How American(Syracuse) university can improve college experience
An article I wrote in the summer of 2020 for the course SOC300 taught by Professor Yingyi Ma at Syracuse University.
Chinese students are ambitious and anxious at American Universities. It is the theme that sets the foundation for the whole SOC300 course. They are anxious for reasons. Throughout the course, we primarily learned about the development of Chinese education, the underlying factors of its development, the trend of Chinese students studying in American Universities, and the problems they face. Through the course, I understood why Chinese students are failing or succeed in American Universities on a much deeper level. I learned where Chinese people come from and how it may affect Chinese students' performance in their future. I resonated with various research results in the books and articles, and I feel delighted that many of my previous empirical knowledge was firmly backed by sociological research. Besides, I also changed some of my understanding of American education and Chinese students. Guided by insights inside the reading material, I solved some puzzles and confusion about my identity as a visiting Chinese student in an American university. Based on what I learned in this course, my life experiences, and the world trend, I will present a detailed analysis of what American University can do to improve Chinese student's experience.
Different schools hold different thresholds for different students, leading to various improving measures and areas. In this article, my analysis will primarily be based on my experiences at Syracuse University and my understanding of Chinese students. Therefore, the situation may apply better to Syracuse University. Some schools may have adopted some of the measures I mentioned, but I may reflect on different perspectives. In terms of the overall structure of the article, I will first present my understanding of what problems Chinese high students are facing at a root level. Then I will suggest American University solutions from different college transition stages with an emphasis on first-year experiences of different areas of campus life. At last, I'll give a tentative suggestion of what American university education as a whole could be like based on my envisioned scenario of ultimate education.
Core problems
First and foremost, what is the essence of improving experiences? Utilitarianism believes that improving experiences is based on eliminating the negative and strengthening the positive. I think good things are good enough by just being there. What matters is to minimize the negative and limit it to a certain extent for people to grow. Why are Chinese students suffering in college? From the book, I understood several reasons. First, they are full of uncertainty about their future and their choices. Due to the lack of information and guidance, they often lack certain capabilities and adequate material to make sound choices. Second, reality doesn't give them many options. Many of them, due to pressure from family expectation, financial stability, and social mobility, are forced to choose to learn something they may not truly love. Third, the imperfection of the system. Because American universities are designed exclusively for American students, they need to take some time to adjust to the overwhelming need of people with global backgrounds, such as resolving language and cultural differences. I will present my analysis based on these understandings.
Admission
Worries and concerns
According to the research in the ambitious and anxious, American universities are losing their appeals to Chinese students. More and more Chinese students are choosing Europe or countries like Canada and Australia as their primary study targets. Why would this happen? As the research suggests, many parents worry about their children's safety in America. Many things in American culture are taboos from the Chinese perspective. Besides, the political tension between China and American also leads to students' worries about their well-being in the rival land.
Information gap
The foremost reference student uses to target a school is ranking. Students only aim for higher ranking schools. Agencies are only proud of getting an offer from a higher-ranking school. There is no effective way of information transmission during the university application for students to understand American universities. Many students choose those countries offering better world ranking schools with a peaceful outlook rather than an unstable potential war zone. However, reality is not what they imagined. The school usually offers very solid security services to protect students’ safety. Besides, they also produce the most brilliant people on the planet and make the most significant progress in the development of the modern world. Many other aspects of American college still prove themselves most worthy of education investment, and the risk can minimize. Many Chinese people don't understand this. Schools have to show their edge and solve their worries. In the past, American schools were proud of what they have, but now they may have to think about what they can give and compete for what they want.
Effective Information delivery
To recruit more Chinese students, especially those disadvantaged in the ranking, schools can advertise themselves better and let students make well-informed decisions about majors and colleges. Topics can include the overall safety issues in American and their overall academic achievement; they can be solving the misconceptions l; they can be overall college experiences in American universities. They can also be about what they expect from students and what students need to know about the admission, not only general requirements but also what school expects from them holistically with some proper advice for preparation. High school education in China is immature in this process, and this improvement could be beneficial in getting students to know where they will be in the future.
