Ultimately, Americas answer to the intolerant man is diversity.

This quote by
Robert Kennedy basically says that we should accept diversity in our country because
diversity is what makes us so unique. Throughout this process of interviewing and
reading about the Chinese schooling and student life, I have learned many things about
their lives from foreign exchange students that I will discuss and compare to the
American culture.
The Chinese education system is very different than the American system. Chen
Yihang is someone I interviewed about the Chinese culture. He is from Chongqing,
China, which is a big city located in the southwest part of China. He had to say about this
Chinese primary schooling: When I was in high school, we have something called early
study and night classes. For early study we need arrived classroom at 7amthen stay
at school whole day long, after night class which is 10:30 pm, we can go back home. (C,
Yihang, personal communication, October 21, 2014) This means that they are at school
for more than two times longer we are in high school classes. The Chinese people take
their schooling more serious than Americans do mainly because it is more competitive to
get into schools. This made me think about the dedication of some of the students in
China. They spend their whole day in a classroom when we are counting down the
seconds till we can go home. Chen said this about Chinese universities: Its very different
here than China. Because I did not attend college in China, so I do not know what it is
like about Chinas university. I heard my friends said its very hard to get in to university,
but once you get in, it will be easy to graduate. The number of students applying and
admitted into college is rising in china and has been rising since 1980 (Wang, 2010).
This proves that there are both differences and similarities to college in the U.S.A., the

difficulty of getting into the college may vary as to where you go but once you get in it
will still be difficult to graduate and it is similar because the number of students going to
college has risen. The reason for these rigorous changes in the Chinese education system
came when: China launched a large-scale curriculum reform in basic education (K-9) at
the turn of the millennium to overcome perceived short comings in educational previsions
and to produce a globally competitive work force. (Hui, L. 5-9) This supports the fact
that China wants to compete internationally to be the best education system.
One thing that I noticed was that Chinese students have more rigorous courses
than us when theyre in primary school to get them ready for college. Chen also said
Universities take students only off of their test scores. This means that if for instance,
you are sick or do not feel good for the test you will not do well. If you put this situation
in an Americans point of view, it is equivalent to Bubba Watson needing a birdie to win
the Masters. That is equivalent to the pressure put on these students. People may think
that they are over pushing their students but they are making sure they are producing the
best students. This test is and is not like the ACT; you do not choose the date that you
take it on. If youre not feeling good the day of the test you cannot re-take it. I have
realized that these kids may only have one chance and with most of them, they are only
children and their parents are counting on them to give them money when they get older.
Each year, millions of senior high school graduates across China participated in
the entrance examinations on the same days, in the same sequence and at the same time.
(Ruiqing, 1992) The students had to take the test in the field that they want to study in.
The process works somewhat like ours in the United States, where the students with the
higher test scores get into better universities and students with lower scores get into less

prestigious schools or no university at all. The universities set minimum scores that need
to be achieved in order to get into their program. The entrance for a masters degree is
consisted of two tests, a preliminary and a final test. The State Education Commission
(SEC) put these tests together. The examination process for a PhD is much like the tests
for an MA but these tests are both written and oral depending on the intuition and not the
SEC.
Every American child is required to go to some kind of schooling. Young five and
six year olds start kindergarten and after completing one grade and move onto the other.
Each grade level after this gets increasingly harder. To get into private high schools and
some public schools there is a placement test that shows where the student stands. In high
school students can take a test that can get them into college if their high school grades
are good enough. You apply to colleges with a transcript and a copy of your ACT or
SAT scores. Once you get into college you can select a major and either go through with
it and graduate or change and do something else.
Chan Yihang came from a fairly wealthy family in Chonquin, China. Chan had a
fairly normal life; he liked to play Ping-Pong and badminton with his friends. Since his
family was wealthy he had previously made a trip to San Diego to study the English
language. He transferred to UK, and came into this experience, excited and happy.
He was also eager to learn more about a different culture. One factor that made him want
to come was his parents. His parent in fact asked him if he wanted to come to UK, they
wanted him to get a better education than other kids. If you can imagine how much
pressure is on Chen to succeed, his parents have devoted time and money to send him
here.

When I asked Chen how students from China felt about coming to America this is
what he had to say: I think every body is happy to come. At least I am happy. One of
the reasons why I believe Chinese students are eager and happy to come is because it
gives them a chance to experience something new. They get to experience a new culture
and meet new people. The second reason is that Chinese students as a whole are more
motivated to learn than students in America. So when they come here they want to
retrieve as much knowledge as possible. For example, Chen is taking 18 hours of classes
this semester, compared to me, taking 12 hours of classes. Also when I asked Chen what
his daily schedule was like he showed me a picture of his classes. He is in class from 8am
to 8pm. When I saw this I realized that his schedule here was similar to his class schedule
in China when he was in primary schooling. I than asked him what he does outside of
classes. Chen responded with this: Once I get back from class I start my assignments
and than sleep, but sometimes I will go to the gym before sleep with my friends.
Hearing this I started to think about my weekly schedule and how easy mine is compared
to his, and how dedicated he is to making himself better. This supports the fact that they
are more dedicated and not only want to be the best they can be but learn as much as they
can before they go home.
During the interview Chen also said: Chinese parents believe that American
universities are some of the best in the world. Hearing this was a shock to me for some
reason. My whole life I thought that the people of the Chinese race were the smartest and
that they looked down upon us when it came to education. This however is not true, there
are students lined up to attend a university in America. This quote from William Bennett:
When I engaged Chinese parents about their children, they would often say, my son (or

