I would like to add my own personal experience on this, as I am a highly-qualified public high school teacher from the US, who is basically feeding the schools you mention in the article.

The students we get in these programs cannot be pegged into one box. On one end, there are the new money brats, who will likely be gladhanded through the system all the way to the end of their BA degrees. Entire offices filled with Americans and Chinese alike work through the week to engineer the perfect applications, often using teachers' names without consent for recommendations, and inventing profiles on the fly to ensure their applications get through at some of the highest schools in the country. On the other hand, and definitely not to be downplayed, are the honest, hard-working, legitimately genius-level students who are entrenched in many decades of intellectual tradition, and simply wish to acquire the degree.

Once back in China, these degrees (if at a same-tier school) are generally more respected due to the adaptability they demonstrate. So a degree at BeiDa (Beijing U) versus a degree at MIT would lose when applying for job in Shanghai. Out of the students I've taught, I would say that during my honest moments with them, about half of them intended to take advantage of the emigration opportunity their study abroad presented, despite the fact that it would be likely that they would lose their citizenship. The stereotypes have some truth, and many Chinese view North America as the holy land of civilization. Whether this is by choice or by influence is unanswerable, but I can tell you from experience that the number of Anglos in the street advertising in the high-end shopping districts is almost always over-represented, and Chinese brands among the locals are practically the stigma of the lower class. In my experience, this attitude is completely undeserved. The things I have used and purchased here, from everyday items up to cars and motorcycles, are usually of quality far beyond what I had paid for them.

If you look at the visa requirements, you can see how this is not going to stop any time soon, and this is one point that cannot be ignored: merely to enter the country, you need to demonstrate the balance of about 4 years tuition, existing as readily available currency. That's right - you need to show a balance of about 100K before even setting foot in the US or Canada, or you simply cannot play. This is music to the ears of our governments if you think about it. Here is a 4 year tourist who will take nothing from you, guaranteed to spend their money supporting real estate, education, and anything else that might be in the city, at no cost to you whatsoever.

So the appeal, and the topic of discussion here, should not be restricted to the domain of the Universities and their affiliates. This goes a little deeper, in fact: to the countries themselves.

Last I checked, dumbass, the passport still worked, the word "ex-patriate" was still in the dictionary, and people can still continue to emigrate to other countries (officially or otherwise).

What is this view now? That the United States is a one-way ticket to eternal damnation? If there's nothing to go back to, what's been deserted?

Get a grip buddy. You're supposed to outgrow "cops 'n robbers" at the tender age of 12.

What is this talk about desertion? Have we tapped into some global conspiracy, where the United States is a one-way ticket of eternal persecution? Last I checked, emigration (official or unofficial) was legal, and the word ex-patriate is still in the dictionary. Get a grip, buddy. Your supposed to outgrow playing "cops 'n robbers" when you reach the tender age of 12.

There is heavy unrest at the elite level China now, and the authorities are handling it in the typical full-retard fashion with which authority typically handles things in general.

Two weeks ago, Bo Xilai was removed by Wen Jiabao. This conflict has been buzzing all over the news here, and it is profoundly important.

Xilai was a classic Chinese Marxist (think "Cultural Revolution" posters) who was steering Chongqing towards a social democracy. His major contributions included deposing the mafia, which angered the businessmen, and offering low-income housing. Wen Jiabao, on the other hand, is very similar to Deng Xiaoping in that he espouses the newer vision of a "free-market" China, where invisible hands reign and free market is the best path to their prosperity.

The Marxist side of China has been raging ever since, and much of these people have been put on a "terrorist watch list", so to speak.

On the other hand, China still very much has an underground internet presence. You just haven't heard of it. As someone who is living here, I assure you, discourse is far from stifled.

You mean it's a brilliant invention, released by a private company, but no one has access to evaluate it? Somehow, this company is going to surpass the utterly painful grammar correction offered by Microsoft Word, and we're supposed to believe it? What blantant advertising. This stuff never lives up to its promises. Hype.