Why Foreign Students Make for Very Bad Students
I realize the title sounds damning to foreign students especially those whose first
language is not English, but it should be equally damning of any institution willing to sell
its academic soul on the market place as many colleges and universities from North
America, Europe and Australia have done. Its really a combination of greed leading to
lower tolerances and therefore lower expectations and academic standards on the part
of the institutions involved and students who lack language skills and seek every
technical and other unethical method to beat the system to achieve easy marks.
Therefore on one hand greed for easy money and greed for easy marks proves to be a
bad combination especially for those domestic students who just want an affordable
quality education.
Recently, I was reading from the BBC an article about the government of Australia
restricting the number of foreign students it allows into its country, this news was similar
to news already out in Canada reporting that student quotas and restrictions will also
apply here. The problem government officials cited was not so much anything to do
with lower standards but made strong links to inflation, food costs and housing
shortages. In both Australia and Canada it was felt that through government
immigration policies, in regards to student visas, these issues could at least be partially
addressed.
From my own experience having worked in China as a school principal as well as in
three other Chinese schools in Canada I have a few thoughts about the quality of
students coming to Canada, the quality of education they receive and what they expect
to receive, some aspects of their motivation and why it is not always a good thing for
Canada.
I grew up for much of my life in a University City and foreign students were always a
part of the community or at least seen in the community. The universities were like a
city within a city with little merging of cultures. Having the universities did bring prestige,
honours and wealth to the city and needless to say an essential part of our society. As
such as the larger community, for many of us, we grew to see the elite of foreign
students and deemed them all to be exceptional students, geniuses in fact, often better
than our home grown talent. That at least was the stereotype that my generation grew
up with and to every stereotype I believe there is an element of truth to get it started.
However, later in life and after actually living in China I realized their population although
vastly larger than Canada’s was no different in ability. They certainly had many, many
hard working smart people. Given if you constructed a bell curve depicting IQ of the
population or of a cross section of it one would find in that sample genius and imbecile
in about equal numbers as in Canada and the rest of the world. The low end of that
spectrum do not come as foreign students to student abroad. We only get to see the
best of the best and form our opinions about their abilities based on the skewed sample
we are exposed to. We would have a different opinion if we saw the sample in its
entirety as when one in immersed in the culture.
Why do students come to Canada, Australia, New Zealand the UK even the United
States, or an education? Many stay in China after writing their university entrance exam
called the Gaokao, an exam written by some twenty million students annually. About 10
million of those go on to attend very good universities and colleges in China. The rest
have to scramble and rewrite the test the following year and again and again, give up
and enter the work force or go over seas. Many of the bright ones do come to attend the
top one hundred universities of the world most of which are found in the Western World.
After Covid it seems the quality of students coming from abroad has declined but the
demand for placement in Western universities and even private high schools is still quite
high. For some of these students who have failed the Gaokao there is great personal
and family shame as China for example is a shame based culture based on
Confucianism. In order to over come some facets of this shame a family can regain
face by sending their child to a western university. This gives them bragging rights at
home and solves a major problem. It could also lead to a promising future if that child is
successful, comes back with a degree and speaks fluent English. In the end using
Canada as an example we get some first tier students and then we get a range of
students with a very wide range of abilities and language skills upon arrival to the
country. Coming to Canada , or elsewhere, to safe face is hardly a valid reason for
pursuing foreign studies.
Although I do believe many students from various cultures come to Canada with
deference and respect for our country and culture I have also found that many of my
Chinese students come with a distinct feeling of cultural superiority. Maybe a humbling
experience for myself as it is an example perhaps of reverse racism and maybe after
generations of colonialism and opium wars we deserve such a post colonial “put down”.
However, I feel with this attitude it also impacts on their ability to learn and that to me as
a principal is still the point of the exercise.
When a student or a group of them come with pre-disposed attitude that what they know
and what they have been previously taught within their own educational system is
inherently better and of high academic rigour. With this attitude it is therefore an easy
stepping stone to critique, criticize and make demands on our curriculum, our system
our teachers and our way of conducting our academic business. It draws into question
academic integrity, credibility and the basis of our standards, procedures and many of
our policies.
In my school but I have witnessed this in five Chinese school I have been associated
with, still a small sample I know. Students bully the teachers, as a group, for marks.
They attack the marking methodology, the rubrics, the teachers” methodologies, the
curriculum, and even the need for English expression. The attacks start small, build a
life of their own and attack teachers on a personal and professional level. Often parents
and agents (representing the families) back the students, not the school or the teachers
until they either get their way, leave to find an easier school or succumb to the existing
policies of the school, often with lingering hard feelings. Often school owners give in to
students, parents and agents long before that back principals, or teachers as ultimately
it is not about fairness, or quality of education it is reduced to power tactics and
enrolment as it relates to income for the school. In short everyone suffers. The
students feel they can bump their mark a few percent and have scored a moral victory,
agents and parents can gloat about their power and the owners maintain cash flow.
teachers learn to fight less, lower standards and give students what they want.
This brings me to the culture of corruption. China is a culture of corruption. This is true
of government, business and education. I can cite examples of parent protests in china
based on the premise that students have been caught cheating causing public protest.
Parents feel justified in such a protest because given the universality of cheating and
bribes within the system why should their own children be singled out when everyone
else is getting away with the same crime.
Again when students come to this country these attitudes remain intact. Add to the
equation very weak English skills for many the temptation to cheat at every level, on
homework, tests, essays and exams is extremely high. I have caught many students
cheating and teachers have brought scores more to my office. Often they show no
remorse, admit to nothing and become sullen and angry. Over time some of them
mellow, confess and then apologize stating they are so sorry and will never ever do it
again and please don’t tell my parents. Likely I have already informed their parents and
frequently they reoffend within a week. Lie and cheat, but not all.
Plagiarism is a particularly sore point and related to a lazy work ethic, weak english
skills and the availability of technology. Now with AI at easy disposal the battle for
academic integrity is losing. Students who can barely put a simple sentence together
can now write like published authors , look you in the face and without hesitation tell
whoever cares to listen that they wrote whatever it is they are holding in their hand at
that moment. Sadly, I take too much personal joy in having students explain their work
to me. From what is the theme to define the vocabulary in paragraph three. Eventually
they confess and agree to a re-write, but this is a long tedious process.
We no longer get the best foreign students. Given that English skills have dropped as
have standards it seems the main motivation from the receiving side is that of profit. We
have allowed our institutions to become academic farms. I think as governments have
started we need to reduce foreign enrolments, raise standards and make more room for
domestic students within our own system
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