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“如果你去三藩市……” “……记得在鬓间簪满鲜花。”这句歌词源于1967年曾荣登美国歌曲排行榜首位的老歌《三藩市》。而那一年的三藩市（San Francisco），正处在美国反文化运动的最前沿。 在那之前几十年，三藩市的中文名字（旧金山）对很多中国人来说，或多或少就是美国的代名词。19世纪，三藩市是很多（如果即使不是大多数）中国游客、工人和移民进入美国的门户城市或第一落脚点。 近年来，除中国内地游客的数量呈火箭式增长外，中国赴美的另一大主力人群是学生，其中，以进入高校进修学位的大学生为主，但高中生的数量也在迅速攀升。 在这里，我要向考虑去美国接受高中以上教育的学生和家长推荐一本新书—— 《赴美留学准备：国际学生必知的15件事》。 全书共分15个章节，其中“录取”独立成章。但本书讲述的重点并非录取的流程，而是准留学生在择校和准备异地生活期间所要考虑的其他所有问题。 书中在每章结尾处均设有“常见问题”，全书充满各种有益的建议和提示，其中某些还可能会让中国读者大跌眼镜。 以“录取”一章为例：“学生应避开任何收费的中介机构或个人。EducationUSA的顾问可提供免费信息和咨询，帮助良多。”（EducationUSA在全球170多个国家设有分支机构。）对中国数以千计的盈利性——有时甚至会为办入名校而收取奖金——的留学顾问和中介来说，这个建议无疑不受欢迎。 在书的开篇中可以看到，全美共有4,700所大学和学院。尽管外国留学生的人数在迅速增加（自2000年起上升了72%），但在全美2,100万入学新生中所占的比例只有4%出头。 换言之，在任何美国校园中，留学生仍是极少数群体，因此，他们中的大多数仍需然会面临社会及文化适应上的挑战。 而在教室里，还有另外一件事等着他们去适应，那就是美式的自由教育传统。美式教育旨在开发独立性、批判性思维，培养创新及解决问题的能力，鼓励提问、辩论和讨论。这与大多数中国学生在上高中以前，甚至是读高中时的经历都有很大区别。 谈到名校激烈的入学竞争，就无法回避当今美国大学教育的话题。毫无意外，吸纳留学生最多的学校半数以上都是公立学校（即州立学校），而不是私立机构。而留学生人数排名靠前的25所学校中，只有哥伦比亚大学属于常春藤盟校。 （该书关于美国高等教育的章节记录了一段有趣的史实：八所常青藤盟校除一所外，其余都始建于英殖民地时期。） 1965年至2000年，美国高中以上教育机构的入学率呈爆炸性增长：涨幅高达265%，而同期的人口增长率仅为45%。大学生总量从1965年的592万增加到2000年的1,531万，几乎相当于全美成年人口的一半。 最近几年，大约25%的美国高中毕业生都会申请7所以上的大学。 该书还就国立及私立学校间的显著差异作出做出了对比，重点关注了包括在校生活风险等侧面的问题。 作者们还探讨了体育运动在校园生活中的绝对重要性，及其对学生社团，包括大学体育语言所带来的巨大影响。无论你喜欢与否，这都是留学生将要面对和适应的问题。 美国招收中国留学生最多的单体大学是伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳―香槟分校。考虑到在校4,500名中国留学生对体育热的适应需求，学校已开始用中文广播校橄榄球赛的盛况。这是一个好的开端。 我完全理解美国高等教育对有能力负担相对较高费用的中国内地学生及其父母所具有的超强吸引力（四年制美国私立大学的平均学费为42,419美元，有些还更高。） 这本书及同类的书籍满足了一个重要的需求，即指导学生按部就班地选择最适合自己的学校，为他们提供做好适应和调整准备的建议，帮助他们少走弯路。 |
“If you’re going to San Francisco…” “…be sure to wear flowers in your hair.” The above lyric was made famous by a 1967 song which topped the charts in the U.S., when San Francisco was at the cutting edge of the American counterculture movement. Many decades before that, the traditional Chinese language name for San Francisco (旧金山) (literally “Old Gold Mountain”) was , for many Chinese, more or less synonymous with America itself. San Francisco was the gateway and first port of call for many if not most Chinese visitors, workers , and migrants during the 19th century. In recent years, apart from skyrocketing numbers of tourists from the Chinese mainland, the other big influx of Chinese into the U.S. is students. The bulk of these are enrolled in college and university degree programs, but the numbers in secondary school are also growing quickly. A new book, “Preparing to Study in the U.S.A.: 15 Things Every International Student Should Know” is highly recommended for students as well as parents considering post-secondary education in the U.S.. Although its 15 chapters include one on “admissions”, the focus of the book is primarily not the admissions process, but rather all the other issues which would-be exchange students should consider when selecting schools as well as preparing for life and study there. Each chapter contains a “Frequently Asked Questions” section at the end, and the book is filled with useful advice and tips, some of which may come as a shock to readers in China. For example, in the “Admissions” chapter: “Students should avoid agents or anyone who charges a fee. The free information and counselling provided by an EducationUSA adviser can help enormously.” (EducationUSA has branches in some 170 countries worldwide.) This will no doubt also come as unwelcome advice to the thousands of educational consultants and agents in China who are charging hefty fees – sometimes with added bonuses for success -- to assist with admission into elite US colleges. As the opening chapter explains, the U.S. has 4,700 colleges and universities. Despite the rapid growth in international student enrollment (up 72% since 2000), international students still represent only slightly more than 4% of the total nationwide enrollment of 21 million. To put that in another way, international students are still a very small minority on any US college campus. This makes for a challenging social and cultural adjustment process for most of them. Another big adjustment awaits in the classroom, given America’s tradition of liberal education, which strives to develop independent, critical thinking, innovation and problem-solving, questioning, debate and discussion. This is a far cry from what most Chinese students have experienced up to and including secondary school. No discussion of US university education today can avoid the ferocity of the competition for admission to top schools. It’s no surprise, then, that half of the universities and colleges with the largest enrollment of international students are public (ie state schools) rather than private institutions. The only Ivy League school in the top 25 in terms of international student enrollment is Columbia. (As an interesting piece of historical trivia, the chapter on US higher education points out that of the 8 Ivy League schools, all but one were founded when the US was still a British colony.) There was explosive growth in post-secondary school enrollment in the U.S. from 1965-2000: up 265% , versus roughly 45% population growth during that period. From 5.92 million in 1965, the ranks of college students swelled to 15.31 million in 2000. That’s equivalent to roughly half the adult population of the U.S. In recent years, roughly 25% of graduating U.S. high school seniors apply for 7 or more colleges or universities. The book compares salient differences between state and private schools. It highlights some important aspects, including risks, of student life on campus. The American university with the largest enrollment of students from China on a single campus is The University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana. With 4,500 Chinese students trying to cope with sports mania, the university has begun Chinese language broadcasts of the university’s football games. That’s a good start. I fully understand the magnetic appeal of higher education in the U.S. for parents and students in the Chinese mainland with the resources to afford the relatively high costs (the average annual cost for a private 4-year college is US$42,419; and some range much higher than that). At the same time, I’ve often wondered how newly arrived Chinese students cope with what is an enormously different cultural, social and academic milieu. Understandably, many seem to stick together with other Chinese students, or other Asian students. Books like this new one address a very important need: to help guide the process of selecting a school which is a good fit for the individual student, and offering some pointers on ways to prepare to adapt and adjust, avoiding pitfalls along the way. |
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