author/yuzu

editor/yan ruyi

amid the trend of middle-class consumption downgrade, international schools have become the most shaky leaf on the tree.

many international schools are not peaceful at the beginning of this school year.

first, there was news of a wave of international schools closing down, including some of the top schools:

shenzhen houde academy owes more than 10 million yuan in rent, leaving 800 students with nowhere to go;

nord anglia in fangshan, beijing also went bankrupt. the solution given by the school was that students could transfer to the shunyi campus.

the distance between the two campuses is more than 90 kilometers.

〓 it costs 200 yuan to take a taxi from fangshan to shunyi. if students want to catch the 8 a.m. class, they need to leave home around 6:30.

the tuition fee is 200,000 to 300,000 yuan a year, and the school is closed while the students are studying. parents who can afford this tuition have spent a lot of money to buy a broken heart.

the remaining schools that have not closed down are also operating with trepidation. the international departments of public schools, which were popular in previous years, have basically lowered their admission scores this year.

all of these things illustrate a reality:

international schools are no longer the first choice for middle-class families.

a few years ago, it was popular to say that "a mortgage of nearly 10 million, a spouse who is a full-time housewife, and children attending international schools" were the "three deadly traps" of the middle class in this era.

and now, the middle class seems to have figured out life.

international schools, aren’t they popular anymore?

when the middle class starts to downgrade their education consumption

xiaolin's parents were staunch supporters of international schools.

a few years ago, they sent xiaolin to a well-known international school in beijing, hoping that she would enter top universities in europe and the united states through this path. however, as time went on, they found that this path was not as smooth as they had imagined.

first of all, tuition fees.the annual tuition fee of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan is only part of the expenditure. there are more additional expenses. foreign teacher classes, horse riding, piano, summer camps, every extracurricular activity is expensive. at the same time, the cost of studying abroad in the future is a huge burden - the tuition fee plus living expenses alone will cost 500,000 to 1 million yuan per year, which can easily reach several million yuan in four years.

in addition, xiaolin's parents also found thatthe teaching quality of international schools does not seem to be as ideal as expected.foreign teachers have a high mobility, and although the curriculum system emphasizes internationalization, children's autonomy in learning has not been improved, and they also lack a lot of basic knowledge, including chinese literacy.

the quality of education in international schools is one of the reasons why many parents are hesitant.

kevin transferred from a public school to an international school when he was in the second year of junior high school. surprisingly, his academic performance was only average in the public school, but after transferring to the international school, he ranked fifth in the grade.

"during the evening self-study period, i was still doing my homework in the dormitory as usual, and surprisingly, many classmates came to visit. they were very surprised, wondering how someone could actually study! they all gathered around to watch me do my homework, as if they were admiring an alien."

kevin used to attend a key public school in the city. at that time, the teachers would joke that if you don’t work hard, you can only go to the xx school next door. in the eyes of the locals, that international school that accepts rich boys is undoubtedly "unlearning".

〓 stills from "a little dilemma"

there are also some hidden costs that cannot be measured.

the most striking thing on the international school calendar is the colorful holidays. in addition to statutory holidays, there are also spring breaks, christmas breaks, etc. xiaolin's parents are both corporate executives, but this has become a disadvantage here.for families who can afford to send their children to international schools, it is standard to have a full-time mother or family nanny who can match their children's entire schedule.

when other mothers came to the parent-teacher conference wearing platinum bags and patek philippe watches, xiaolin's mother suddenly realized that they couldn't force themselves to fit in because they were in different circles.

just like any other industry, both high-end and low-end schools are doing well, but the middle class is neither up nor down.

in the stage of rapid income growth, spending more money to buy children's childhood, experience and education is an unquestionable choice.

but after the growth slowed down,as uncertainty about the future increases, more and more middle-class families are beginning to re-evaluate their choices.

youyou's parents once considered the international route.

as "small town test-takers" who have fought their way through a province with a large number of college entrance examination candidates, they are very reluctant for their child to repeat their old path and instead want to give him a complete childhood.

when he was in kindergarten, we chose an international kindergarten for him with a monthly tuition of 16,800 yuan.

“the basketball court in that kindergarten is bigger than the one in my university.”

youyou’s father was very satisfied with this choice.

〓 a kindergarten converted from a courtyard house in beijing is designed by the architectural design company mad

however, his job has entered a high-risk period before his child graduated from kindergarten. although he is not unemployed yet, many of his colleagues have received big gifts and left. all the middle-class people around him are complaining about the decline in income and the difficulty in doing business.

it makes people have to be prepared for danger in times of peace.

while your child is still young, transfer back to a public kindergarten that costs 800 yuan. this can save a lot of money every month and even allow for the expenses of one or two extracurricular classes.

the teachers all have certificates that can be checked, and food purchases are announced daily, which gives us peace of mind.

youyou’s parents said that they should earn as much as they can in the future.

i will not consider studying abroad in the future. i will just go to a public school wherever it takes me. it may be a more stable way to save 3-4 million yuan for my son's education.

