September 18th, 2011 by Rachel | | No Comments »
So, here is the news I was talking about the other day (click here) - US is losing its competition in higher education, or in other words, university education. More and more people are getting education in China and South Korea rather than in the States. It appears as if they’re implying that China is catching up and moving towards to be ahead of the US in the number of students attending universities in China. But should we also keep in mind that China has a much higher population than the US, and so the stats could be a bit off? I know that you mentioned to me in our conversation the other day that the reasoning behind this is because more and more Chinese have been going to Hong Kong since it became part of China instead of the States as now going to Hong Kong is cheaper whereas before Hong Kong became part of China, attending university there was just as expensive as in the US. Do you mind explaining to me in details about this case?
They’re also mentioning a very old news that we, Americans, have been hearing for the past few years, which is that the US is lagging behind many countries including China and South Korea in Math and Science.
It’s totally pathetic because receiving good quality education is critically important for the economy of the country as teachers are creating the next generation of businessmen, doctors, engineers, artists, etc. When we have great engineers who can develop technologies for businessmen to sell to the world, money flows into the country. Then of course having the best doctors is critically important as we want to have the best quality healthcare and not to mention, suppose if medical researchers invent a medical breakthrough? That newly invented medical product could be sold for so much money.
Then I also want to share an article I came across in USA Today (Click Here) , one of the big newspapers in the States, speaking about many Americans moving to Asia, including China, for job opportunities as they feel that positions they are able to obtain in Asia hold higher prestige than in the US and not to mention the economy in Asia is better than in the States. While we didn’t see any expats in Haikou, I have been seeing a large number in Shanghai, where I am now. Shanghai is a very cosmopolitan city that really caters to the foreigners as there are Mexican restaurants, French cafes, American sports bars, Starbucks, Dairy Queen and Sushi places. Many buildings are very westerner. There have been times when I question myself, “Am I really in China?”