Why no elite boarding schools in Asia?

Prep School Admissions
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<p>From reading the threads on CC, I am struck by the fair number of int’l students from Asia who are interested in applying to or are already attending boarding school in the U.S. Is there such a shortage of elite schooling options available in the home country—i.e. are there no elite BS in Asia? I am aware of int'l schools, but those are geared primarily for transient expat children.</p>

<p>Asian nations, as a rule, intensely revere education, so why have elite BS not been started already in Asia by wealthy Asian patrons? It’s not like there is a shortage of graduates from wealthy Hong Kong families. Consider the example of the King of Jordon. He graduated from Deerfield and subsequently started an elite BS in Jordon. Even Oprah Winfrey started an elite BS for girls in South Africa.</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong. I welcome the int’l diversity at my son’s BS and am grateful that parents from countries far away are willing to send their sons and daughters there, which also happens to enrich my own child’s experience.</p>

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<p>Wow, this is a really interesting point you bring up here. I am not truly an international student from Asia, seeing as I grew up in New Jersey and currently go to an international school, like the ones you mention in your post, despite my ethnicity being 100% Chinese. I will still offer my opinion though, no matter how little insight it might provide.</p>

<p>Personally, I am applying to boarding school despite the options I have here in China because as a student raised through an American curriculum, there is no way that I will ever make it into a Chinese university. Honestly. No way. At all. So my other option is to return to the USA sooner, to better assimilate myself into American culture and better prepare myself for university - which is what I am hoping to do at boarding school. </p>

<p>My friend’s family though, seems to have a VERY well working strategy for their kids, and is pretty ironic for this topic. They are a family of four girls with their parents, with one graduated out of Princeton, one at Princeton now, one at Stanford now, and one who is my classmate and easily one of the smartest people in my grade. Impressive, yes? This is what their parents have chosen for their childrens’ education - local Chinese schools for elementary and middle school, which I can say from experience is much MUCH harder than international school, and then their daughters enter our international school (an American school, really) for high school. This way they get the best of both worlds; they have the knowledge and background they learned from local school, but now have the chance to get accustomed to the American curriculum, to later attend an elite American university. This clever strategy seems to be working pretty well for them, with 3 daughters getting into Ivy Leagues and the 4th sure to follow. :D</p>

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<p>Yeah this is an interesting topic. :smiley: I’m attending a local school in Asia now, just to set the basis of my argument.</p>

<p>Firstly, there are boarding facilities in schools across China, and some of them are close to 100% boarding, and offer the local Chinese curriculum. I mean, they are incredibly reputable and all, some within China and many worldwide, but it’s a different kind of reputation. It’s not that there are no elite boarding schools in China (or Asia, for that matter), but they are vastly different from those in the USA / UK, and many were only made for local students seeking a challenge. I have my experience with schools that have boarding facilities in China, but most of these are local schools that do not boast the same international experience one can hope to have at a US boarding school. Also, it’s false that people are sending their children to the US because Asia is lacking - I know people who came from other Asian countries to boarding schools where I am (also in Asia). Yet, I know Hong Kong / China / Japan / Korea are the more affluent Asian countries, and in my opinion it would seem counter-intuitive for parents there to send their children to other Asian countries for school, since what they are already getting is the best. So what’s a step up? Going to another continent. :)</p>

<p>In addition, I believe many parents (not just Asian), see higher education abroad, whether it’s at the USA or the UK as the ultimate; the pinnacle of academic success for their children. In China for example, it seems as though parents, with the one child policy and the notion of filial piety and all, might want their children to succeed in order to make sure they (parents) will be taken care of in their old age, or feel that with one child, they only have one shot to success. Additionally, it is fact that for the local Chinese, academic achievement is crazy important, because it’s the ONE THING that determines whether a student can get into the two best universities in China - Beijing University and Tsinghua University. I think it’s similar in Japan, where juku (cram schools) are all around, because the entrance examination for Tokyo University is really, really hard. It seems to be this competitive mindset that they’ve taken with them to raise their children, to make sure they get the best. And as stories in China go, the US is viewed as the golden land of opportunities for everyone, and if you make it there, congratulations, riches and fame are in order.</p>

<p>I’m not sure why Asians > rest of the world in flocking to the USA, but I believe it has its roots first in the prominence of the USA and the UK as economic powerhouses in the few preceding centuries, that more Asians started moving to those countries to seek better prospects. Also, perhaps it’s in the Asian Diaspora of the 19-20th Centuries, where large numbers of Asians moved to the US, UK and Australia - South Asians to the UK mostly, Vietnamese to California and Australia for its plantations, and Chinese to construct the Transcontinental Railway and also for plantations - that Asians slowly began to move.</p>

