Mish, those are some thought provocative questions<g>
>>What does a 4 year education cost in the US and what does it cost at the best schools in China?<<
During the last 4-5 years, the college education in China starts to go enterprise/for-profit, so the tuition increased pretty fast. Now undergraduate study in a regular university in China costs about 5,000 Yuan/year (best ones perhaps around 8,000 Yuan/year), excluding food and board. Graduate study costs about 15,000 Yuan/year. These are very cheap in terms of US$. But considering the income level in China, it is pretty high. And this cost is out of reach for a lot of poor people in rural areas.
The college education used to be completely free bet. 1950 and 1985. The only thing students had to pay for was text book and food. The poor kids from rural area who passed the college entrance exam even got free money from the gov. for their food and minimal living expense. So at that time, China had a very good social mobility.
But now plenty of poor farmers kids passed the college entrance exam and could not afford to go because no money. The gov. starts to provide loans for them from these two years.
>>Are China's best schools as good as ours?<<
This is a tricky question<g>. Generally speaking, Chinese students can almost always get very good, if not better, scores, although many people, both from China and other countries including the US, think most of Chinese students are less creative. They claim the thinking of good Chinese students is not as active/creative as the good US students. One of Nobel Prize winners (for physics) Frank Yang (http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article?tocId=9383086) recently retiring back to China. He has taught in Stony Brook for a long time. And he claimed that the undergraduate students from Qing Hua University is better than the undergraduate students from MIT. But plenty of others disagree<g>.
Personally, I think due to the traditional value of China, many Chinese students do not argue with their teachers. But that doesn't mean they do not have creative thinking. Although the Chinese tradition may do a little damage to some young people's inventing spirit<g>
>>Can the language barrier be overcome in China? If not, why not, and what about India with NO language barrier.<<
In social science, the language barrier will be there and should be there. Reasons? Chinese and English speakers are two dif. Animals<g>. China has way too long of their own distinct culture not to have language barrier with English. In physical science, language barrier can definitely be overcome. Plenty of younger Chinese college professors can now speak fluent English and write their research paper in English now.
Although I know as a fact, many American students have difficulties to understand Indian accent.
>>Will people be flocking to China at some point in the future to get an education (at far lower costs than what we have here)? Why not? How long before higher education is outsourced to China?<<
Within Eastern Asia, yes, there are plenty of students from S. Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in Chinese universities already. But for English culture? No, I don’t think that will happen<g>.
To be sure, mathematics and engineering standard for undergraduate study in Russia, India, many Eastern European countries, as well as China are as good as the US, if not better, but I just don’t think the US students can ever get used to the teaching style in China (maybe India too) even if language barrier can be overcome<g>. Comparing the thickness of a text book from China and a text book from the US, one can tell the difference. Most of text books from China are only about 1 cm thick (some are thinner), while the English text books are usually more than an inch thick. In other words, one can pretty much teach himself just by reading carefully of an English text book, while one has to go to class room and listen to teachers in China.
Here is one big difference for college education in China and the US: in China, almost all the courses in undergraduate study still have to be taught by professors, while in the US, some undergraduate students can get a bachelor degree with being taught by very few real professors. I read that a guy graduated from U of MN majored in agricultural economy without being taught by even one full professor. He had only a couple of associated professors, and mostly TAs.
More than 20% of all undergraduate classes in US universities are taught by TAs. >40% of 100 level courses are taught by TAs in US colleges.
>>What about classes over the internet where people do not even have to move? I am sure we have them now but how good are they? Why not top notch real time VOIP education at very cheap cost from India or China?<<
The US, as well as other developed countries, can prevent this from happening. They can simply not to accept/certify the diploma from other nations over the Internet. And they have a good reason not to since it is way too easy cheating on the Internet<g>
>>Why should an education in the US cost $200,000 or whatever the H it costs today? What does it cost today anyway? When I went to the University of Illinois it cost $200 a semseter. Is that UFB or what? The local junior college cost more. When I graduated it cost about $450 per semester I think. (That is tuition not room and board).<<
Nowadays, just the general fee for one semester will cost >$400<g>
The US is usually harsh on consumer fraud. But I think the higher education is the biggest consumer fraud in the US<g>, yet no one ever question it, or at least no one takes the fraudulent party to court yet<g> I wonder they ever will<g>
>>The upward trend in education costs in the US is NOT sustainable.
The trend therefore will end.
When?<<
Not sustainable is true, but it will go on for as long as the public and policy makers let it go on. Or maybe till the day it bankrupts the US<g/ng>
Isn't health care in the same situation too? I read from Forbes that the potential obligation of Medicare and Medicaid is a whooping $51 trillion. |
