Send more American students to China
(AKA: An editorial that six US newspapers didn't want to publish)
A note before you read the editorial: More Americans need to go to China. They need to learn the language and the culture. They need to meet Chinese citizens and explore this fascinating country. Making this case is a constant uphill battle; the built-in narrative that criticizes China is reinforced day after day after day. Seeking to do something about it, I wrote the opinion piece you’ll see below. Over about a one month period I sent it to six different US newspapers. Not one replied. Frustrating? Yes. Causing me to call it quits? No. Once you read it, tell me what you think.
People-to-people exchanges matter. And they especially matter when young people are involved. Amid the unfortunate chaos that defines the current bilateral relationship between the United States and China, we should be sending more students to China to open doors of friendship, increase knowledge about the country and practice what we preach about the importance of international experiences for the next generation of leaders.
When Chinese president Xi Jinping was in California for the 2023 ASEAN conference, he called for 50,000 US students to visit China by 2028. Some high schools have already taken advantage of that invitation. About a year ago, students from Iowa’s Muscatine High School marveled at the sites and sounds of the Chinese capital. Upon returning home, one student said, “It was really cool to see how they live their day-to-day lives and how we live ours, and then try to find some similarities between us.” Similar positive moments were experienced by Lincoln High School, located in Tacoma, Washington.
Critics are sure to suggest that such visits are choreographed to show off the best of the Chinese capital city, meaning that there is no chance for students to walk off in any direction they want to see whatever they want. No doubt that is the case, but is it not also true that multi-day school trips made by US middle- or high-school students to cities such as Washington, D.C. are also controlled so that they see only specific historical or important sites?
Let’s be honest: It is far better to allow students to explore Beijing (or Washington) and let them see places that should stir wonder and excitement rather than deny such an experience because they are limited to where they can go. To prevent such excursions is to cut off one’s nose in order to spite one’s face.
The uncomfortable reality in 2025 is that too few Americans know enough about China, an especially important problem with relations between the two nations as poor as they are. The problem begins in elementary school, extends to middle school and high school, and then to college. One US scholar wrote in the Washington Post about a year ago that “our education system is not generating enough American citizens with Chinese language ability, meaningful lived experiences in China and deep area knowledge.” He added that “fluency in English and US culture is common” in China, ensuring that more and more Chinese are learning about us as too few of us learn about them.
Something needs to change. The aforementioned visits by high school students should become reality in all 50 states. Meanwhile, study abroad opportunities for US college students is another critical effort. But recent data indicate that fewer and fewer American college students are studying in China. A figure that soared past 14,000 in the 2012-13 academic year had collapsed to only 469 by 2022-23. Yes, the pandemic made it more difficult for any international student to study at a Chinese university for a couple of years, but the trend line had been moving in the wrong direction well before the COVID crisis. By comparison, at no point between the 2012-13 academic year and the corresponding one in 2022-23 did the number of Chinese students in the US fall below 235,000.
The next generation of leaders is already starting to line up. They will become the cultural, medical, business, political and community leaders of tomorrow in the blink of an eye. If they are not prepared to understand Chinese history and culture, then the fault lies with the current generation of leaders. If they are not versed in Chinese standards and practices, then the fault lies with the current generation of leaders. If they are not eager to explore and examine China, then the fault lies with the current generation of leaders.
That is not a legacy we should want.