<p>And my, though unfounded, opinion is that I think for Asians, a method would really be, like aaralyn mentioned, local school, then off to American / European / Australian system for high school, to pave the way to get into a foreign university.</p>

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<p>blehjoints, I am aware there are many BS in China offering the local curriculum, along with the associated local educational culture of cram, cram, cram. I am just surprised that with all the new mega-wealth in China, that some gazillionaire with a big ego hasn’t sought to build a legacy by starting an elite int’l curriculum BS in the home country, like the King of Jordan.</p>

<p>I’m especially surprised that no Hong Kong mogul has done it either.</p>

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<p>blehjoints and aaralyn,</p>

<p>I truly hope that both of you have happy news on March 10th. I wish there was some way for the schools to which you applied could see your very thoughtful and articulate responses to this discussion. If your application essays were half as good as these off the cuff responses, you’ll do wonderfully in whichever school you end up in.</p>

<p>Best of luck to both of you!</p>

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<p>GMTplus7,</p>

<p>I think the appeal of the US schools, as blehjoints noted, lies in the prestige of the location. As aaralyn stated, one of the primary goals is to better assimilate into American culture. That would not be possible unless the largest percent of students and teachers were American.</p>

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<p>neato, </p>

<p>Yes I was also VERY IMPRESSED by the thoughtful responses by aaralyn & blehjoints! </p>

<p>As for the prestige bit and American teachers, the King of Jordon brought in one of the former headmasters of Deerfield to start the school and to give it gravitas.<br>
[King’s</a> Academy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King’s_Academy]King’s”>King's Academy - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>China is learning the importance of projecting “soft power” in the int’l arena. Elite education is one way to do it. And there seems to be huge market for it.</p>

<p>Maybe like in The Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come…”</p>

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<p>This is what is possible to create outside the U.S. if you have a committed sponsor:
[King’s</a> Academy | The History of King’s Academy](<a href=“http://www.kingsacademy.edu.jo/Public/English.aspx?Site_Id=1&Page_Id=5920&Menu_ID=223&flg=tbl_234]King’s”>http://www.kingsacademy.edu.jo/Public/English.aspx?Site_Id=1&Page_Id=5920&Menu_ID=223&flg=tbl_234)</p>

<p>King Academy is a member of the G20 group of elite int’l schools (which include the ACRONYM schools in the U.S.)</p>

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<p>@neatoburrito and @GMTPlus7</p>

<p>Haha thanks! It’s nice that you guys say that. :)</p>

<p>Frankly I think something like King’s Academy would be really good in Asia, if the goal is international experience / education less far away from home. There’s definitely, like you said, a market, especially since China is all up and rising economically in recent years, and increasing amounts of people are now looking to China to be the number one economic powerhouse. I read an article recently that more American families are coming to Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong) just to get their kids an international education. There’s definitely no lack of prospective students. Maybe one day when I am a billionaire… :slight_smile: Oh and for an international boarding school one might consider the United World Colleges, since they have campuses from the USA to Canada to The Netherlands to Hong Kong? But that’s not exactly a conventional 4 year boarding school so…</p>

<p>Oh is it just me or does the G20 change periodically?</p>

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<p>OK, when you get admitted to BS, graduate from college, solve world hunger, become a billionaire and finally start that new elite int’l BS in China, don’t forget to give me credit for suggesting it to you ;-)</p>

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<p>There is an elite BS in Beijing, but it is a school that is created by a Beijing University… A few thousand people compete for the 50 something spots throught tests and interview rounds… super elite I assure you XD And if you have some political influence, you can pull some strings behind the scene and get an acceptance for your kid who was outsmarted by approx half of the candidates.</p>

<p>I hink therein lies the problem with Chinese education: too often it is for profit, and so pulling some strings will get anyone accepted regardless. So schools that start elite might not - probably won’t - stay that way.</p>

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<p>Well. As an international nomad, I have been partly educated in two Asian countries’ public systems. So I’ll bite, although blehjoints and aaralyn gave some pretty comprehensive analyses. They are both from China (if memory serves correctly) and hopefully I can offer some insight from some other Asian regions, although they are all generally quite similar education-wise.</p>

<p>There are a few main points that, from my experience, I am inclined to believe are the reasons for the lack of elite Asian BSs.
Most Asians now recognize that cramming/rote memorization alone cannot make for a fulfilling education. However, they either refuse to abandon the time-honored cramming model of education or simply do not have the resources to install a more creativity-based sort of curriculum. Even if they happened to, it would take many years before their reputation or quality would even begin to rival those of the ACRONYMs. Before they are established, who would “risk” coming? If nobody “risks” coming, how would they build up a reputation?
Most Asian students considered elite are not at all inclined to go into the elite BS route. For a BS to be considered elite, in the international scene, it has to have the creativity element, and the aforementioned students do not benefit from this mode of education. Rather, they fare quite well in the eyes of general Asian public, going on to the elite- that word again!- unis in Asia. Why try to be elite away when you can be sure of being elite at home?
Lastly, I have found that most Asian parents are reluctant to let them go away from home. I have friends from my time in Asia who go to BS, but even those well-respected schools are based on cramming/academics, and they come home every weekend. I’ve heard parents voice their fears of their kids going away= becoming distant= emotionally/mentally deformed kids. I dunno.</p>

