The Chinese Circle

Student reflections on the Chinese Circle.

Jerry Lin

I thought the Chinese circle activity was really fun. We got to learn more about what student life in Taiwan is like, especially during a global pandemic. Their educational system is very different from the US ― different majors require different standardized test scores to be able to enter them. I think the coolest part of our conversation was listening to this Taiwanese student who grew up in Costa Rica, shuffled between many different schools growing up, and went to Taiwan (where her mother’s from) for college. I really enjoyed listening to her talk about what it was like growing up in Costa Rica and how in Taiwan, she doesn’t quite feel she’s fully Taiwanese or Mainland Chinese.

David Zhang

I found my conversation with college students from Taiwan to be extremely enlightening as I learned a lot about what student life is like overseas. Because my parents emigrated from China 25 years ago, their educational experiences in Asia were vastly different from what it is like now. Therefore, it was enriching to hear what college life is like nowadays in Asia compared to the stories of university my parents used to tell me when I was young.

I think the most striking difference between the college experience in American versus in Taiwan is the different overall role a university is supposed to play in the student’s life. In America, we always see college life as a time period where we will try to explore new passions and interests while also growing our individuality. We are encouraged to take classes in fields we are not accustomed. We are also motivated to join clubs or to start one up. College, therefore in the American view, seems to drive individuality as well as academics.  In Taiwan, college seems more of a stepping-stone for your future career, where it maximizes one’s future opportunity in their respective field. This is partly because in Taiwan, what major you will be studying for is determined before you enter college, so your time in college is to mostly focus on academics. I learned in the discussion that in Taiwan, college student do not participate in extracurricular activities such as clubs or fraternities, furthering the idea that college in Taiwan is more academically driven than anything else.

However, I was surprised to find out that Taiwanese college students are very similar to us American students in many ways. We both have college athletics to follow and watch, and our credit hours system are nearly identical. From the discussion, I found out that the college experience, while on the face might be different among cultures, still shares many of the same struggles and highlights any university student would face.

Overall, the discussion was very informative and instructive as hearing about the college experience overseas broadened my worldview.