when ivy league students can't find jobs

in the past, many parents thought that sending their children to international schools or studying abroad was a sure-win investment. obtaining a diploma from a prestigious foreign university is not only an increase in human capital, but also means better jobs and income.

however, times have changed.

the days when fang hongjian could get a job in a university with a "clayton" university diploma are gone forever. if they stay in the country where they studied to find a job, international students face many challenges such as visa restrictions, cultural differences and fierce competition. it is common for them to not be able to get a work visa or find an ideal job after graduation.

this year, a new term has become popular on the internet: "lanweiwa". this concept is similar to "lanweilou", but it can be further subdivided into many types.

children who are pursuing an international career may very likely become “defeasible children” or “unfinished children” if they are not careful.

a while ago, there was a very popular article in the parent circle, titled "yale full-scholarship master's degree student: submitted nearly a thousand resumes but failed to find a job."

the heroine of the article, lin qi, is a full-scholarship master of arts from yale university. she speaks three languages: chinese, japanese and english. however, she applied to 800 companies in the united states in five months from october last year, but failed to find a job. after returning to china, she also had trouble finding a job. finally, based on her interest, she took a part-time job in a tarot card shop, earning a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan.

lin qi's spouse can provide her with a family visa valid for 5 years, and she will return to the united states to try to find plan b in her life.

but not everyone has the bottoming option.

there are many examples of people who spend millions studying abroad and only earn 7,000 yuan a month after returning home. moreover, foreign students are often looked down upon by their bosses, who do not understand the ways of the world and are not as hardworking and adaptable as local graduates.

you can also stay in developed countries to work, but the us, canada, australia and new zealand are all equally expensive. except for a few newly rich techies, most international students' starting salary after graduation is only enough to pay for their rent and household expenses. if you want to travel, buy big items or buy a house, you still have to rely on your family for support.

studying abroad is no longer the "golden key to life", and more and more parents are beginning to doubt:

is this investment really worth it?

international schools themselves are also very worried

when haley visited an international school, the open day event was scheduled with a black teacher.

the child hid behind her, and the teacher in charge of the activity hurriedly explained that it might be because the child felt that she was different from them. we have many teachers with "normal skin color" in our daily teaching.

hearing these "tinted glasses" words, haley, who had studied abroad in north america, took a deep breath in her heart. the child didn't hide back because of this. he would naturally take a step back when he met someone who was too enthusiastic.

however, she also observed that there seemed to be fewer and fewer foreign teachers from europe and the united states in beijing's major universities, and that they were replaced by countries such as the philippines, kenya, and south africa.

along with the changes in quantity, the "quality" of schools has also changed - the number of foreign teachers has also decreased significantly.

in 2020, the ministry of education issued new regulations on the appointment of foreign teachers, clarifying that foreign teachers need to have qualifications and certificates to engage in teaching in china. in order to meet the new standards, many schools are faced with the difficulty of hiring foreign teachers, and some have even had to reduce or suspend the setting of foreign teacher courses.

middle-class parents who are concerned about cost-effectiveness think carefully and realize that after investing 200,000 to 300,000 yuan a year, the results of their children being taught by foreign teachers are just so-so.

upon further thought, it is true that more children in international schools are good at english, but those who are good at english basically rely on family investment and after-school tutoring.

reuters reported that hillhouse capital has recently reached an agreement to acquire part of the campuses of dulwich college in a transaction valued at us$600 million.

however, the view of the onlookers is that hillhouse has money and is investing it indiscriminately.

with the combined effects of consumption downgrade, declining birth rate and withdrawal of foreign capital, international schools have gone from being a popular commodity to a hot potato.

the closure of nord anglia in fangshan, beijing, illustrates the importance of site selection. even if backed by a large group, it is still difficult to survive without a sufficient user base in the surrounding area. there are many international schools in shunyi villa district, but now there is also pressure to recruit students. in the past, students had to rely on connections or queue up long in advance to enter schools, but now they have to increase marketing expenses and start holding recruitment activities.

middle-class families who regard "ivy league" as their career have even come up with a way to bypass international schools:

direct full-time study of a-level courses (cambridge courses) or ap (american courses).

the so-called full-time study means leaving full-time high school and directly choosing an institution to enroll in classes. generally, the class is small or 1v1, and the teacher pays more attention and follow-up, which makes it easier to achieve results.

the disadvantages are also obvious. how different is full-time study from the sea of ​​questions in public schools? it is somewhat contrary to the original intention of parents to choose the international route.

the campus experience in high school is also very rich and wonderful. looking back at his high school, kevin feels that in terms of academics, this international school is indeed not as good as the public school he attended in the past, but he prefers the free and relaxed atmosphere of international schools.

he said that in the past, in public schools, everyone only focused on grades and didn't know much about each other. in an international school, he had a lot of free time and various club activities, and he got to know the diverse sides of his classmates.

finally, kevin was admitted to a very good liberal arts college in the united states as he wished. among his high school classmates, some went to ivy league schools, some gave up college to start a business, and some went to south korea to become idol trainees.

however, he was smart and had already set up a study abroad document studio with several classmates before graduation, determined to do what yu minhong failed to accomplish.

“we all have bright and different futures.”