Chinese teenagers should complete high school in China

ArgumentsI. China is currently the largest exporter of international students.In 2012, an article was published by CaixinOnline which was titled, 'China Becomes World's Top Source of Overseas Students'. [1] According to the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on September 17th of that year, it was announced that China has surpassed India as the worlds largest source of international students. This accounted for 14% of the global total with the Ministry of Education claiming that from 1978 to the end of 2011, China sent 2.25 million students abroad, with 90% of that coming after 2000. It was also reported that although most Chinese students studying abroad come from affluent families, the trend for working-class families sending their children abroad is growing drastically. In terms of surpassing India, Chinese students now make up 22% of all foreign students studying in America. The real kicker is the closing of the report which states that more and more students studying abroad are returning to China to start up companies and carry-out scientific research. With the exponential rise in Chinese students studying abroad or specifically in America, [2] I see no reason why such a practice would ever be called into question for possible termination or not allowed. It is evident that the student who study abroad are returning home as educated and motivated individuals who are starting companies and contributing to the overall improvements of China as a whole. [1] http://english.caixin.com...[2] http://www.insidehighered.com...II. Studying abroad has been a success for higher education Chinese students. As I slightly introduced in my previous argument, the results of studying abroad in terms of producing contributing members of society cannot be over-looked in this debate. We must consider the fact that China itself, in the first article I listed, has claimed it does not affect them in any negative way. To quote the article, "they are not suffering from a brain drain" by having students study abroad. [1] This cannot be stressed enough. If my opponent wishes to disallow students from possibly studying abroad, he must show why such things are necessary beyond a doubt in order to maintain his Burden of Proof. Studying abroad is clearly a popular practice among students in China, which means that Pro is going against the status quo in this debate. This practice of studying abroad has been supported ever since 1978, when Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made a strategic decision to send 3,000 students and scholars from the People's Republic of China overseas for further education. [3] His plan was to rebuild China's scientific community, catastrophically reduced during the decade-long anti-intellectual Cultural Revolution (1966-76) that had just ended. Now, when considering that this effort was initially started by the government and continues to receive support from the government, while also considering that Chinese students who study abroad are growing in numbers ever year exponentially, it is evident that Pro is going against something supported by many within the Country of China. [3] http://www.scidev.net...III. Economic benefit for China to continue the practice of having students study abroad. The article I shared as link #3 raises a highly critical point to this entire debate. The fact that China is actually benefiting from the students studying abroad economically. What I mean by this is that throughout the article, it touches base on the fact that Chinese state-sponsored scholars who study abroad, still have a majority of their education funded by non-Chinese sources. To quote the article itself, "Even state-sponsored Chinese scholars rely heavily on funding from their host country. A recent survey of 1,500 researchers who returned to China after studying abroad found that those supported by central government had still received a third of their funding from overseas agencies, while those sponsored by their workplace relied on overseas agencies for over 70 per cent of their funds. Altogether, almost 60 per cent of the cost of training this entire group came from foreign agencies." [3]When factoring in the previous evidence I shared which shows that Chinese students are returning to China at greater rates now than ever before, it is actually a brilliant strategy. China has managed to pass the cost of training its next generation of scientists onto the West. Now talented people, trained with foreign funds, are returning and generating considerable economic benefits, both direct and indirect. IV. Taking away that option is not, on balance, a benefit for Chinese students. With these previous arguments under consideration it is hard to imagine what the negatives could truly be for letting students study-abroad. I understand that it is high-school students we are discussing here, but in terms of the evident success, it is hard to imagine how such benefits being extended to the next generation of high-school students would be a bad thing. I will expand on this in the next round, and for now wish to present some rebuttals which also touch base on this argument. Rebuttals I. "So why do you spent large amount of money and energy to go abroad which place more burden on you?"A nation like China has a solid education program in place, but my opponent is failing to see the benefits of studying abroad. Even if my opponent can show that China literally has the best high-school educational program in the world, it is not conducive for the students to be restricted to just a Chinese education in these modern, globalized times. Some benefits of studying abroad include acquiring key perspectives on critical global issues, rapid development of foreign language skills by first hand experience, exposure to a large network of future contacts and establishing connections across the globe, and the opportunity to develop as a modern citizen of the world who can then contribute and advance in China with lessons gained from international travels. As I showed previously, it isn't necessarily a burden in terms of cost to either the student or China as a country, and how it is more economically sound for China to send student to study abroad. Isolation from a global education opportunity for the reasons provided by my opponent are simply not adequate nor outweigh the potential loss of growth and success one can achieve in such pursuits. II. "Chinese education is strict and focus on the acquisition of knowledge."My opponent attempts to justify this argument by saying that Chinese schools score high in tests and produce better students. This point has nothing to do with ending the opportunity for students to travel abroad. Just because Chinese schools score high in mathematics and science does not mean that there is no knowledge to be gained from study-abroad programs. Clearly, if Western education was lacking as much as my opponent wishes the audience to believe, there wouldn't be a substantial rise every year of more Chinese students coming into America or other western countries to study. I see no benefits that outweigh such a program like studying abroad from his side in terms of equal benefits gained. III. "There are many international schools in China."My opponent concedes to the fact that understanding western culture is important, and then tries to balance this concession by saying that international schools in China have the same benefits. The benefits I listed above far outweigh the benefits (or lack thereof) of international schools in China. The point is to travel, experience new lands, people, languages, cultures, and global issues from a first-hand perspective. A similarity in lessons does not mean a similarity in experiences. My opponent fails to see this.