Last week, Andres Oppenheimer, a columnist with The Miami Herald, wrote an opinion piece that I found in the Sacramento Bee about how Asians from abroad are over represented at U.S. colleges and universities far outpacing their Latin American counterparts. More specifically:
“Nearly half of the 620,000 foreign students who are currently on U.S. campuses come from five countries: India (84,000), China (68,000), South Korea (62,000), Japan (35,000), and Canada (28,000).
Yet there are 15,000 students from Mexico, 8,000 from Brazil, 7,000 from Colombia, 6,000 from Venezuela, 4,000 from Argentina and Peru and 2,000 from Chile on U.S. campuses.”
This is no big surprise for me having worked in international higher education and been exposed to college matriculation statistics. As an undergraduate, I attended a top 50 research university on the west coast that many called “University of Chinese Immigrant.” However, what I find compelling about this piece are the larger implications for Latinos abroad and in the U.S.
The world’s leaders are educated in American colleges and universities. As Oppenheimer points out, “many foreign students who get graduate degrees in U.S. universities tend to become leaders in their respective countries’ business, academic and political elites, this may mean that future Asian leaders will have closer connections to the United States than their Latin American counterparts.” The world as we know it in the US will be more oriented toward Asian countries than toward our closest neighbors. Additionally, many foreign students end up staying here in the U.S. instead of bringing their talent back to their home countries, helping grow our own economy. Student visas are an important avenue for skilled labor in our immigration system.
The other issue that struck me with this short piece has to do with the implications for Latino American students here in the U.S. If the home countries are not demonstrating a commitment to higher education, what does this say about the Latino obligation to advanced study in general? In essence, U.S. born Latino students cannot point to a larger value or cultural prioritization of higher education from the old country(ies). Where people from Asia will move heaven and earth to obtain an American college education, there are Latino high school students here in the U.S. who will never become college students in their own country.
There are other factors in play as to why Latins’ enrollment lags such as acquiring English and financing, but I think that by not sending more students abroad to study whether it is in the United States or Europe, Latin American countries risk falling further behind in R&D and building competitive economies, relegating themselves to a third world status indefinitely.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Stacey Derbinshire // Dec 1, 2008 at 12:00 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
2 wendy carrillo // Dec 1, 2008 at 2:59 am
maybe its because china has child restrictions. if latinos had child restrictions, maybe parents would be a little more inclined to see thier only son/daughter be as sucessful as possible and push that child to study hard and get good grades. stop throwing chanclas at them and start taking them to college tours.
Overall, latin america is a divided country, besides sharing a language and some customs, there is no real national identity, everyone is divided. besides, american relations with its southern neighbors has always been a conquest mentality. treat your friends overseas with great care, treat your neighbors like sh*t.
3 Mexitli // Dec 1, 2008 at 6:03 am
Asians, Specifically the Chinese, are “overrepresented” in U.S. Universities because of two reasons.
1, Because of their socialist system, their savings rate is high and they can afford to pay for their education.
2, Universities are cash starved and need the money. This relationship helps keep the cost down for U.S. students.
As for the implications on Latinos…
Latins (lol) and Hispanics are basically doing just fine. It’s the indigenous that lack the access to the funds needed for higher education.
4 theKaiser // Dec 1, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Wendy…when did Latin America become a country? This is an interesting perspective. Is this what they are teaching as history at Cal State L.A.?
Mexitli…don’t you think you should be more responsible with your comments? Since when is the cost for higher education down for U.S. students because the Chinese students are paying their tuition, housing costs in cash? Maybe you should pass that comment along to the UC administrators. And what groups of Hispanics are doing fine at the university level?
5 pablo // Dec 1, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Not surprising…
6 Mexitli // Dec 1, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Me: “Asians, Specifically the Chinese, are “overrepresented” in U.S. Universities because of two reasons.
1, Because of their socialist system, their savings rate is high and they can afford to pay for their education.
2, Universities are cash starved and need the money. This relationship helps keep the cost down for U.S. students.”
I should ad that the Taiwanese bring in boatloads of cash as well, not just the mainland Chinese. That inference was made when I stated that it was because of their socialist system. Of course, the Taiwanese with their capitalist system allows them to bring in badly needed cash into American universities, the bulk of which goes to CA universities.
:/
7 wendy carrillo // Dec 3, 2008 at 3:06 pm
typing a comment at 2am doesnt help, but to clarify my comment, i meant to state that Latin America has many divided countries.
CSULA is a great institution.
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