Higher Education in Asian Countries

Treating all children similar sounds great, yet it is problematic. Think about your very own children. “Over the last 20 years, higher education systems across Asia have experienced a sharply increased demand for access” (ADB). How viable would you think a school where every one of the teachers had social and racial foundations not quite the same as you? Where classmates who comprehended your children's' experience and tradition were few? Where your kids faced occurrences of misconception and racism? Where does no teaching happen about the positive significant addition of your race or culture to the normal society? Imagine a scenario where your kids' school just encouraged classes in a language they could not comprehend and they had no teachers to communicate within their mother tongue. “Across Asia, more faculty members are needed, with higher qualifications and better wages - current academic staff are stretched as they seek ways to make ends meet, and the attractiveness of the profession is declining” (ADB).

In the circle of education, certain Asian nations have been positioned top in global rankings of the most educated countries in the world. “In any analysis of higher education issues across Asia, generalizations must be treated with great caution. The region includes some of the most affluent economies - Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore - as well as some of the poorest like Cambodia and Lao PDR. It also includes PRC and India, the fastest growing higher education systems in the world. In Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Philippines, private universities enroll the majority of students - in some cases up to 80%” (ADB).

“Asians graduate from college at a rate higher than any other ethnic group in America, including whites. They earn a higher median family income than any other ethnic group in America, including whites” (Yang). “The percentage of adults age 25 and older who had earned at least bachelors degree in 2013 was highest for Asian adults (52 percent). Of the other racial/ethnic groups, 14 percent of Hispanic adults, 15 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native adults, 16 percent of Pacific Islander adults, 19 percent of Black adults, 32 percent of adults of two or more races, and 33 percent of White adults had earned at least bachelors degree. In 2013, among those with a bachelors or higher degree, median annual earnings of Asian full-time workers ages 25–34 ($59,900) were higher than median annual earnings of their White ($50,000), Black ($44,600), and Hispanic peers ($45,800)” (Musu-Gillette).

In research about the typical Asian student, they are committed, hard-working, aggressive, energetic, focused and ambitious. Throughout much of Asia, education is viewed as the main way to progress. Education enables individuals to learn, think, and adjust. “Asian parents have raised a generation of children this way. Doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer: These are good jobs open to whoever works hard enough. What could be wrong with that pursuit? If it is true that Asians are collectively dominating in elite high schools and universities, is it also true that Asians are dominating in the real world?” (Yang).

Parental needs and demands, fear of failure and discrimination, competition and pride are fueling Asia's academic Ascension. Therefore, what will education as a keyword in Asian studies look like in the next decades of the twenty-first century? Lots of things have changed. Whether looking at educational achievement, racial identities, racism, or language use, Asian also strive in education and society merely by moving beyond discourses of success. In addition, most of Asian today are outside conceived, their education and class contrasts have broadened, and regularly their political look and interests are centered far from the U.S. also, its proceeding battle over race and worldwide control. 

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