Are you an advocate of diversity and inclusion?

That’s good, because part of diversity and inclusion in schools today comes from an influx of Chinese students, and they’re not immigrants.

They are exchange students, and they are China’s Trojan horse.

University infiltration

Since the early 1980s, Chinese students have flocked to American universities. College students sought a Western-style education that would give them an advantage when beginning their professional careers.

Today the influx of exchange students are also part of Confucius Institutes housed at more than 100 universities in the US. The Chinese government sanctions these institutes and approves all curriculum taught at the institute. In a sense, the Confucius Institutes usurp American free speech rights, limiting academic content and thought to that aligned with Chinese politics.

Confucius Institutes are not confined to America; these academic dens of higher learning have infiltrated universities around the world.

Dropping in on high school

The value of an American education has not gone unnoticed in China. Chinese students fill high school classroom seats as quickly as possible. Chinese parents and their children value American high school diplomas almost as much as they do an American university degree.

The American high school diploma is the bridge to entrance in an American university, and three states have become favorites for Chinese exchange students: California, Michigan, and Texas.  In fact, Chinese students make up nearly half of all high school exchange students in the United States.

Chinese exchange students have been called the Parachute Generation. They may be more of a paratrooper generation because they are matriculating in US schools in overwhelming numbers.

What it means

A Chinese proverb states, “You will never lose a battle if you know your own situation as well as that of your enemy.”

The United States is in a precarious position. We owe China $1.1 trillion in debt, and we need to understand our situation. While the debt is unlikely to be a coercive tool, it does make China a power player.

Chinese exchange students may be secretly getting a Western education to learn about those that China perceives as an enemy. These students are learning firsthand about Western culture, and they immerse themselves in English. Exchange students are China’s competitive edge in assuming prominence as an international presence in a global economy.

These exchange students have become the Trojan horse of China. These students will return to their homeland to one day become the most powerful nation in the world.