In recent years, Studying abroad has flourished. You see, in 2003, the number of Chinese mainlanders who took the SAT in Hong Kong is 200. By 2010 that figure has become 20,000. In the U.S., undergraduate students from the Chinese mainland are 52 % more than in 2009. Mainland China has become the biggest source of overseas students in the world.
Hundreds of thousands scholars and students have gone to foreign countries to further their studies. If there is a choice, more and more Chinese families are willing to send their children abroad. Many people are sparing no efforts in applying for going abroad. The trend of students' age also becomes lower than before.
At the same time, the total number of students taking the national college entrance Exam continued to fall.
This phenomenon is partly because people are unsatisfied with the college entrance exam system.
Twenty or thirty years ago, most Chinese students who came to study in the U.S. - if not all – are mostly academic elite, but now the source of students has expanded a lot. Actually, a part of those overseas students are the ones who failed in their middle school entrance exam or college entrance Examination. The most common place they went to is called diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) which is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard.
Most people also think that studying abroad is the guarantee of good jobs. But a recent survey on 100 China's richest people who are born after 1980 shows that only 6 of them have the experience of overseas study.
However, there are quite a lot of problems you have to face when you study abroad.
Economic problems: Travel and living costs may be considerably higher than a comparable period at your home institution, even if you are receiving a grant to cover some of the costs. communication problems: The amount which you learn may be less if learning in a foreign language and your academic performance in that language may be limited. You may also find the type of teaching unproductive and find it difficult to adapt to a different social environment quickly.
Take care of yourself: Living independently can give students more freedom, therefore strong self-control is needed. Students no longer have their parents’ guidance which means if they party all day, no one here to stop them. On the other hand, the management of students’ time has to be made clear along with the organization of studies, cooking and housework. Some students may find it difficult to control themselves without their parents’ guidance.
So what can we get from overseas study? Does it sound terrible? Firstly, the education in developed countries can offer students opportunities to contact diverse culture backgrounds and hence to reshape their ways of thinking. Students study abroad can learn advanced knowledge and the new way of thinking. These new things together with what were learned in the homeland would make a student develop a full scale outlook and know more about the world.
In addition, they will contact with students come from all over the world. They will not only have more friends but also gain knowledge from them during the communication and the association. They may talk about the history of their own countries and the customs of their nationalities, all of which could benefit the development of students’ personality.
What’s more, overseas study can polish students’ ability, because they are forced to deal with all kinds of difficulties by themselves instead of depend on their parents as at home.
In my opinion, the advantages of studying abroad outweigh its disadvantages. But it is still a big decision to go abroad to study. The best strategy is to take your financial conditions and adaptability into consideration. Personally, I will choose to study abroad in the fullness of time. As an old saying goes "if you want to get, you should pay more firstly." Maybe to go abroad is not easy, but we can create conditions from now on. I believe: After the rain, the bright rainbow will be waiting for us and I wish all of us will meet the chance to study overseas and enrich our life experience.