80,000 students in U.S. high schools are here on F-1 student visas. More than 9,200 are from China with dreams of using their American high school education as a ticket to a prestigious U.S. university.
So when three teens in Los Angeles County were arrested for the vicious attack on Yiran “Camellia” Liu from China, it sent shock waves back in her home country, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Liu, who attends Oxford School in Rowland Heights, is one of many parachute kids whose parents send their kids overseas for school and to stay with homestay families while the parents remain in China.
“I’m sure they suffer loneliness,” Rayford Fountain, one of the defense attorneys, said of parachute kids. “So they bond with other kids in the small Chinese circles with no supervision, no one to turn to for assistance. So these things can get out of control.”
Although just three are facing charges in the attack, many others were involved and are among the many international students from China.
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The suspects charged are Yunyao “Helen” Zhai, 19, Xinlei “John” Zhang, 18, and Yuhan “Coco” Yang, 18.
The homestay industry is largely unregulated.
“There are a lot of scams and scandals, and I believe it’s about time we should set some standards,” said Joaquin Lim who runs a company that places international Chinese students in American schools .
You can read more about concerns for the homestay industry, parachute kids and this criminal case in the Los Angeles Times.
