Professor view
I interviewed my favorite Chinese professor at Marquette University. Jing Zhai, who is the only Chinese professor who teaches Chinese and Chinese culture. Since 2008, this is the tenth year she teaches in Marquette. She is teaching CHIN (Chinese) and FOLA (Morden Chinese literature) every semester. Professor Zhai taught a lot of Chinese students and American students. She is most qualified to speak on this question that how do Chinese students perform on their academic aspects. She said some Chinese students already took one year even two years college in Chinese, however, because they did not take the top universities and they feel cannot learn anything. Then, they chose to go abroad and expend their horizon. This kind of students desires to learn knowledge and work hard. When I talk about some Chinese students cannot get high GPA even though they always performed well in China, she said it is understandable because of the different environment. Chinese students who go abroad without any family members with them are easy to be homesick. They can only connect with their family with phone and see them once or twice a year because of the expense of the flights. She said the majority of the Chinese students study hard even though their families are rich. They want to get a better degree for their bright future which is becoming increasingly competitive.
She also mentioned that almost Chinese students have the same shortcoming that they are not creative enough. It might be caused by the Chinese traditional education system. They only absorb and receive the knowledge the professors delivery to them. They can get the high grade on their exams or quiz, but they do not understand the meaning of it.
She advises Chinese students that safety first. Without family around here, students must take care of themselves because all of their families are worried about them.