- Aug 16, 2011
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Since someone keeps repeating some false information on the topic, I thought I'd open a thread on college in China.
Acceptance to the best colleges in China is highly competitive. The equivalent of our SAT is a make or break test to determine what colleges a student has any chance of being accepted at. Accordingly, the pressure is very high (and cheating very popular). Public universities are considered the best available in China, and some are now truly world-class. However, those students with the means to do so are eager to study abroad.
College is NOT free in China. In fact, in recent years tuition rates have increased.
College students in China DO like to drink and have sex like most other people their age all over the world. In cities with large student populations there are always a variety of 'no questions asked' abortion clinics and similar services near campuses. The bad news for students is that it is harder to find privacy for 'extra curricular' activities in crowded colleges in crowded cities, but where there's a will... The good news is that it is really cheap to get drunk if you're not picky about what you drink.
I taught at a university in Xi'an about 20 years ago, when China was still a lot more hard-core communist than today and saw all of the above first-hand. Today China is much more liberal (though still quite conservative compared to the US), so...
Now, if you were to ask a Chinese person - particularly an older person - you might be told that such hedonism never takes place, but this is an expression of national pride. When you get to know the people and the place well you quickly realize we're all pretty much the same.
Also, while the sciences are extremely popular areas of study, there are in fact liberal arts majors available at many Chinese colleges.
Oh, and if you don't do well in college you are NOT trucked off to the countryside or forced to toil in a factory like a prisoner. The last thing they need there is another unemployed body.
Acceptance to the best colleges in China is highly competitive. The equivalent of our SAT is a make or break test to determine what colleges a student has any chance of being accepted at. Accordingly, the pressure is very high (and cheating very popular). Public universities are considered the best available in China, and some are now truly world-class. However, those students with the means to do so are eager to study abroad.
College is NOT free in China. In fact, in recent years tuition rates have increased.
College students in China DO like to drink and have sex like most other people their age all over the world. In cities with large student populations there are always a variety of 'no questions asked' abortion clinics and similar services near campuses. The bad news for students is that it is harder to find privacy for 'extra curricular' activities in crowded colleges in crowded cities, but where there's a will... The good news is that it is really cheap to get drunk if you're not picky about what you drink.
I taught at a university in Xi'an about 20 years ago, when China was still a lot more hard-core communist than today and saw all of the above first-hand. Today China is much more liberal (though still quite conservative compared to the US), so...
Now, if you were to ask a Chinese person - particularly an older person - you might be told that such hedonism never takes place, but this is an expression of national pride. When you get to know the people and the place well you quickly realize we're all pretty much the same.
Also, while the sciences are extremely popular areas of study, there are in fact liberal arts majors available at many Chinese colleges.
Oh, and if you don't do well in college you are NOT trucked off to the countryside or forced to toil in a factory like a prisoner. The last thing they need there is another unemployed body.
