Professor Bieber
English 113B
26 November 2012
The Chinese Culture and Education: One Amazing Thing
In
Chitra Divakaruni’s book, One Amazing
Thing, a group of individuals are stuck in a visa and passport office in an
American city. Out of nowhere, an earthquake rips through the office trapping
nine people together. Besides, having to survive the earthquake they also had
little food and a flood circling them it then becomes nearly too much for them to
handle. A young graduate student among them suggests they all tell a personal
story about themselves they have never told anyone before to minimize their
stress (Divakaruni). As each person tells their personal story, Lily, a young Chinese girl, tells her story about her passion
for the violin and her pressured intelligent brother Mark. Mark feels pressure to do well in school not only by his
parents but also by cultural expectations. While living in a Chinese community in
America the same stress and pressure put on students in china to do well on the
Gaokao, a college entrance exam, is also placed on Mark to well in certain exams he needs to do well in, in order to
get accepted to highly respected universities In America. In One Amazing thing author Chitra
Divakaruni explores the demands on Chinese children with respect to their
education.
Education
is extremely emphasized in the Chinese community, In fact, China has “…made
stride towards a modern educational system, now providing nine years of basic
education to up to 97 percent of school-age children (for a total of about 180
million) and dramatically expanding the number of students in higher education
to more than 21 percent of high school graduates” (NCEDR 2007).
However with so much competition to fill in the slots to top universalities, the
Gaokao is what decides if they will end up going to a university in China. The
Gaokao is an exam that dates back “to as early as A.D 587” it was established
during the Sui dynasty. Many believe that after taking this test it has been said
it sets the “course of one’s life.” In china not only do Chinese students have
loads of academic work but also have to study every minute they can in order to
well in the Gaokao exam. Their goals are
to strive to the best universities and do superb in the Gaokao they can have a
good job all to receive a “good” job or a job offer after graduation. Even
though Mark’s parents live in the United States, they still carry on the
expectations from Mark to do well in exams as if Mark was taking the Gaokao
exam in China. The structure and attitude about the respected exam and education
in china is still enforced on Mark to get into a university.
Furthermore,
Mark is an intelligent student; who wants to be a scientist specializing in
cancer research (Divakaruni). Moreover, his parents have high expectations for
him. As one of Marks parent utter “Anyone can get a medical degree and make
money, but to spend your life discovering a cure for those poor, suffering
people—ah!..Now that’s true dedication,” With that said there is a huge of
pressure on Mark. Likewise there is immense pressure on Chinese students taking
the Gaokao from their parents to do well. The equal pressure or even perhaps
the same pressure is put on Mark like if he was in China preparing for the
Gaokeo. The culture and standards are the same for many Chinese parents whether
or not they are in China or America.
Once accepted
to respected university by either getting high scores in the Gaokeo or in
Mark’s place doing well in his academics. Under those circumstances, most
Chinese communities in America and in china don’t learn to take breaks from
studying which lead Chinese students can lose them. The sense of losing one’s
self as a student or they become stressed of
having to do well. This can be overwhelming for students and have anxiety and
lose them in it. With all this pressure of having to excellent in their
studies, sometimes it can be too much. In the same circumstance, the Gaokao
“adds on too much pressure on students without giving them any chance and time
to stop and take a break from studying.” This cycle of non-stop working ethic
is something that Mark’s parents have kept and taught him. The valued Chinese
ethic of putting the studies first is what Mark’s parents haven’t forgotten to
remind Mark to do.
To
demonstrate the stress levels a survey given by Arizona State University entitled to measure how Chinese students evaluated their
stress levels (Kun). The study found that in
addition to having stress from being away
from home, they also felt stress to excel in
their academics, and proving to their parents that all the hard work that was
done when they were children till now pays off. In addition the studies also
found that the students also lacked off because of the pressure (Kun). Just as
students taking the Gaokao have pressure they end up doing some wild actions.
For example some take amino acid and take other drugs to keep them going in
order for the stress to wear down.
Likewise
Mark got accepted to Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT), a highly respected
educational institution. While he is at the university Lily calls him because
she hasn’t heard from Mark in a while. As Lily states
“Marks
voice on his cell phone sounded sleepy, although on the East coast it was long past noon. I (Liliy) was surprised
because he’d been up to—we hadn’t spoken
in a while – and why was he still sleeping. He said he’d been out late the previous night. “Were you parting? I
asked. It was a joke; Mark never partied. His
idea of a good time was meeting his geeky-known scientific theories. (Mark) “I guess you can call it that.”
This proves that when Mark left for
college the pressure was too much for him. He did things he wouldn’t have done
f he was home under his parents supervision. The stress of being the very best
got to him and he did things out of his normality like partying. Something he
would have never done before. The stress got to him he lost his momentum in his
studies. Lily had said that her parents believed that Mark was a perfect child.
In fact, he hardly seemed like a child at all. He was polite and obedient and
serious about his studies (Divakaruni 145). Mark partying was another side to
him. The stress of having to do well by his parents wasn’t there any more when he
left for college. He knew his parents would be gone which caused him to just
lose himself in parties. The stress built up and when Mark got the chance to let
go, he did just that. The book later stated that his grades dropped and wasn’t
showing the best he could do. Unfortunally, the pressure got to him and let go.
The
demands of doing well in school can be stressing for many Chinese American’s
especially when having parents from a certain culture that are used to having
the constant pressure. Similarly, the stress of having to do excellent in the Gaokeo
exam and Mark having to do well comes from the Chinese culture and parents. In One Amazing Thing it shows that the
custom of the Chinese culture to strive for excellence in their respected
academics carries on with the parents no matter where they go in the
world.
Work Cited
University of California Press Vol. 46, No. 2
(March/April 2006), pp. 298-318
Cravens, Chen Xiu, Grogan Margaret, Lui Yarong. “Understanding the Chinese Superintendency in the Context of Quality-Oriented Education “Comparative Education The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Comparative and International Education Society Review. Vol. 56, No. 2 (May 2012), pp 270299. Web. 6 Nov 2012.
Divakaruni, Chitra. One Amazing thing. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, 2009. Print.
Wong, Edward.”Test That Can Determine the Cource of Life in China gets a closer Examination” The New York Times. 30 June. 2012. Web. 11 November. 2012.
Sudworth, John. “China’s students take on tough Gakao university entrance exam” BBC News. 8 June 8 2012. Web. 11 November 2012.
“Gaokao, Chinese college entrance exams.” Dartmouth Global China connection. 2012 Darthmouth Global China connection. 20 September 2012. Web. 11 November 2012.
Yan,
Kun. "Chinese International Students' Stressors and Coping Strategies in
the United States."
Arizona State University, 2008. United States -- Arizona: Ethnic News Watch; ProQuest Dissertations &
Theses: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection.
Web. 6 Nov. 2012.
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