<p>I guess, looking back a little, that a lot of this is somewhat self-contradictory. Then, again, that is a bit of the Asian psyche nowadays.</p>

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<p>I agree with above poster, and would like to go anbit further to comment that there are a lot of Asian parents who are paranoid about other people trying to sabotage their children’s educations.</p>

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<p>“Before they are established, who would “risk” coming? If nobody “risks” coming, how would they build up a reputation?”</p>

<p>I appreciate the chicken-and-egg conundrum for building a reputation. The way the King of Jordan addressed that issue was he recruited the then headmaster of Deerfield to be the headmaster of the new school, and then the king enrolled his own son in the school.</p>

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<p>Great private institutions require strong safeguards over property rights. Quite simply, besides the good King or an Oprah, who would risk hundreds of millions in China? The elite BS in the UK and US were for the most part well established more than a century ago and were formed by the religous sector. Could this happen in China? Today?</p>

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<p>Hong Kong has (or at least used to have before Reunification) strong safeguards over property rights. And Hong Kong has no shortage of prepschool graduates, money, and godzilla-sized egos. I guess the only obvious thing HK is lacking in the equation is land.</p>

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<p>This is an interesting article about starting a school (albeit in NYC), though you can see how much effort it takes. Short of being a king, it’s a difficult task for even a wealthy person to pull off <a href=“The Best School $75 Million Can Buy - The New York Times”>The Best School $75 Million Can Buy - The New York Times;

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<p>There have been inquiries into developing a United World College in China. According to UWC.org, “The UWC International Board also granted Initial Notification for a new college in Beijing in March 2011. The proposed college will be situated in close proximity to the Gengdan University institute, which is a partner in the proposal. A task force for the project has been convened and visited the project team for the first time in November 2011.”</p>

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<p>Well, speaking from the perspective of an Asian family, my Dad expects me to attend an elite college/university in the USA in the future (talk about prestige). Studying in a US boarding school environment, thus, will allow me as a foreign student to assimilate with greater ease into the American culture.</p>

<p>For that reason, if there were an elite boarding school in HK, my Dad probably wouldn’t even consider it.</p>

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<p>I think that the lack of BS in Asia should be because of the different types of morals and culture. Over here in Asia, we’re very very big on family, most people stay with their parents until they reach their late 20s when they start a family. Sometimes, the married couple live with the parents, so its like 3 generations under one roof. Yeah. As such, most of the parents do not bear to send their kids away when their still young. I’m speaking as a Singaporean; born and lives here. Also, the people here in Singapore gains independence at a very slow pace as they are used to maids doing everything for them and our society over here really is over protected and regulated in my opinion.</p>

<p>As CherryRose says, Asian education system really do cram alot and do realise that its not enough. As a local Singaporean, I am complaining about the rote learning. What I do feel is that the rote learning is a very good system for our foundation years. Primary school years are the relaxing years where we play alot and study little but still make it through. (Although I have to say that the after 2000s gen is really pitiful. My Aunt started tuition for my cousin when he was only 6! Nowadays, people even hire second line tuition teachers for their child who cannot cope with their tuition homework. Really, I don’t see the whole point of it.) </p>

<p>Back to what I was saying. The Secondary school years are the social and cramming years. We suddenly care alot about our looks and stuff, and most of us also start to realise the importance of education in the third year. I think that rote-learning really benefits us for these two levels of education as it allows us to have the full education in all areas in our head. However, I feel that such system really doesnt work for tertiary education. Tertiary education is the point of time that we need to do plenty of research and adventure in our education and the Singapore rote-learning system really dont offer that. Without flexibility, how are we suppose to survive in the society today that really needs creativity and fast problem solving, what with the fast pace of life.</p>

<p>As such, Asians want their children to have intl education in tertiary which will make up for their lack of flexible education and also allow their children to have a taste of the outside world away from the protected area of the country. And a good way of that is to send their children to the next continent!</p>

<p>I’m currently in my last (4th) year of secondary school, so if anyone has any questions about education in Singapore, feel free to ask me as I have 2 older brothers, the oldest now already in the workforce thus I also understand education of the tertiary level in Singapore.</p>

<p>Also, I’m aiming to study in UWC after my secondary education:D</p>