The Chinese one-child policy began in 1979 when the Chinese population was 972 million. It was started to curb the rapid population growth of China. Despite this, the population of China stands at 1.348 billion people, approximately a 38 percent growth. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to ease that policy, allowing couples that are both ethnic minorities or only children to have multiple offspring, as well as several other exceptions.

You might have glanced at the headline of this op-ed and instantly thought, “Why should I read a long op-ed about a single child policy in China, a country on the other side of the world?” Well, I absolutely don’t blame you if you do not make it past this intro paragraph. If you do, however, I want to tell you about the significance of these children without siblings and why they may affect you.

After discussing the single child policy in my Chinese 315 class the other day, I began to think about the sheer impact this policy, by one government, in one nation, has impacted the world. Recent headlines about China have all been about the end of the one-child policy. Whether this policy was a good thing for China and the world or not is still up to interpretation. Families will do everything for their only child, and a Chinese family is no different. My host family, during my semester in Beijing three years ago, was a typical Chinese family, where all the attention from the parents and grandparents was focused on making their son the best he could be.

This family hosted me, an American exchange student, because they figured that since their son would be going to America for college, he should interact with an American ahead of time to improve his English and cultural knowledge of the United States. He is no different than many Chinese kids these days, since the college admissions process in China is more rigorous than many other countries, including the United States. Many students and their families choose to send them to America or to other English-speaking countries for college, which is obvious to us, as there are hundreds of Chinese students on the campus of SLU alone. These students are taking spots in American colleges that maybe one of you may have wanted – if SLU was not your first choice – or your friends wanted. They are becoming completely bilingual, ultimately making them more prepared for jobs, especially those involving the international arena, than us Americans.

Many of our Chinese classmates are only children, and the pressure on them to perform in college is very high, causing some of them to work extremely hard. Others take a break after their rigorous days in Chinese high school, causing a great deal of anger amongst their parents (I attended a high school in China for a semester. It is pretty intense; I won’t lie.). The truth of the matter is that most of these Chinese students will go back to China and have children that they will make bilingual. While they may be competition for us, their children will be competition for our children. If the one-child policy is abolished, that will only mean more Chinese competitors.

So why are these large numbers of only-child, Chinese students a problem? Well, no matter what profession you work in, there is no hiding the fact that the world is becoming more globalized.

Increased access to international travel and Internet conferences are making it easier than ever to interact with people on the other side of the world. Our future colleagues won’t all be in the office next door; they could also be in an office half way around the world.

Currently, China is the second largest trading partner of the United States – as of 2013, economic trade between the nations was valued at $562 billion. Many large, multinational, American companies, such as General Motors, are heavily invested in maintaining our relationship with China. China is our third largest export market and largest import market. Since these students will be our future colleagues, and the economic reliance between the United States and China is increasingly intertwined, this should be on our radar.