This is just an interesting story from BBC News with implications for the face of American education. It is interesting that so many in this rising economic power value our educational system.
In China, rising incomes and the cheap dollar are increasingly making an American university education affordable. Many U.S. schools, including small liberal arts colleges, are reaching out to Chinese families in the hope of establishing their brand in a region rich with promising young students.
“They look at an education in the United States as something valuable,” said Penny Johnston, the director of international admissions at Franklin & Marshall College. “It is different than the education they would get in China.”
Johnston, along with her colleagues, is now travelling to China regularly to learn about geography and culture.
There has been a great shift in the labor market in the United States. My father spent almost all of his working life with one company, and it is the average length of time that people from his age group spent in a job is just over 10 years. For the those 18-42, it is somewhere around 4, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In such an unstable labor market, it seems to me that a well rounded liberal arts education is excellent preparation; it teaches critical and research skills that are useful in almost any professional situation. It provides background in multiple disciplines that can be helpful in a change of career; and finally, it teaches essential civic values. Perhaps this is what is appealing to the Chinese.