Kang “Yen” Pan came to the United States for a “better” education. The eighteen-year-old emigrant moved to Pasco, WA nearly two and a half years ago to live with her aunt’s family, while her parents remained in her home city in Guangzhou, China. In speaking with this ambitious young lady, one must wonder: is a U.S. education truly better, or just very different?
Yen will enter school this fall at Pasco High School as a senior with a 3.9 GPA. As part of Pasco’s Cooperative Office Education (COE) program, Yen worked at Educational Service District (ESD) 123 during the 2007-2008 school year as a business intern. This year, Yen will return to the ESD as a temporary employee. It is this work experience that Yen perceives as the opportunity lacking in her Chinese education.
“In China,” says Yen, “it’s just study and school. Work experience only comes after your schooling is done.”
For Yen, the freedom to pursue what one wants and to gain work experience is equally valuable to the more rigorous Chinese education system.
The Chinese education system is generally divided into four categories: primary education, technical/vocational education, secondary education, and higher education. According to China’s “Law on Nine-Year Compulsory Education” which took effect in 1986, children are guaranteed the right to receive at least nine years of education.
The first nine years of education (ages 6 – 15) are compulsory, meaning that they are required by law to receive and for the government to guarantee. The Chinese government pays for the first six years of primary education. After this, students are administered an entrance exam to determine whether they will continue into upper academic middle school or enter a vocational secondary school. Students who pass the entrance exam must then pay for their secondary education (equivalent to three years of senior high school from ages 15-18).
A bright student, Yen passed the entrance exam after her primary education and began her secondary education, or high school years, in Guangzhou. School in her home city was much more difficult, with higher expectations and a much heavier workload. In China, school begins early in the morning and lasts late into the evening Monday through Saturday. Yet, while days were long and strenuous in her home city, Yen would happily take back the two-hour lunch break she was afforded during high school in China for the rushed schedule she faces in the states.
“I could go home and take a nap for an hour,” Yen recalls.
Her schedule at Pasco High School is the only thing Yen would change about her current schooling, though, because, for Yen, “School is a lot easier here.”
Yen received two Golden Bulldog Awards during the 2007-08 year: one for math and one for business education and marketing. Coming from a school where math is especially difficult, it is no surprise that Yen would stand out as one of the top five students in her high school.
Yen feels that her school schedule, in coordination with the Running Start program with CBC, and her work experience at ESD 123 are providing her with real world experience. She plans to apply to both the University of Washington and Washington State University this fall, although she hasn’t narrowed down her choice of major yet.
“I have time, though,” smiles Yen. Time, according to Yen and her parents, for opportunities only a U.S. education will afford.
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