Opinion | When US universities stop admitting subpar Chinese students, the cheating will end too

Swayed by the financial incentives, some universities are less rigorous in accepting Chinese students who can pay their way. This practice is unfair to all students, including those who were accepted, some of whom resort to cheating

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 11:00pm, 18 Mar 2019Updated: 3:15am, 19 Mar 2019

The bombshell revelations about a scheme by which wealthy parents in the US allegedly conspired to fraudulently get their children accepted into elite universities have opened the door to wider criticism of the injustices in university admissions.

These include the ongoing debates about affirmative action, accusations of racism, and legacy admissions, among others.

Yet this most recent scandal overshadowed another case that made headlines this month and which sheds light on another issue plaguing campuses: accusations of academic dishonesty among Chinese students in the US.

When I enrolled in the University of Maryland’s agriculture programme in 1950, I was one of just four Chinese undergraduates on campus. I would be the only one of this group to graduate. Everyone, from my classmates and professors, to the people I encountered outside of school, treated me warmly, especially when they discovered I was Chinese.

Today, Chinese students at the University of Maryland face an inherently different educational experience. A professor at the university resigned last week following criticism over a statement he reportedly made to his class that “all Chinese students cheat their way into the US”.

David Weber made the comments after accusing multiple Chinese students of cheating during the final exam for one of his courses. A subsequent university investigation did not fault most of the students who were accused, and they in turn accused Weber of racism.

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