Parents -- They’re only one...tent away? ~Dani
The transition of leaving home and moving into college is admittedly difficult for the student—and their parents or caretakers. While many first-time college students may understandably have apprehensions, fears, and doubts about leaving home and moving into a new space, their parents caretakers are probably experiencing the same emotions too—but perhaps, to a much higher degree. Because of these apprehensions that both students and their parents face as they walk through another door of the unknown, many universities have devoted their efforts in easing this transition for the students, such as when the respective universities hold orientations and welcome events for them. However, it isn’t every day that we hear of universities making the same efforts for the students’ parents. Many universities have been known to hold one-day informative sessions for parents to learn about what their student will be going through for the next four years, which includes the current university that I’m attending. Even though my parents did not attend this informational session, I think that it helps distinguish how different certain countries are to one another. I think that parents in America, for the most part, value independence in their children, and the dynamic of some relationships may not be as close. Thus, parents’ involvement when their kids transition into college may not be as attached or long-lasting. However according to a recently published New York Times article, it seems as though Chinese universities are making even greater efforts to accommodate these transitioning parents.
Misleading Headline
However, while The New York Times article talks about China’s latest efforts in great detail regarding the issue of transitioning students and parents, the respective article introduces the issue with a rather misleading headline, which validates their immediate inclusion of headline bias into their article. According to the article, which was written by Javier C. Hernandez, Hernandez headlines the article with “Welcome to College. Your Parents are in the Tents Next Door.” Before even reading the article, Hernandez makes it seem as though all colleges are doing this because it’s so generalized. Hernandez doesn’t specify that the location of focus is China, making his title misleading.
Bias by Omission
Looking further into the article, Hernandez mentions that several universities, which includes Tianjin University which is located in China, are allowing transitioning parents of first-year college students to stay in tents in the university’s gymnasium while their children settle into their dorms. See the corresponding visual below, and visit the website to the corresponding photo, in which they talk about these news in a Daily Mail article. While the Daily Mail article also talks about China’s efforts in bringing in tents of love for parents, it also specifically mentions that the parents get to stay at the university for three days, which other sources, namely, The New York Times, didn’t mention. Again, as was my focus in my first blog, this exclusion of information from The New York Times demonstrates the presence of bias by omission on The New York Times’ end. You can check out my previous blog in which I specifically address The New York Times’ biases in their articles, and why I think they may be biased in the first place, here.
However, still referring to The New York Times, this unusual arrangement enables parents to be near their children temporarily, as many of the families traveled thousands of miles to their respective universities. Some of these families come from a low-economic status. For some other families, given that China had a strict “one child only” policy up until 2016, the child that they’re sending off to college is most likely their only child, making the transition just as difficult, in addition to their low economic status.
As I attempt to connect this story into my own personal life, I can say that I understand why the Chinese universities may have felt compelled to do this. For me, I grew up in a nurturing household and am raised by traditional Filipino parents. With that in mind, I was raised by parents who always go above and beyond when it comes to taking care of me and always try to make things easier for me whenever possible. I’m very attached to my parents, so when the time actually came for me to pick a university to attend, my family and I all agreed that it would be best to attend a local university. Attending a local, nearby university would enable me to not have to dorm, which, in turn, has saved my family a lot of money, but my decision to attend a university that is only fifteen minutes away from home was not solely made to financially accommodate us. Like I’ve said before—I’m pretty close with my parents and I knew that being far away from them would cause me to suffer from terrible homesickness. In the end, we chose what we thought was best for all of us, and I can confidently say that I’m very happy with my decision to attend CSUSB.
Therefore, even though having parents stay in tents for a few days in China while their kids move into their dorms may seem a little ridiculous at first, when one takes the time to dig deeper and realizes the sentimental purpose behind this arrangement, it makes me feel that other universities may benefit from this as well. This makes me realize that these parents who chose to stay in small tents just to be with their child during this major transition, is something definitely worth saluting.
References
1. Original NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/world/asia/china-university-tents-parents.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Feducation-learning
2. CSUSB parent orientation: https://www.csusb.edu/orientation/parent-family-orientation
3. China’s one-child-only policy: https://www.britannica.com/topic/one-child-policy
4. Picture taken from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3774223/Incredible-pictures-hundreds-Chinese-parents-sleeping-tents-love-send-children-university.html