This New York Times article about China sending more undergrad students to the U.S. this year caught my eye today. Why? Rumor at my Minnesota college has it that we have more students from China than Iowa this year. It turns out this isn't true (but there are more Chinese students than North Dakotan students and 1/3 of all our foreign students are Chinese-- hey it's a big country.)
The article's not interesting apart from this fact-- it talks about the good that foreign students can do for the economy, which I though came out of left field. But it does mention that American universities and colleges are angling for more international students. Some might argue that American students' places at universities are being taken by international students, but really the numbers of international students is tiny compared to the number of American undergraduates. I think it sounds like a win-win situation. Foreign students who want an American education get it. American schools get a new student market ($) and international connections.
American students have a lot to gain from international connections, too. And I'm gonna take a stab at cliche and say that American student can learn from international students who have another perspective on the world and American life. In an interview with three Chinese students who studied at American colleges and wrote a book about it, one student said:
"I was really surprised to see how much peer pressure can work on American college students and how much people want to be the same -- to dress the same way and talk in the same tone" (interview:insidehighered)
The student might have been talking about Greek life, and I'm not agreeing with what she's saying, but it gets you thinking...I got to thinking about international students that I've known. Particularly a German exchange student in one of my English classes. She actually spoke up and had some different opinions about the texts we read. Unfortunately, the rest of us seemed incapable of responding to her perspective and ideas. We could have learned a lot...maybe we weren't prepared to interact with ideas different from your traditional English class discussion trajectory.
The article's not interesting apart from this fact-- it talks about the good that foreign students can do for the economy, which I though came out of left field. But it does mention that American universities and colleges are angling for more international students. Some might argue that American students' places at universities are being taken by international students, but really the numbers of international students is tiny compared to the number of American undergraduates. I think it sounds like a win-win situation. Foreign students who want an American education get it. American schools get a new student market ($) and international connections.
American students have a lot to gain from international connections, too. And I'm gonna take a stab at cliche and say that American student can learn from international students who have another perspective on the world and American life. In an interview with three Chinese students who studied at American colleges and wrote a book about it, one student said:
"I was really surprised to see how much peer pressure can work on American college students and how much people want to be the same -- to dress the same way and talk in the same tone" (interview:insidehighered)
The student might have been talking about Greek life, and I'm not agreeing with what she's saying, but it gets you thinking...I got to thinking about international students that I've known. Particularly a German exchange student in one of my English classes. She actually spoke up and had some different opinions about the texts we read. Unfortunately, the rest of us seemed incapable of responding to her perspective and ideas. We could have learned a lot...maybe we weren't prepared to interact with ideas different from your traditional English class discussion trajectory.
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