Why must a Chinese take a harder course than non-Chinese students?

College Life
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<p>Evidence that placement is determined by ethnicity rather than “skill”: </p>

<p>By " heritage students " , we refer to :</p>

<p>•Students who were born in a non-Chinese speaking country, but was raised in a home where Mandarin or another Chinese dialect was spoken, who speaks or merely understands the dialect, and who is to some degree bilingual in English and Chinese.
•Students who were born in a Chinese speaking country whose first language was Chinese, and who have received some, but incomplete formal education in that country up to 8th grade.</p>

<p>[Basic</a> Chinese Course Description (Heritage)](<a href=“http://www2.asia.ubc.ca/faculty/li/department/course_description/CHINESE_100_COURSE_DESCRIPTION.htm]Basic”>http://www2.asia.ubc.ca/faculty/li/department/course_description/CHINESE_100_COURSE_DESCRIPTION.htm) </p>

<p>Someone who “speaks” or “merely understands the dialect”</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.washington.edu/students/crscat/chinese.html[/url]”>http://www.washington.edu/students/crscat/chinese.html&lt;/a&gt; Non-heritage “Open only to students who do not have any previous training in Chinese”</p>

<p><a href=“Front Page | Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies”>Front Page | Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies;

<p>CHN 001 Elementary Chinese (first half, offered in fall semester only)</p>

<p>This course is for students with no or minimal proficiency in Chinese. The course focuses on: </p>

<p>developing oral and aural proficiency and survival communication;
mastery of the Chinese writing system for rudimentary reading and writing;
foundational grammar for simple sentence and short paragraph building.
Student Profile: </p>

<p>Students who have never studied Chinese
Students who were born in the non-Chinese speaking countries and have studied some Chinese in a community or Sunday school for less than two years
Students of Chinese descent who speak a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin to family members or who have never or rarely spoken Chinese to family members
Students who have studied Chinese 1-2 years in high school in non-Chinese speaking country </p>

<p>I’m not these 3 universities are not alone in their practices.</p>