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The trend of studying abroad

Posted on 04/08/12 by Polynesie_thuoc_phap_005Dario

Polynesie_thuoc_phap_005 Dario View Profile
Member since 8 April 2012
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Since its inception, Oriental philosophy has always stressed the importance of education. It is widely believed that academics determines the roles of a person in an Oriental society, and the scholars get the lion's share of the opportunities offered. Therefore, in a typical East Asian family, the ultimate goal of parents is to train their children to become scholarly successful. For some decades, the economies of East Asian countries have vigourously improved, leading to better economic situations in each family. More money than ever has been spent on children's education. The situation can be clearly observed in countries from China, South Korea, to Vietnam or Singapore.

Nowadays, rich families no longer consider universitites in their countries a priority. They have turned to look West, to the highly acclaimed universities in the US or the UK. They believe that a diploma from such an university is a ticket to career opportunities, a way of guaranteeing family reputation. They don't even hesitate to spend enormous sums to polish their children's applications, or to make great gifts to universities, just to ensure that their children get a place in a top college.

Those efforts of rich parents should be appreciated, since they care much their children's future. However, they forget one thing: They may be doing the best for their children to be admitted to colleges, but they do not prepare for their children to survive and succeed in college environment. Remember, college life is an entirely different environment, requiring the determination of each student. Therefore, students may succeed, but it's not rare to see the cases of dropping from colleges for being unable to pursue the curriculum.

In fact, parents can't be stopped from caring about their next generation, especially about education. After all, that is a tradition rooted for thousands of years in the minds of Eastern people. Preparing only for college admission, but not for college life, however, is a huge misconception.

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Comments

  • Amanda Inez ☆ ♪

    on 04/09/12, by Amanda Inez ☆ ♪:

    I am studying abroad in Canada (I am from Indonesia -- South East Asia, and I am Oriental). And, basically the main reason of that is my parents wanted me to experience the life outside Indonesia. If I stayed in Indonesia, I would still be depending on my parents. I would not learn how to survive in a whole new place. My English would not improve. I think it depends on the children. If they have high motivation, then it is good. If they only take this opportunity of studying abroad as something fun, then it's their own loss. I think our parents' effort is just to give their best to us, and the rest depends on us. Even if they send their children to domestic universities, it's the children that will decide their future in the end. :)
  • Dario

    on 04/10/12, by Dario:

    I agree with you that the children will lose many things if they don't realize their opportunities. However, what I want to emphasize that parents should not blindly spend money without understanding theie children. If the children are wasting the chance, it will not only their own loss but also a terrible investment to the parents. That is totally a waste. I want to caution that parents should be considering everything carefully, both the chances and challenges and their own children's abilities, before investing in their children's studying abroad. Anyway, I really appreciate your response to my post. Thank you very much:)
  • Zephyr

    on 04/10/12, by Zephyr:

    Okay..
  • Zephyr

    on 04/10/12, by Zephyr:

    If the title is "the trend", it's obviously not only applied to parents. What about students themselves? Are they preparing to get through the doors of colleges/universities? Or are they preparing for colleges' life?

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