Many rural families in China are having a difficult in time obtaining
money so that their children can go to college. In the article it talks about how
there are many people trying to go to college but many of them are having a
hard time in getting the funds to help pay for all the tuition and fees that
come along with higher education. Many parents
have to work two or even three jobs just so they can pay for schooling.
The article takes the life of one family in an area called HANJING,
China. The parents have one daughter named Wu. They have been working two jobs
each just they could get their only daughter through elementary school to high
school. The father works in dangerous conditions in a coal mine just to bring
two hundred dollars home for the fees of school. The family lives in a small
home with only two rooms that they built themselves. The parents of Wu have
given everything up just so they can see their very own daughter go to college
so the family could have a better life when she graduates. In the article it
states that the parents have an elementary education, they barely passed the
third grade.
They are not the only family that has to give up almost everything
for a hope of a better life. Many families that live in rural China have to
work many hours so their child can go to schools and get a better life. In the
article it talks about how parents have to work up to fifteen months just so
they can afford higher education for their child. It also talks about how
families who are lower in economic status have a more difficult time in getting
financial aid or scholarships. Having to
pay for school is not the only thing that is a burden on rural families who
live in China. Many families will hire tutors for their child so they can score
hire on the placement tests that they will have to take before getting accepted
into college. The parents feel that if their child scores high enough they will
be able to go to one of the better Universities and not a polytechnic. In the article
it explains that a polytechnic school is similar to the United States community
college but the fees are more expensive than a University in China. Many of
these schools are run by local governments and are allowed to charge twice as
much for fees and tuition as what a University would charge.
As the article goes on Wu does not want to stay in college
and wants to work. Her parents are very upset that their daughter wants to
leave school because they invested in so much into her. Wu knows that if she
graduates from college there may be no job waiting for her when she gets out
into the work force. There are so many students graduating from college there
are not enough jobs for them all when they are ready to work.
The article is a huge eye opener to a student who is going to
a University in the United States. It is a shocker to read that the parents
have to pay for all the schooling for their child; there is no free public
education over in China. What is most upsetting to read is that there is not a
huge need to change the way financial aid is given out to students. In the
article it explains that money is given out based on grades only and not if the
student is in need for it. That does not make a whole lot of sense to do it
that way. If a student is poor they will not be able to afford college, even at
a community college level. So why are they not given any help from the
government so they can be successful as the other students who are “richer”? It
does not make any sense to help the ones who every person knows has the money
to afford the best colleges and the best tutors so they can get the best job
once they graduate. The students who are from poorer families have the right to
an education and the government needs to see that. Every child has potential to
do great things when they become adults and if they cannot see that then they
will never be able to grow as a country. The other thing that is so upsetting is
that the students who come from poorer families have to pay more so they can
get into college. That cycle will never be able to be broken if they have to
keep paying more for college; they will keep being poor because of all the
money they are giving away just so they can get into a horrible school. It is
not fair for their families that work so hard to make barely any money and have
them give away that away in hopes their child can get a good job that support
everyone in the family.
“All the parents in the village want their children to go to
college, because only knowledge changes your fate,” was something that Wu’s
mother said in the article. It stuck out as something very heart wrenching. She and her husband have sacrificed so much to
have their daughter go to school and get a higher education. She knows that
there is a slim chance that their child will find a job because she is
competing with so many other graduates for the same job. Yet they still hope
that their child will come out on top and they will be able to rest easy
knowing they will have support from their daughter. They are not the only
people who hope this happens; many other families are hoping for the same
outcome. They have spent so much money on their own to help their child succeed
and the government does not see that they need help. The poor should have type
of help that they can get so they do not have to work so many jobs for their child’s
education. There people who are out there that would argue that if they are
poor they will not be able to move up in society but not every person is the
same. Wu worked so hard to get to where she is at and she deserves to get some
aid to relieve the burden on her family. If nothing happens then she will never
be able to get out of the lower level of the economic status.
Source
In China, Families Bet It All on College for Their Children
Ashley Roberts
2/20/2013
4:57pm
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