Ambassador & Messenger
To deliver the information effectively, I think universities can arrange some local guiding ambassador to introduce the school with great details. This ambassador could be a student attending that university and share his views over the problems mentioned. Ambassador can make connections with local high schools and even junior schools to share information so that students can make a better decision right after the Zhongkao. The ambassador eliminates the language barriers and intimately contract the distance between American college and Chinese high school. It can also mean social media connections with alumni and help prospective students. The information could also be delivered through advertising their online seminar to Chinese high school, where students can watch remotely and get a better sense of what the school feels lie. Many students don't know this form of activity exists.
Online summer courses
To adapt better to American universities, many students choose to attend a summer school. Residential instruction of summer courses is an excellent way for better academic adaptation for Chinese students. However, many international students cannot afford the daunting price of attending a summer school in the United States. To deal with this, the school can also offer more optional online summer classes that make more people understand the experience of American education. This can be held before and after admission so that two groups of students who are hesitating to choose and who have made a choice but need to adapt better can benefit from this.
Academics
In terms of academics, the first two semesters are the hardest. Students need to face lots of uncertainties due to emerging unfamiliar situations. The following are areas where I think schools can make some real improvements.
Orientation and pre-arrival
After students get admitted, many of them are still wondering where to go and what to do. Though schools arrange lots of information sessions related to campus activities and academic requirements, many students cannot grasp that much information within such a short period due to language barriers and deficiencies in those knowledge backgrounds. I think schools can have those sessions recorded for students to check before their arrival so that they can check back and forth and understand them thoroughly. Schools can also summarize key orientation material in the document sent out to students. After their arrival, they will have doubts in their mind and bravely ask questions in those seminars. Besides, schools can recommend students a list of websites or books to read to know the rules of school better before their arrival. For example, the Ambitious and Anxious is an excellent tool for them to have a clearer picture of where they come from, where they stand, and where they can be as a Chinese student in American. They also can cooperate and use the resources of independent students bloggers to inform students better about the school adaptation, or recorded interview videos that show genuine academic experiences of international students.
Habit transformation
There is a dilemma for Chinese high school students. From the little solider, we learned that discipline and hardworking are deeply rooted in Chinese parents and students since they were young. The majority of Chinese students have followed the rigidity and harshness of the test-taking system for their entire life. They can only have the one right answer, and what's beyond is unacceptable. All they need to do is listening to the teacher's instruction. However, this situation shifts entirely in the American university. Western education encourages creativity, free choices, and exploration, which are qualities that Chinese students lack. Students have to make choices and design the course structure and even the entire education path by themselves. The flexibility doesn't work for Chinese students because, in the past, they have a clear course structure of what they are supposed to do arranged by the smallest unit of task and time. Decision-making skills, time management skills, and project management skills are among the skills students need to master to survive and thrive on the American campus. However, these are not appropriately trained throughout Chinese student's development. Many of them don't know how to set a goal properly and make better choices to achieve them. Schools may need to understand the cultural differences between freedom to choose and the tendency to conform and provide proper guidance for students in need accordingly. Filling the gap in-between is very important for them to transition better from different systems. School can give them some guidelines to understand themselves better and shape their better self instead of simply letting them freely be who they are. Seminars teaching those fundamental skills and are an excellent way to achieve this goal.
Course selection
In terms of course selections, I think it would be wise for schools to provide a course selection compass that includes a typical course selection template to guide Chinese students in finding a better direction or making a better decision. This tool sets a middle point between obeying and having choices. For example, schools can suggest that first-year Chinese students take some courses comprising writing and logical reasoning, skills that are crucial for college success. Schools can also recommend that Chinese students choose classes based on language level or academic difficulty level to adapt to the learning environment smoothly. Besides, many students want to take the courses they are interested in but due to time conflict, they can only try few of them or cannot try at all due to required class, so that they miss the chance of taking the course they love and potentially miss a chance to choose a major they love. So it is crucial to provide a detailed course description of students. Many students have no sense of what they are capable of or afraid that they may fail in the course they love. If possible, schools can require professors to provide every course syllabus before the course's selection schedule for students to make informed and sound decisions.
