Migration can't solve education problems

Chinese parents have quite a reputation for stopping at nothing to provide a good education for children. According to legend, the mother of philosopher Mencius (372-289 BC) relocated three times to find the environment best suited for her son's education. At a time when shifting home was the exception rather than the rule, Mencius' mother set a success model that many Chinese parents today follow.

Another trend among the rising middle class is to send children abroad to study. While traveling in China recently to promote my book, I came across many anxious parents who sought my advice about sending their children "abroad" to study. In Beijing and Shanghai, I was invited to speak on several occasions with mainly parents as my target audience, and asked to share my thoughts on education-oriented emigration.

While preparing for my speech, I planned to focus on "whether to emigrate". In my personal experience, when we move to another country, we might leave some old problems behind only to encounter a new set of problems - which concern our children too. If we hold on to the old habits and fail to assimilate in the new milieu, the situation in both worlds could worsen instead of improving.

My strong warnings do not seem to have scared anybody. When I was answering questions, I found that most questions were related not to "whether" but to "when" to emigrate - during elementary school, middle school, high school or college? I could tell that many of these mid-career, middle-class parents would gladly give up everything to provide a better environment for their children's education. Is it worth it? Or rather, is it really going to benefit their children?

I have to admit, though, that the Chinese education system badly needs reform. The national college entrance examination system, despite providing a relatively fair competition platform for all children, focuses narrowly on selecting the very best and weeding out the rest. It is a norm-referenced model of assessment that compares students with peers. Judgments are made based on such comparisons, which lead to fierce competition and backbreaking preparation in the years leading to such tests.