Claire Cousineau's New Book

Claire Cousineau's New Book
Claire Cousineau's New Book
Claire Cousineau's New Book
Alumna Claire Cousineau '16 has taken a unique and intentional path since graduating from Breck. From a gap semester before Middlebury College, work at Stanford’s Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, and now as an MBA candidate at Duke University, Claire’s journey highlights the power of following one's passions. We recently caught up with Claire to learn more about her impressive trajectory.
Breck Alumni Office (AO): Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you've been up to since you left Breck?
Claire Cousineau ’16 (CC): My name is Claire Cousineau. I graduated from Breck in 2016, and I'm currently living in Durham, North Carolina. After graduating from Breck, I took a gap semester before starting my undergrad at Middlebury College, where I continued my Chinese language studies. I majored in Chinese, studied abroad in China, and lived there while I worked over the summer. I then worked at Stanford's Center on China's Economy and Institutions, where I wrote policy briefs and co-authored a book. Now I am pursuing my MBA at Duke University.
AO: Can you tell me about Middlebury College and how it influenced your career path?
CC: Middlebury is known for its language programs, and my experience was very much centered around them. It was extremely rigorous, and that's where I solidified the foundation of language skills that I learned at Breck. Going on to study in China was an amazing experience; I felt like I was truly understanding the language that I had been learning for so long. My time there really deepened my passion for China, which I sought to further pursue while working at Stanford.
AO: Can you tell us a little bit about your work at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions?
CC: Our team’s mission at SCCEI is to put data about China from academia into the hands of people who can really do something with it. Half of my work involved collaborating on a two-page policy brief series (SCCEI China Briefs) that translated jargon-heavy academic research into something more accessible for the business and policy communities. I found this meaningful because so many of the conversations surrounding China these days are not grounded in data-driven research, and creating good policy hinges on having access to the best information. The other half of my job was writing a book on China's education system.
AO: Tell me about your book, The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China, and what motivated you and your co-authors to write it.
CC: The director of the center, Hongbin Li, sent me a Word document one day and asked me to turn it into a New York Times article. It turned out that he liked my writing style and asked me to write a book with him and his colleague, Ruixue Jia. The goal was to turn their research and lived experiences—from going through the Chinese education system to raising kids across countries—into a book that answered the question: "What can we learn about China from its education system, and how might that shed light on events occurring beyond China’s borders?" My job was to transform all of that into a narrative that someone unfamiliar with China might find interesting.
AO: Claire, what advice can you offer to current Breck students in the Mandarin language program who want to turn their passion for the language into a career?
CC: As much as you can, get to China. Being there was the first time I was able to put my passion for the language fully into practice. When you're immersed, you start to get a feeling for the nuances of the language. Things like walking into a restaurant and figuring out how to order a meal—you can’t get that from a textbook. My advice is to live there as much as you can and see what you're learning in practice.
AO: What does your next adventure look like?
CC: Right now, I'm pursuing my MBA at Duke. As much as I’ve enjoyed focusing on China, I'm at a point where I'm looking to zoom out and pivot away from China-exclusive work to a more global lens. My next adventure is really trying to carry on that thread of mission-driven work in my career.
AO: Okay, bonus question: What food do you miss most from your time in China?
Claire: For sure, baozi! I would have them every morning on my way to work. I always thought I’d see jiaozi (dumplings) every day, but I found that they were more associated with special occasions. I’ve found it hard to find good vegetarian baozi here in the U.S.
AO: Thank you, Claire! Breck Alumni, you can preorder her book The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China at Harvard Press or Amazon.

 

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