Course experiences
The language barrier is always a major issue for international students, especially for schools like Syracuse University, who don't hold a high threshold for admission. Academic wise, it is typical for Chinese students not to understand the class and fail in classes. From my experiences, listening skill is always the biggest barrier that stops them from understanding and keeps up in the class. One of the effective measures is to provide recorded courses for Chinese students under permission and regulations, which allows them to follow the class progress better and review courses effectively after class.
Plus, The survey time for each course is unreasonable. We can only give a comprehensive and objective report to a professor by finishing their finals. Sometimes a false design in the final could change the result of a survey dramatically. Besides, it is also wise for survey makers to add a column for international students to write their experiences for adaptations, which can make their future courses more inclusive. As suggested before, If an American institute can provide more online summer classes before students get enrolled, they will get a better taste of what system is like and prepare for their study in the formal semester.
Major exploration
Ohio State University has a first-year exploration program that allows you to take classes from every college. Then you discover more about yourself and make better decisions. However, if you are uncertain about your major, SU only gets you enrolled in the college of art and science, and you are restricted in selecting courses from other colleges in SU. This regulation prohibits lots of paths for Chinese students to try out their potentially interested class and make a better decision about their major choices.
Advisor experiences
I think that advisors should also check in international students regularly or on the pivotal time instead of passively getting consulted. Sometimes Chinese students are afraid of expressing their problems and refrain from asking questions from advisors, which may cause their problems unsolved, and the results will backfire tragically. Besides, advisors need to reply to students' emails as soon as possible to solve their problems in time. Once their questions remain unsolved in a critical period, their entire academic path would be tarnished with disgrace.
Culture
Friends
As the book suggests, many Chinese students, who desire to make friends with domestic students, lack the opportunities or feel very difficult to do so. I figured that instead of always asking Chinese students to be brave and step out to learn their culture painstakingly, American universities could figure out ways to encourage American students to make friends with Chinese students actively and guide Chinese students about American culture. These incentives could be money, credit, and mutual interests.
For monetary stimulus, the university can open a student-hold English practice session. Though there are existing English practice sessions in SU, domestic students are not always involved. It would be creative for domestic students to lead the topic and encourage and teach Chinese friends to speak and practice. It's even OK to just have some casual talks because local peers are what truly the American pop culture is. Schools can arrange students from the education department to do so for better results. I think schools should pay for peer teachers using our tuition, or ask for an extra fee, or it could be purely voluntary for peer teachers to engage.
Furthermore, schools can offer some chances for American students to undertake some responsibility for cultural integration and earn some credit at the same time. Schools can put specific requirements for IR majors in helping Chinese students with cultures and languages. For example, American students majoring in IR with a concentration in Chinese areas or students majoring in Asian studies interested in Chinese culture could be required to make friends with Chinese students and make certain field research topics together. This can be achieved in the summer. Students from different cultures are required to live in each other's living environment. Throughout the research, they learned languages and culture from each other, and they would make incredible friendships. Besides, a peer mentor program that gives out credit is also a fantastic thing for those whose majors don't fall into these categories. The domestic mentor can help international students better transition to American cultures compared to international mentors. These experiences maybe supper useful when putting into CV and prove their multicultural capabilities.
In terms of mutual interest, it would be ideal for students to have the option of choosing a roommate from a different cultural background. Based on mutual desire, each student can form an intimate friendship, immerse in multilingual communication, and engage in multicultural conversation. I believe this is one of the best ways of cultural integration form both sides' perspectives. Besides, schools can also offer some online hobbies forum, such as video games, for students from different cultures to communicate and form a real friendship in real life.