daughter) is going to Princeton (or fill in the elite American university). I would
respond, Great! What year is your son or daughter right now? And they would say,
Three years old. (Bennett, W. 2012) When I read this I was taken back. One reason is
because I cannot think of a parent in America that would plan to send their three-year-old
child to a different country that early in life. The second reason is the dedication of the
parents to send their kid through this much schooling and difficult curriculum.
When asked about Americans Chen said this: I think American people are nice
and they help me a lot. And when I asked him how other people felt about coming to
school here he said: I think every body is happy to come. Hearing this was not much of
a shock; I would expect all the students coming over here would be happy to come.
Although they are happy to come, they take their studies very seriously. Before they
come over they typically take a couple English classes. I asked Chen what he struggled
with English or if he struggled in general. Students just try to study more than other
people at any part. Like for me right now, I try to understand every sentence that the
teacher said. This quote supports the fact that Chinese students will work harder than
anyone else and that they will push themselves to be the best that they can be.
Since Chen has been here a while I thought I would ask him about the American
culture, this is what he had to say: Freedom, thats the first word that comes to mind.
When I heard this I was not shocked, considering that he grew up in China with strict
parents. After hearing all that Chen had to say about Chinese students in America, I got
the impression that most of the students, this is their first time being on their own and
having to be totally independent. Chen said that some of the struggles that he goes
through on a daily basis understand what people are trying to say to him. When I

interviewed him I had to try to make my questions as simple as possible. Even when I did
this he still had some questions about how the questions were worded and what the words
meant in-context.
Anytime you go to a foreign country there are going to be things that are going to
change, for Chen, the American culture changed me, I used to be really shy, and now
Im not. This is an example of someone that changes for the better. Chen also told me
that it is going to be hard to leave because of all the friends that he has made here. That
most of his friends arent from where he is in China and some of them even are not from
China.
The second person that I interviewed was Matthew Herner, he is a senior at the
University of Tennessee. Over the summer he took a foreign exchange trip to Spain.
Although it is not China he still was faced with the same struggles. One of the struggles
that Matt went through was not being able to speak the native language. Also one of the
things that helped with this was keeping an open mind through the whole process. Matt
told me: I didnt want this opportunity to pass up, because when else would I get to go
see a different country and get to experience a different culture. Matt not only wanted to
experience something new but he wanted to get a different form of education from
somewhere else in the world. One of the ways he got started on going away to study is
from his family. There have been some of his family members to go out of the country to
study and his family was encouraging him to do the same. Matt told me that: His family
was also supportive through the whole process and they knew that it was going to be
beneficial to his future. I firmly believe that everyones family would have been
supportive of their son wanting to further his education and better his future.

While Matt was in Spain he encountered some American stereotypes. One of the
stereotypes that shocked me was that Americans were seen as violent people, mainly
because of our gun laws. Also one of the main stereotypes that Matt did not expect when
he went there was stealing. The people of Spain are known for pick pocketing. Another
stereotype about Americans is they we are ignorant and believe that we are the leaders of
the world. While I was interviewing Chen I started to think about the stereotypes that we,
as Americans, have toward Chinese people.
The Chinese focused on learning and Americans focused on what looks good on
a resume we learn that the difficult, necessary work of increasing racial diversity in
graduate education can be furthered through transformative, equity-minded policies and
practices that support students of color from application to graduation. What he said
about him coming back to study here: In fact, my parents asked me to come to the
United Stats. They want me to receive a better education than other kids. This shows a
lot about his parents that they wanted him to come study here because they want him to
have a good future. Chan came from a wealthy family where he was the only kid, so
growing up Chan was very privileged. According to the study, the two main factors that
have contributed to Americas popularity for higher education are a burgeoning Chinese
middle class and a widespread belief among Chinese parents that U.S. colleges and
universities are among the worlds finest. This quote from the Washington times website
shows that Chinese parents want their children to get a better education and want them to
succeed. The next thing is that they are shoveling money into sending their child here and
trying to give them a better chance at a good education. On the other hand you have an
American student that chooses to go on a foreign exchange program.

My family was very accepting and open to the idea of studying abroad. They
told me this would be a once in a lifetime experience and this is the time to do it. You
dont have many opportunities to study in a foreign college and if you dont do it during
college or high school then your chances begin to dwindle away. They supported me
throughout the whole process and knew it would be beneficial to my future.
In this case Matt went not only for the school but to explore a different culture
and see life from a different prospective. Another quote from Matt is: I wanted to live in
the area long enough to where I became adapted to the culture because it is pointless to
go there to study if you dont go long enough to where you become one with the culture.
It took weeks to get on a steady way of life to where I felt like I was there for life. Once
you start to adapt to the culture and get over the initial culture shock then you start to
learn and life becomes easier. You can tell that is was more of a cultural experience than
anything and I feel like Chans trip is mostly for educational purposes.
There are many things to consider when you are going on an exchange trip or just
a trip in general. You can consider what you are going to learn or what you are going to
dislike about the place you are going. I feel like both the people I interviewed were openminded going into their trips and were eager to be apart of a culture they knew nothing
about.