Studying is top priority for overseas students

Chinese students pose for a photo at a graduation ceremony in Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia on Feb 11, 2012.[Photo/IC]

Two students from the mainland studying at Pace University in New York, sell "authentic" Beijing pancakes from a bright yellow food truck on Broadway outside Columbia University every Monday and Tuesday. They sell the pancakes for $8, ten times the price in Beijing, and they can sell 150 pancakes a day. A comment in Southern Metropolis Daily said on Monday:

Overseas Chinese students starting a pancake business, like graduates from top Chinese universities selling pork in a market, make a good story.

To be honest, I quite admire the two women for successfully running their pancake business. First, it is comparatively difficult to get a license for such a business in New York, many are on the waiting list for a long time. Second, Chinese students in US universities often have to read through pages and pages of handouts every day as part of their studies. It cannot have been easy for the two students to study and run their business.

But even so, I suggest that the parents of the two students call them to stop them, as their studies must take priority. Even if they take the business as a project for their business management theories, it is not a project of high quality. And it is not fitting for the students to sell pancakes and be appraised for that, when they are yet to complete their study requirements.