Club&Party
Chinese students often stick to their Chinese groups and form the Chinese clans, so their nonacademic life gets entirely occupied by people from their own culture. For better cultural integration, I think schools can encourage inter-club communications between different cultures. For example, schools can help Asian basketball club to compete with American basketball teams. Sometimes schools can ask professional coaching stuff to connect with clubs from different cultures, offering training sessions.
Sometimes clubs may seem so local-oriented and fresh to Chinese students that students are afraid to attend. So I think school can also offer some guides that show which clubs are friendly to international students. How can they achieve this? I think they can set competitions and entitling some best inclusive parties, motivating their development with some prizes.
Plus, It would be creative if the school can offer some opportunities for intended international students to engage in some healthy parties at the orientation. The activity can make Chinese students get a better sense of what a real party is and decide they should join more or not.
Local community connection
I think another excellent way that Chinese students can interact with American culture is through community service. It allows them to interact with the local American family directly and better understand their living habits and preferences. So maybe the school can make connections with local organizations that provide meaningful community service activities that represent typical American culture so that international students can have better sources to connect with local communities. Plus, I also think schools can also connect with surrounding residences to offer international students opportunities to live with American families so that they can have fully immersive cultural experiences.
Career
As the stats in the book suggests, many students are uncertain about their future direction, whether it is to stay here or return to China. Plus, a large percentage of Chinese students also expect to have some working experiences in American to increase their value in the global job market, as the book suggests. I think it is necessary for American universities to inform Chinese students better about the job differences in the US and the job in China so that they can have a better sense picture of their career development and make a better decision to choose whether to stay or return. It is also a good thing for an American university to provide information related to international companies or companies that needs Chinese students. They can also reach out and connect more such companies for Chinese students to visit, to know better about those companies, and make some solid preparation throughout the four years in university.
Another benefit of reaching out is to increase their reputation and trust between cooperations. When choosing the potential employee, one of the main priorities that companies in china consider in labor is their school ranking. University, especially like SU with a ranking that drops below the top 50s, need to present their strength to people now needs to sell themselves more creatively. For example, SU can expand their notoriety in Chinese society through better branding themselves through media and continuously engage with Chinese students and cooperations, so that companies will have a better understanding of the school instead of judging based on ranking. It may also increase its appeal to prospective Chinese students.
Safety
One of the significant concerns that Chinese parents hold about US education is safety. Few underlying reasons mentioned in the book explains this well.
Racism
Is racism something that needs to be concerned? The phenomenon of racism never fades out since the born of this country. After the reading and some research, I figured that the root belief of racism is white supremacy and the denial of the black people. Chinese students are way better compared to black students.
Even though schools are trying to educate and cultivate a harmonious community, the belief ingrained in American people is hard to change, as history suggests.
Recently, the political relationship between China and American are getting tense, and the US government are constantly changing their policies to stop Chinese people from blending in, especially under the Trump administration. Chinese image, under the false and negative propagation of media, is getting worse among American society. Especially during the pandemics, more Chinese students became victims of racism. Some Chinese parents even raise some fear for their children kidnapping. So I think it is imperative for an American school to educate Chinese students and their parents on how they can protect themselves and fight for their rights when dealing with racial discriminative activities. By this means, they can always be prepared to avoid getting hurt or not losing after getting hurt.
Gun ownership
Besides, many parents fear that students would accidentally get shot in the US due to its free allowance on gun ownership. In fact, a death caused by gunshot happened right on the day before the first day of my university career in Syracuse, and it occurred in an area near my school. Sometimes even the state police are unreliable and causing innocent death. Under the pandemics, the UPS in SU shares huge responsibility and are always friendly and kind to us. I believe that Chinese parents should also get informed about how reliable the defense system in the school works. Not only SU students' parents, those prospective students, and their parents should also get informed. They can even demonstrate what they did under Pandemics to show their reliability in the admission guide forcefully. It may resolve some of the parents' anxiety and concern over their children's safety in the US, showing that different from overall society circumstances, SU campus is a safe place. Also, I believe that they can also contact the local government to restrict gun ownership around the school area and show their determination to protect school safety.
