Veljohnson Yeung
School age kids sent abroad for studies Parents who brought up the trend of sending school age kids abroad to study are the most pitiful people ever. School age kids are at the process of growing up and defining themselves. Sending them oversea to study will generate many disadvantages, for instance, self growth, growing process and community issues. Every single one of these disadvantages can affect kids deeply that any advantage will not be able overcome. First of all, school age kids need their family’s care, love, and education more than living under a high expectation environment. They are at the age of defining themselves and realizing who they are or what they have to do for their future. According to the “Shenzhen Daily” newspaper, thirty percent and above of Chinese students who study abroad are at the age between 12 and 17. Parents who choose to send their kids away during this period may take a risk of having their kids giving in to the dark side; the dark side meaning bad habits. It’s human nature that people need something to support themselves and depend on, for example, a friend of mine who got sent away since Grade 6 and is currently now in Grade 12. He is a good and friendly guy however he met some bad influences. He depended on his friends so much that he doesn’t even go to school and spent all his time and money with them and thought that as long as he’s with them he will not need family or feel again. Not only that, his parents had very high expectation of him and he did not feel comfortable at all. He started taking drugs and alcohol and thought that this can relieve his stress. His parents never realized that what they did for him would harm him that badly without gaining anything in a positive way. Moreover, these school age kids are forced to be independent all of a sudden which would affect their growth not only physically but also mentally. They are now forced to make their own decisions and they have to take responsibility for it when they are just kids. They might not know what is really good or bad for them and if they make a wrong decision they might not be able to handle the responsibility. For example, my friend decided to apply to college and the reason is not because he couldn’t reach the requirement of the university but because he thinks that there will be less work in college and in my opinion that is the stupidest choice ever. In todays society, people will obviously prefer a university degree more than a college diploma. This is one of those decisions where people do not want to get it wrong because it affects their lives forever. Furthermore, there are many things that people face when sent overseas at a young age and this may deal with things like the community, for example, language, culture, racial, ethnicity, financial, and etc. Society nowadays give in to the common stereotypes that is now generally accepted. Let me put it this way, it’s a common stereotype that Asians can do math, blacks are violent, and etc. Though when people try to blend in, they will eventually get to know some different races but the ones who become close are usually of the same ethnicity; we see this very often in today’s social groups. More importantly, language and culture issues have effectively affected people to join the community as well. I went to Canada for three years and