East Asian Pursuit of Education Abroad: Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, India, & Australia

Many students who study abroad are from East Asia because they believe that studying abroad provides them with better educational environment that focus mostly on the enhancement of skills such teamwork, decision-making and leadership. Apart from Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan, other countries that also have high number of abroad students are Australia and India. The countries of the Asian realm take the lead in the statistics of abroad students because of the pursuit for better educational services and the influence of the western culture as most of the Asian abroad students move for studies either in the United States or in the United Kingdom. Consequently, studying abroad is not only for rich students because overseas education can also be accessible to poor students as well. The only advantage with studying abroad which makes it open to several individuals is that comes with benefit plans like scholarship tokens which limit the overexploitation of bank accounts. Learning of other languages while studying abroad would be essential to students in the development of the communication skills of that particular language which can help them easily cope up with the speakers of that language when they return to their home countries.

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One area in the East Asia region that I would choose to fulfill the criteria of culture as I embark on a Grand-Tour type of tour is China because it is a country in the East Asia that is known for its cultural diversity. A tour to China would not only be suitable for American students because of the Chinese culture and art but China would also present adequate understanding of the effect of western civilization. The abroad model of high-end learning not only applies to US study abroad students but even to students from other nationalities who seek international studies programs in the US. The history of study abroad for students from East Asia region can be tracked from China and just like the American study abroad students, they are all in pursuit of different arts and cultures. Lastly, the representation of the population of women in in the study abroad program is good for gender equality as that enhances equitable exploration of abroad culture and art.

The kind of culture shock that the Satsuma students experienced as they sailed towards Britain was the honeymoon culture shock because they were overwhelmed of seeking experience of another culture. The culture shock of honeymoon experienced by the Satsuma students is similar to the kind of culture shock experienced by most students from East Asia region who travel to study abroad because they believe they would find better educational environment abroad. The way we dress is symbolic and serves the function of determining the variations in the lifestyles of people. Clothing expresses varying socio-cultural identities hence; the identity of a particular phenomenon is expressed by the clothing of an individual. Most people from East Asia hardly wear their traditional hairstyles or clothes in their daily lives hence limiting the way their cultural heritage is preserved in clothing. That implies that cultural civilization and cultural diversity is taking over the societies of the East Asian regions and the preservation of culture would rather be considered in other aspects rather than clothing. The students must have decided to use pseudonyms to hide their real identities as they were travelling and to identify with the target culture. The use of alias names is very common with people who travel to study abroad and some even use them for the rest of their lives depending on how the western culture has far influenced an individual.

Sending students to study abroad is not a likely opportunity for a country to grow stronger because the increase in the number of abroad students from a particular country, China for instance may increase the risks of brain drain to the abroad countries. The earlier Chinese societal view of international education was that it lacked the accompaniment of essential Chinese cultural values and morals hence, the native Chinese education was preferred especially when one was seeking for a job due to the fear of effects of westernization. Living in another country is not any guarantee that one has the opportunity to learn a foreign language and speak it like a native because that language ay as well sound like noise if an individual is not interested in learning it. However, just like Qing officials cited, it is necessary that one immerses themselves into a particular language of the foreign country they are living to learn to speak it fluently. The reason as to why several abroad students return home without being native-like is because they do not immerse themselves into the respective culture and languages.

The Chinese names of the boys were confusing the host families because they were expressing a mix of cultural principles and ideas. The motive of adopting western names was to immerse in the western culture and peacefully coexist with the western culture. Some common signs of Americanization today include the love and appreciation of American culture such as the American games like the American football and baseball. Another sign is also the development of interest for American music. Alongside those factors, the Chinese officials of the 19th century also considered the change in clothing and language ascent as signs of Americanization which are still typical even in the present-day. The difference in motivation between America study abroad and Chinese/Japanese study abroad is the ability to broaden individual language instructions that still live as belief to date.