Chinese Students Lose as U.S. Schools Exploit Need

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-19/chinese-lose-promise-for-52-000-as-u-s-schools-exploit-need.html

Seeking the world’s best education, Guan Wang’s parents in northeast China paid an agency there $4,700 to get her into a premier American boarding school in 2009.

The company steered her to the Marvelwood School, which charges Chinese students $52,000 a year. She relied on the agency’s assurances that the Kent, Connecticut school was coveted and academically rigorous, with 20 Chinese students among its 155 boarders, Wang said.

Marvelwood didn’t fulfill those expectations, Wang said. She had so many Chinese dormmates that she couldn’t practice English. Some Americans in her world history course would forget their textbooks and lay their heads on their desks, she said. The school accepts four of five applicants, its average SAT score is below the national norm, and since 2005, one graduate attended an Ivy League college. Half its U.S. students have learning differences, from attention deficit disorder to Asperger’s Syndrome, headmaster Arthur Goodearl Jr. said. About 40 boarders came from China last year.

“I couldn’t find a real American education at Marvelwood,” said Wang, 19, who transferred to another Connecticut boarding school with fewer Chinese and learning-disabled students. “It made me not really happy.”

[no_hypocrisy]

1. There's the myth of private elitist schools in this country.

Not all schools are alike.

Here's the link to Marvelwood: http://www.marvelwood.org/

Here's the Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvelwood_School

Looks good "on paper", right?

Private schools used to have rigorous entry conditions. They practically did a background check on the applying family, asked for a portfolio, and three references from particular individuals. (To quote Auntie Mame, "I'll get a blood test.")

With annual tuition rivaling that of some colleges, private schools now have financial challenges to stay open as enrollment is not as robust as in the past. They do take "rejects" from public schools, those with learning disabilities, behavior problems, along with the perennial spoiled, rich kids who have never been interested in learning. After all, a check is a check. All the school has to do is keep them in a classroom for four or less years, give them their diplomas, and it's over. Do they worry about the kids being deficient in the future? Nope! A lot of these kids come from rich families whose parents will make a phonecall and get them a junior executive position at graduation (if they don't get into a college of their parents' choice).

There are exceptions of course. Private schools that have not deviated from their original mission or from their rigorous admission and graduation standards. Some kids eager to fulfill challenging programs notwithstanding their classmates in the private schools like Marvelwood.

I feel for Guan Wang and other students who chose Marvelwood without having the full disclosure. They relied on what was told to them and couldn't have anticipated the reality.

I'm glad they're speaking out.