"新城市贫民":留学热的代价

A recent audit at Dickinson State University in the United States will have made uncomfortable reading for parents in China.
对于中国学生家长们来说，一份于近日公布的针对美国狄克森州立大学的审查报告将令他们感到不安。

Over the last four years, the college in North Dakota had issued diplomas to 400 foreign students despite their failure to complete the required coursework.
过去四年中，这所位于美国北达科他州的学府中，有400名留学生在未能完成必修课程的条件，却仍然拿到了大学文凭。

Roughly 95 percent of these students were Chinese.
其中，大约有95%为中国留学生。

It was just one of several controls "waived or intentionally overridden or ignored" by DSU, which has again cast a spotlight on the risks families face in paying out huge sums to have their children educated overseas.
这仅仅是狄克森州立大学在管理监督方面的漏洞之一，对于这些漏洞，该校“或置之不理，放任自流，或有意掩饰”。这一事件，也使人们关注的目光再次投向那些支付高昂费用送子女留学的家庭所面临的种种风险之上。

Such investments often create what sociologists call "the new urban poor".
此类的留学投资通常都会导致社会学家口中所谓的“新城市贫民”的产生。

"Parents are surrendering their last resources to wager them on a child's future by sending them abroad," said Lao Kaisheng, an education policy researcher at Capital Normal University. "If these children don't get the decent jobs and the salary that is expected, their parents will naturally be sucked into poverty."
首都师范大学教育政策研究员劳凯声表示：“家长花光所有积蓄送子女出国是在拿钱赌孩子的明天。如果孩子们找不到体面的工作、没有预期的收入，那么家长自然就身陷贫困。”

The desire to send offspring to schools overseas has existed for decades, although today it is largely fueled by the belief that it gives youngsters an advantage in the tough domestic employment market.
这种父母迫切想要送子女出国深造的情况已存在了几十年的时间了，只不过如今，家长认为出国留学能让孩子在竞争激烈的国内就业市场占据优势，因此，这种想法就愈演愈烈了。

However, not many Chinese families have enough saved in the bank to cover the tuition fees and accommodation and living expenses. Instead, many are choosing to take on massive debt at a critical time in their own life.
然而，只有少数的中国家庭有足够的积蓄来支付学费、住宿费及生活费。很多家长会选择在自己人生的关键时刻背负高额债务。

It is a gamble, experts say, and the stakes are high.
专家称，这就是一场风险很高的赌博。

"People need to think over the input and potential output, as well as the risks that any investment brings," said Zhang Jianbai, who runs a private school in Yunnan province.
云南一所私立学校校长张健柏（音译）表示：“人们需要企业仔细考虑资金投入、潜在回报以及这项投资所带来的风险。”

He said that parents in small cities across his southwestern province, many of whom earn just 2,000 yuan a month, often sell their apartments to fund their children's study overseas.
他说，在云南西南部的很多小城市里，很多月收入只有2000元的家长通常会选择卖掉房子来资助子女出国留学。

"Those who are now suffering trouble or financial difficulties would not have been in this position had they chosen a more suitable way to educate their children," he added.
他还表示：“如果这些家长能够选择一种更恰当的方式来教育子女，那么他们就不会像现在这样陷入遭遇困境，遭遇经济危机。”