Why Swarthmore Essay
When I was little, my favorite thing to do was jumping over walls.It didn’t matter what lay beyond those cracked bricks, it was just the barrieritself I wanted to conquer. On many an occasion, I found myself being escortedfrom the premises by bemused security guards, trying unsuccessfully to hide mysheepish grin. It’s not as if I was some sort of juvenile delinquent. It’s justthat I live in China,a country teeming with walls, from the Great Wall which snakes through half ofthe country to the wall around my school.
As I grew older, I began to realize that there are other kinds ofwalls present in my life. The Great Firewall of China blocks Wikipedia.org.Local newspapers are censored over and over again before publication. Somegovernment-sponsored exhibitions forbid the public from entering. These wallsare usually invisible, but the inconvenience and disinformation are apparent.To break these types of barriers for the common good has therefore always beenmy ambition, and Swarthmore is the place that will teach me how to achieve mygoals. Although I first heard about Swarthmore three years ago from my friendwho studied there, it wasn’t until my experience in Daxi village that Irealized how suitable Swarthmore and I are to each other, both academically andsocially.
In the summer of 2006, I spent three weeks volunteering in Daxivillage, whose primary economic source was the sale of tobacco crops. I hadalways thought that the tobacco industry was a lucrative business, so why werethese farmers living in such terrible poverty and insularity? One villager Iworked with told me that it was because Hongta Tobacco Corporation has amonopoly over the provincial tobacco market, which depresses the price at thelocal level. As a result, the villagers do not get fair market value for theirproduct. Phenomena such as this occur throughout China, and are major contributorsto the socioeconomic inequality between the cities and the suburbs. I hadalways wanted to become a businessman, because commerce is a way to bring aboutchange. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon this particular economic pattern,in which business is causing part of the problem, that I realized it requiresmore than just business skills to resolve these types of situations.
During my college search, I looked at Swarthmore’s website and readthe blogs there. I saw students who were doing the kinds of things I was doing.Either by volunteering through the Summer Social Action Award or by working onpoverty projects in the town of Chester,Swarthmore students are testing ideas and looking for new ways to change theworld for the better. A liberal school, Swarthmore has not only a more flexibleeducation system than those of other schools, but also the mission of servicelearning. There, I will be able to take classes in any field I’m interested inand I can even design my own major if it can help me become a betterproblem-solver. More importantly, I will be surrounded by people who areinterested in a variety of subjects, but who share the same goal of having apositive impact to society. Participating in the Honors Program, my voice willbe heard by peers and faculty alike, and the exchange of ideas will empower mewith new points of view. In projects for the Sam Hayes Research Grant, I canresearch monopolies and their effect on the economy and society in China, buildingbridges between the social classes. Volunteering through the Summer SocialAction Award, not only will I connect academic learning with social service,but also learn the nuts and bolts of effective social activism.
Although I have grown up to a young man who is not interested injumping over the physical walls anymore, overcoming the barriers in thepolitics, economy and the society is still tempting me. In ten years, I hope tobe both an entrepreneur and a social activist. But wherever I am, I will bespreading the spirit “that is so Swarthmore”
