Why did I leave US after seven years?

After living in the US for seven years, Sharon Shi and her family have relocated to China. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

I often asked myself:  Even if lots of people say that I've got it all, including a good job, a loving husband, a cute daughter, is this really everything I would ever want? Is this how I plan to spend the rest of my life, right here?

My answer was negative. I questioned myself many times and came to the realization that I did not want to give in yet. I was not ready to give up on the unpredictability of the rest of my life. Leaving the States was not really a hard decision. I never really valued so-called "ownership", i.e., personal property and such. Owning a house, a car and other stuff means very little to me. What I truly desired was to gain experiences and wisdom in life. I gradually started disliking the person I had become in the last seven years living in the States. It was time to leave and embrace new experiences. 

Many people that we know also shared tons of concerns regarding our children’s education after they found out that I had actually packed up and left the country. The most straightforward and yet interesting question went something like this: "Isn't American education better for the kids? Why do you not like it?" 

There seems to be a popular opinion among the general public that the American education system values creativity thus is much superior to the Chinese system.

I worked as a certified college-counselor as well as the center director for an after-school tutoring company in Silicon Valley for three years. I felt extremely lucky to be in the position to work closely with many students ranging from primary school to high school.As a result, I came to the conclusion that I personally had little faith in the American educational system, especially for the years between primary to high school.

The most common and yet most difficult factor for parents and students to fight against the negative influences in American schools lies in its anti-intellectualism. The US is drastically different from any East Asian country or even European country where there is usually a tradition of scholarship and respect for learning. There has never been such a tradition in the US. Pragmatism is highly valued in the States. Going to college and doing years of learning is often viewed as merely a way for the students to "actually find a job/learn a trade/ or simply do something later."

Anti-intellectualism is so deeply imbedded in American society that even students are negatively affected at a fairly young age. Frequently, the kids who love learning are categorized as "nerds" and athletes are seen as the "cool" kids.