Drug issue
Some states don't restrict drug consumption, and many Chinese parents worry their children may get addicted to drugs and come back to their Chinese being unlawful. I think it is also wise for schools to have records for those who tried drugs and regularly monitor their drug intake. With the help of technology and regular examination, once things are out of control, schools can immediately help students.
Mental health
The uncertainty of the world is developing fast. Many students can not handle their emotions carefully, and many end up failing the courses, losing self-destructive behaviors, and ultimately dropping out of college. One golden factor that makes American university shine is its robust healthcare system. They provide a careful examination and scientific methods for treatment. Many students can find themselves being safe and motivated in one counseling session. However, the number of school counselors cannot fulfill the increasing need for emotional support from students, which always leads to a lack of continuity and frequency in treatment and, ultimately, ineffective treatment. I think it is beneficial to increase the number of counselors to fulfill the increasing need for emotional support from Chinese students, especially in an institute like Syracuse University, where storm blizzard weathers are the main theme. Some students can easily get affected by the seasonal depressive disorder, stress, homesickness, etc. First-year students who not yet have a sound social support system in the foreign land need to have someone intimate, caring, and familiar to talk to and get encouraged and educated about being independent and healthy mentally and emotionally. The mental care system in Chinese school, or entire china, is often underdeveloped and incomplete. I think American universities can fill in this gap by serving Chinese students who are taking a big leap from a test robot automation factory to an unfamiliar yet competitive but caring environment.
Overall experience
Lastly, asides from all the specific areas on the campus, here is what I think the university can do to improve the overall quality of student's experiences.
Communication improvement
One of the primary section I feel inadequate is that the school is lacking communication with students. Though there are event announcements or celebration emails regularly, we don't have, or we don't know where to give our suggestions and opinions. I believe it is beneficial to send out surveys to students regularly and confidentially at least every semester to receive honest and constructive ideas to improve campus experiences. It can also clear out the line between helping and spoiling. The world is changing at an unprecedented speed and variety, so the students' needs are always changing and developing. Sometimes the school is doing too much, and sometimes the school is not doing enough. These can all be attributed to communication problems.
Information Propagation
Besides, SU lacks certain activities integration platform. SU is indeed a diverse community offering plenty of activities options for students. However, many of them are scattered distributed as posters and are not easily discoverable. This cause many resources to get wasted, and many activities holders got disappointed. I think schools can build a platform, such as a website, for clubs and activities holders to deliver their information better. Thin can includes all the club activities, competitions, student campaigns. This integrated resources platform will build a very convenient bridge for both activities holders and students enthusiast to get what they wish.
Online platform construction
Under the influences of pandemics, schools are forced to shift all their instruction to the online platform. Due to many of its advantages, online education is a trending method and could potentially get democratized on every corner of the world. I believe it is an excellent opportunity for American universities to expand their online instruction possibilities. It can help international students to adapt better at school, reduce the cost of education resource waste, or even to serve more underprivileged people to receive a better education. Though existing technology has made the online instruction more accessible, it is still inconvenient to use in many cases, such as communication between student and professors, homework submission, and course progress monitor and control. I believe every university should seriously plan on constructing a better virtual learning environment to prepared for the future of education.
Future of college education
What is my ideal vision of a college education? I think it is a place of nowhere. Buildings and could be defined for different uses but never restricted to campus. Everyone can find its tribe of learning and leisure through the internet and virtual reality, making society a big college. Education resources are not restricted by geographical distance. Best learning resources can be shared, and everyone can have easy access to them. The time and energy of students and teachers would not be wasted. Every student can efficiently learn whatever they desire to learn. Every teacher has plenty of time on researching and guiding student, instead of monotonously imparting existing knowledge that can be found everywhere. There is an objective and fair selecting or guiding mechanism to help students to make the best choice of where they belong based on what they good at and what they hate or like. There is a fair and effective mechanism to judge students' performance on academic. That's the school I'm dreaming of attending. I wish every school can find the best way to integrate different cultures and make the world a better place. Love and Peace:)
