An Argument Against Foreign Students

An Argument Against Foreign Students 

I realize that 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 a BBC 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 quaity 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 sterotype 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 exosed to.  We would have a different opinion if we saw the sample in its enterity 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 universites and colleges in China.  The rest have to scramble and rewrite the test the following year and agai 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 confusianism.  In order to over come some facets of this shame a family can regain face by sending their child to a western university.  Ths 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.

To be continued… scroll down…

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 syste