives are really tough. For the problems and difficulties mentioned above, it cannot be denied that studying something new and difficult in a foreign language will not be easy for a foreign student, but there are also many Chinese students and other Asian students are able to figure the communication issues and have outstanding academic performances in most of their courses (Coughlan). Because for those who came to the American universities with their passion and dreams, they would never give up to the difficulties they meet or stop working hard. What is more, the major reason for most Chinese students’ coming to the United States is to achieve bigger success with a better education environment. They would not come to study in American universities at such high prices if all they want to do is spend their whole days playing video games and cheating in exams, which can also be easily done in China. For the very few Chinese students who were asked by their parents to get education in American universities and chose not to study, they might have some bad behaviors during their college life in America, and even get expelled, but they definitely do not represent the major population of Chinese students who study in America (Kutner). In a word, only those students who come to American universities for better future development and successful life and try their best to adapt the American universities should come to study in American universities at a very high cost of tuition fees and living, and they are worth the tuitions that their parents paid for. 

As a whole, Chinese students with good intentions of achieving larger success should come to study in American universities, for America’s education system can provide them with a flexible education environment and a higher education quality. Considering many Chinese companies’ needs for intellectual people, Chinese students with American college degrees have an advantage when they seek jobs within China, and thus Chinese students who have studied in American universities are likely to have a better future. Besides the benefits for individual Chinese student, China will benefit a lot from having a lot of well-educated people help accelerate the process of China’s development. However, the phenomenon that a lot of Chinese students deciding to study in American universities also reflects a great need for the Chinese government to transform their education system in order to build a better educational environment for the younger generations and improve the quality of education so that the children in the future will not need to leave their home country and families for a good education. As for America, the influx of Chinese students brings a large amount of money to the American economy in the form of their tuition fees and consumption within the United States. Having Chinese students present also helps American students see and understand the world by communicating their thoughts with these Chinese students. Therefore, for those American students or professors who do not understand or hold negative attitudes towards Chinese students’ decision of studying in America, it is time for them to accept and embrace the young Chinese students who leave their country and come a long way to study in America with love and kindness. The understanding and respect are the warmest welcome for every Chinese student who made a hard “Chinese decision” of coming to study in America.
