Caution on foreign study
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-24 11:08

Chinese parents should think twice before making up their minds to send their children to study abroad, an article in Nanfang Metropolis News warns. An excerpt follows:

Since the latter half of last year, China's Ministry of Education has released as many as 17 messages intended to warn students of risks involved in studying at schools based overseas. The alarm by the ministry is timely and vital. It at the same time mirrors the worrisome situation of Chinese "educational imports."

On the whole, lack of information about agencies and schools, and following blindly the tide of "studying abroad" contributes to the current mess.

With China's rapid economic development, the demand for studying abroad is surging. Unauthorized agencies were established to scramble for market shares of Chinese overseas education, which profiteer through providing inferior services and even fraudulent activities.

Meanwhile, some countries treat Chinese students, especially younger ones, as "cash cows" and lack effective oversight over the schools that admit Chinese students so that they are defrauded.

Of course, Chinese parents should take some responsibility for the problems arising when their children go abroad to study.

Many parents fail to understand the real meaning of such endeavors: to know about foreign cultures or to seek advanced studies that cannot be achieved in China because of lack of material conditions.

In most cases, they send their children abroad out of vanity, or merely for an overseas educational background and life experience that in their opinion will sharpen their children's competitive edge in the increasingly tight domestic job market.

Due to lack of the ability or self-control, these quick-tempered young ones often spend their time and energy in squandering money rather than their studies and consequently seldom live up to their parents' expectations.

Perhaps it is time for Chinese parents to change their thinking on studying abroad.

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