Alice is recent graduate and Her Campus UBC alumna writer. She just moved to China to teach English, and has a lot to say about what it’s like being in the post-grad (foreign) world.
Whether attending a higher education institute is a right or privilege has increasing become a contentious issue in the recent global economy. With the average cost of one year of higher education in Canada equally approximated 22% of the average Canadian income, and a staggering 51% in the USA, it seems difficult to call a university education accessible*. But, having just completed my bachelor’s degree myself, I have come to question how far this privilege extends, and whether it follows you beyond your article-reading and paper-writing days.
I don’t think I could have learned the full privilege of a UBC graduate quite as richly anywhere else, as I have moving to China knowing little-to-no Mandarin. Whether it has been through my own experiences or observing the patterns around me, I have become increasing aware of what it means to hold a Bachelor’s degree from a highly ranked North American university.
My first weeks here have been an eye-opener to what my Chinese friends politely call my “bravery”, but what I fully now accept as my arrogance, naivety and yes – privilege. The fact that I had a cell phone, bank account, bus pass, one-bedroom apartment and utilities all worked out within two weeks of my arrival may paint a picture of my togetherness. However, the reality is that I was like a child looking over at the adults’ table, while all of these necessities and luxuries were worked out for me by English-speaking Chinese friends. All of whom have roughly one-eighth of my current earning potential here in China.
As time goes by, and I approach my one month mark here, still unable to order my own food at restaurants without pointing and frantically begging “Jigga? Jigg-ah!”, I have been increasingly thinking about Vancouver, and my previous research into food insecurity there. I can remember being pushed past my raised-in Vancouver way of thinking when I was introduced to the hidden concepts of the language and cultural barriers to accessing nutritious food. During my research it was some of the things that I used to think of as simple that made me see my privilege most, such as knowing how to use can openers, knowing the written language of nutritional facts or about expiration dates.
Now, being the one who is encountering different, equally simple and yet very scary barriers as an immigrant, I have become aware of a different kind of privilege. This is because unlike the people who immigrated to Vancouver that I met, I have the advantage of knowing that I can have it all taken care for me by people who will always be there.
Together, it is the differences between the lives of immigrants in Vancouver, the lives of my Chinese friends here, and myself, that have made me realize that I have entered into a different lifestyle and level of privilege – that of a highly ranked North American university graduate.
Though, as I have come to experience, privilege digs deeper than the facts everyday life, and begins to enter into the way a person thinks, and the way that people think about them. Upon reflection, the seed of change in the way I think, is knowing that this is my first full-time endeavor after completing my degree, and that – to put it bluntly – I will likely only have better opportunities in the future.
During my time here so far, I have come to notice that there are systems of behavior that work off of these ideas of opportunity and future security. For example, there seems to be a trend of some Chinese women approaching male English language teachers for, what my North American friends describe as, hoping to secure a better future for themselves. On the other side of that dynamic, some (but definitely not all) male English teachers don’t seem to mind treating women as disposable because they know that they are considered desirable.
I’d like to add a disclaimer here, because ever since I began to engage with these ideas I have felt that I was being too prejudicial in making assumptions about the motivations of other people. For example, if I had approached a foreign man with a better education and pay in Canada, I would likely consider myself to be open-minded, and not opportunistic. If he had wanted to be involved for a short period of time, I would probably think that it might be because he is leaving soon. In other words, I don’t think that the opportunities and financial aspects of male English language teachers’ lives are the only factors involved in the romantic dynamics between male English language teachers and Chinese women.
Furthermore, it’s not as though there aren’t opportunistic men and women in Canada, or any other parts of the world, this is simply an issue that is more apparent in a country where earning potential and the standards of living are different than in Canada. The real factor that I want to highlight that is not exclusive to China, is that the privileges of a university degree extend beyond resources and employment, and can easily spiral towards the eventuality of the exploitation of others.
However, there are two less disturbing factors to privilege that I have come to see here in China. The first, is that as always, the negative effects of privilege can be mitigated through observation, reflection, and a conscious effort to do as little harm as possible to others.
The second is that privilege is virtually synonymous with power, and that you can wield this power in many ways. For example, I can write about issues of privilege and exploitation. Anybody can show others respect and kindness. People that attain a well paying job can use their money to support others, perhaps community organization, local vendors or environmentally friendly organizations, sponsor children in developing countries, or help support a friend’s dream.
In the end, even though being able to attend a university may be an economic privileged, all the other possibilities that follow you beyond Graduation Day don’t need to be exploitive given the types of reflexivity that we, as university students, have been inspired to to use and carry with us.
*Usher, Alex and Jon Medow 2010 Global Higher Education Rankings: Affordability and Accessibility in Comparative Perspective. Higher Education Strategy Associates.