KIRK KENNY:
The cost of higher learning
CBC News Viewpoint | August 10, 2005 | More from Kirk Kenny
Kirk grew up in small-town Saskatchewan and received a BA (Hon) from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He has been living in Xuzhou, China, for over four years, and has been married for three of them to a woman from the city. He has been making his career there by teaching English and doing translation work, but is also looking for avenues to better exploit his language skills. Kirk says that he feels only slightly less out of place in Canada than as a "laowai," or foreigner in China.
I'm standing atop the newly completed foreign language building at the university I've been teaching at for the past two years, looking into the hazy distance where cranes and construction crews work around the clock to complete the new campus.
In China, massive construction projects are a common sight and the resulting noise and environmental fallout are often regarded as reasonable costs of development. Amidst this building frenzy, universities across the country are expanding and getting cosmetic makeovers in a desperate effort to present an attractive image to an ever-swelling number of would-be students.
Higher education in China is big business and reflects a serious problem regarding "supply and demand," to borrow from the Marxist vocabulary. And as China shifts from a planned, largely rural economy to an open and increasingly global paradigm, the role of higher education has been rightly perceived as more important than ever.
But in this highly competitive arena, where good jobs are limited and the supply of hard-working individuals seemingly infinite, students face immense pressure to enter one of the handful of reputable universities, in the hopes of gaining advantage in the workplace.
As regards China's workplace, it is dynamic for those with the right degree or connections, chaotic for those without. But getting the right degree from the right school is seldom a matter of personal preference, as it is for many in Canada.
Final exams at the end of senior high school rather callously and irreversibly determine one's eligibility for university. Students write a "wish list" of the universities they would like to attend, but few get into the school of their choice.
At present, only some 10.5 per cent of Chinese youth aged 18-24 receive higher education, a number the state would like to increase to 15 per cent by the year 2010. Even still, officials have commented that this number is some 30-40 per cent lower than in many Western nations, and greater efforts must be made to increase enrollment.
At the political level, the message being presented is that an educated China is a modern China; for most laobaixing, or common citizens, the message is simpler: get the right education or fall through the cracks.
Responding to the call with deft opportunism have been government-funded institutes intent on expanding enrollment and courses, as well as a new brand of privately funded schools where the niche seems to be providing second-rate education at higher costs to those who have the money, but not the marks to enter better schools.
To lend themselves legitimacy and create "brand name" universities, many schools are intent on offering joint-programs with foreign universities, where Chinese students have the opportunity to interact with Western professors and sometimes even study abroad.
For Chinese students educated abroad or with a degree issued by a Western university, opportunities on the mainland are plentiful. But for those students who enter most standard Chinese universities, the experience can be disappointing to say the least.
Large class sizes, mediocre teachers and outdated textbooks are only some of the more obvious sore points that come up during candid exchanges I've had with students outside of class.
While perceived as the status quo by some, concerns about a decline in the quality of education have led to growing disappointment among many students. Currently, "quality" education is interpreted as flashy new buildings and a large list of impressive-sounding courses.
But like most problems in China, it is not for lack of material means that higher education is coming up short.
In the case of humanities, especially foreign languages, many university lecturers are themselves no more than BA graduates who struggle to maintain an edge over a younger generation of students who grew up with better access to changing information.
And despite the strong work ethic and sincerity of many foreign teachers, a considerable number of Chinese universities are plagued by what can only be called the dregs of Western society – foreigners who view the apparent neglect of recruiting standards as an opportunity to satisfy base appetites under the guise of "broadening one's horizons."
In both cases, the losers are China's education system and its students. Higher salaries and higher standards for teachers would seem an appropriate measure to rectify the situation and are within the means of most institutes.
While the primary appeal of university in China rests on its ability to lend credentials to job hunters, it perhaps plays a more successful role in the socialization of the country's youth.
Born into single-child families and quite literally living much of their lives in schools, most Chinese students have little interaction with the outside world by the time they enter university. Part-time jobs, hobbies and anything resembling a healthy social life are virtually unheard of.
For their part, universities do their best to parent students by requiring them to live and often eat on campus and take part in early morning exercises, and by appointing monitors to inspect and report on dormitory life. While a segment of more "rebellious" students raised on Hollywood films and MTV resent the treatment as infantile, most find it an acceptable balance of new-found freedom and responsibility.
Sharing a dormitory with strangers, budgeting one's time and money, finding part-time work and even a shot at romance add colour and dimension to previously mundane lives. During these formative years, students get a taste of the opportunities and pressures facing them in the world outside home.
While the same could be said of the situation in Canada, here, the learning curve is steep and the stakes are incredibly high. A few extra percentage points and the right graduate school can mean the difference between working in a multinational company in a big city and being stuck living hand to mouth.
Unfortunately, views on higher education, like so many issues in China, seem falsely encamped against one another. Leaders and those invested in education believe it's simply a numbers game – that more university graduates will remedy all China's ills. Yet those who have noted the present "quality" issues often become disheartened and see the current shortcomings as a permanent fixture of higher education.
When educators and policy makers realize that the short-term profit of a few has been gained at the expense of the nation's development, that change is not only possible but imperative, expect great things from this country.
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