A Leading American University with International Reach? This is the vision my university lives by. Although they do a good job with recruiting international students, they fail to integrate them. I started tutoring English to the international students during my sophomore year of college. Through this I was able to make several friends from many different cultures, religions, and philosophies. One day, I was told by a friend from Saudi Arabia that he was surprised we were friends. Most of the American students avoided him and some made outright racist comments. Needless to say, I was shocked.
As I began to ponder this issue, I realized there were several reasons for this (mostly) unintentional racism. At my university, the international students whose English isn’t up to American University level have to go through an English study program. This program is located in one building, with little crossover between American students and the international students. Because of this, many international student don’t have many opportunities to befriend American students.
I have also found that many international students are nervous to converse with American students because their English ability is lower than they think it should be. Many of these students merely require a friend to be patient and strive to try to understand them as they learn the English language.
A third reason this causal racism exists is a fear of the unfamiliar. Students who come to America to study are from all different backgrounds and world-views. Unfortunately, this often leads to a belief that the person who is different from the “norm” in U.S. universities is bad or weird. Whereas, the international students are in the U.S. to study and learn about American customs and are inhibited from learning them because they have different customs.
As the world globalizes and countries become more and more interdependent, it is vital for future generations to adapt well to unfamiliarity and be open to understanding the nuances of other cultures across the world. As understanding grows, we (as the human race) will be able to accept differences and learn to love all. Our generations can be the start of a movement of peace and understanding of all cultures.
