The Long March from China to the Ivies

[The Larch]

Long but very enlightening read from 1843, a magazine from The Economist, on Chinese students preparing to get into top US universities. As this is a topic that comes up semi regularly I believe some of you might be interested.

https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-long-march-from-china-to-the-ivies

The long march from China to the Ivies

Brook Larmer discovers what Chinese students go through to get into top American universities



As the daughter of a senior colonel in China's People's Liberation Army, Ren Futong has lived all 17 years of her life in a high-walled military compound in northern Beijing. No foreigners are allowed inside the gates; the vast encampment, with its own bank, grocery store and laundromat, is patrolled by armed guards and goose-stepping soldiers.

Growing up in this enclave, Ren – also known as Monica, the English name she has adopted – imbibed the lessons of conformity and obedience, loyalty and patriotism, in their purest form. At her school, independent thought that deviated from the reams of right answers the students needed to memorise for the next exam was suppressed. The purpose of it all, Monica told me, was "to make everybody the same".

For most of her childhood, Monica did as she was expected to. She gave up painting and calligraphy, and rose to the top of her class. Praised as a "study god", she aced the national high-school entrance exam, but inside she was beginning to rebel. The agony and monotony of studying for that test made her dread the prospect of three more years cramming for the gaokao, the pressure-packed national exam whose result – a single number – is the sole criterion for admissions into Chinese universities.

One spring evening two years ago, Monica, then 15, came home to the compound and made what, for an acquiescent military daughter, was a startling pronouncement. "I told my parents that I was tired of preparing for tests like a machine," she recalls. "I wanted to go to university in America." She had hinted at this desire before, talking once over dinner about the freedom offered by an American liberal-arts education, but her parents had dismissed it as idle chatter. This time, they could see that she was dead serious. "My parents were kinda shocked," she says. "They remained silent for a long period."

Several days passed before they broke their silence. Her father, a taciturn career officer educated at a military academy, told her that "it would be much easier if you stayed in China where your future is guaranteed." Her mother, an IT engineer, said Monica would very likely get into China's most prestigious institution, Peking University, a training ground for the country's future leaders. "Why give that up?" she asked. "We know the system here, but we know nothing about America, so we can't help you there. You'd be totally on your own." Then, after cycling through all the counter-arguments, her mother finally said: "If your heart is really set on going to the US, we will support your decision."

The Ren family was taking a considerable risk. If Monica, their only child, wanted to study abroad, she would have to abandon the gaokao track, the only route available to universities within China, to have time to prepare for a completely different set of standardised tests and a confounding university application process. If she changed her mind – or, worse, failed to make the transition – she could not resume her studies within the Chinese system. And if that happened, she would miss the chance of going to an elite university and, therefore, of getting a top job within the system. For the Rens, this was the point of no return.

[Monoriu]

She is wrong; her parents are right. 

[The Larch]

She is wrong; her parents are right.

Read the whole article, the quoted part is only the first bloc of it.

[Monoriu]

I still don't know which US university she got into.  I think her chances are probably better with Peking university. 

[Monoriu]

The article also confirmed what I have been thinking for a long time.  I am a complete failure in my academic studies.  I was no where close to a good university, and I only had myself to blame. 

[The Larch]

I still don't know which US university she got into.  I think her chances are probably better with Peking university.

It's in the article, near the end:

Monica had to agonise for another three days before the University of Chicago told her she had been accepted. She will make a final decision later this spring, when she finds out the result of her "regular decision" applications to five other top-ranked schools, including Yale.

[CountDeMoney]

I was no where close to a good university, and I only had myself to blame.

Especially with such poor grammar.

[derspiess]

I ran gaokao track in high school.

[CountDeMoney]

I ran gaokao track in high school.

:gong:

[Ed Anger]

I'd show her a good time, then she could watch me nap for 2 hours afterwards.

[Caliga]

'The Long March'

lol?

[The Brain]

'The Long March'

lol?

[grumbler]

'The Long March'

lol?

Yeah.  It's not even January, and college acceptance letters don't come out as late as March.  January will be the long month.

[derspiess]

And once March is over, they'll have a great leap forward?

[The Brain]

And once March is over, they'll have a great leap forward?

Next time is 2020.