Several middle school and high school students on summer break practice reading English at a riverbank in Yizheng city, East China's Jiangsu province, July 15, 2010. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

People skeptical of the value of higher education have got another excuse to lash out at those arguing in favor of higher studies. And that excuse is the sensational but tragic story of 38-year-old Xiao Lan (alias) who got her PhD from a US university but was repatriated to China recently after she lost her job and became homeless.

Her story came to light through a recent media report and has created a huge public controversy. The story has been widely circulated among netizens since being uploaded on the Internet a few days ago. Many websites and online forums have chosen to post the news with such sensational headlines or terms such as “US-educated” and “PhD holder” to highlight her admirable academic background in sharp contrast to her “failure to get a job” or hold one to one and “being repatriated home”.

Some media outlets have gone even farther, using such headlines as “A repatriated Chinese doctorate holder: I cannot do anything but study” to suggest that “people with a high academic degree are a group with high academic performance but low capabilities”. Unsurprisingly, these postings and re-postings have attracted comments from many netizens.

True, such sensational headlines and terms, along with photographs showing a haggard-looking 38-year-old woman, are difficult for people to link with a PhD holder from a US university, because, in the eyes of the common man, she should have been offered a well-paying job and living a relative comfort.

However, the truth is not that dramatic.

According to the Beijing General Station Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, Xiao Lan was suffering from some mental illness before being repatriated to China. She was found by local police in the US roving the streets with an expired visa and handed over to China’s border police. The officers from the Beijing station quoted Xiao Lan as saying that, because of her good academic record, she was recommended from a junior high school in a provincial capital in northwestern China all the way to a famous university in Beijing, from where she earned her bachelors’, master’s and doctorate degrees.