Is an overseas education worth it?

Truth (US)

There is a perception (or misconception) that American education is the best in the world. Chinese parents, who highly value education, therefore push their kids to American colleges. Increasingly, they are also sending their children overseas earlier, at junior or high school level. American education teaches critical thinking and creativity. Chinese education is based too much on memorization. This style of thinking, however popular, is not correct. The nonquantifiable forms of learning come from a student's innate interest and appetite for the subject. Many great entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs never finished college. So much for the vaunted higher education.

Yale University sophomore Yupei Guo, left, walks with friend Joseph Lachman on the school's campus in New Haven, Conn, US, Nov 20, 2014. With more undergraduates coming from overseas than ever, some Ivy League universities are reaching out in new ways to attract international students of more varied backgrounds -- and particularly from China, which sends more students to the U.S. than any other country.[Photo/IC]