Cultural Assimilation

All over most college campuses there is a group of students that commonly get over looked; the international students. International students make up a good majority of a lot of college campuses. Statistics have shown that 1,000,000 international students are enrolled at universities in the United States of America (Migration Policy Institute). I chose to observe a group of international students at universities, because this is a topic that is of interest to me. Since international students are so common at universities, they play a big part in our society. It does seem that possibly at times, international students can get overlooked because at many universities they are in the minority. Even though there are many differences between non international and international students, we all share one purpose; to get an education at a university in the United States of America.

Coming to the US as an international female student is a highly exciting and, at times, challenging learning opportunity. However, international students often arrive with quite personal goals and tend to feel somewhat limited in their brand-new educational surroundings. Accordingly, Dongxiao Qin has interviewed several international female students that study in the US, and asked them what advice they would offer prospective students who would find themselves in their situation if they wanted to come and study here.

In modern times U.S. colleges and universities have more international students than ever before. The number of international students in the classrooms has increased dramatically the past couple of years. When I started classes here in US, I feel as if we, the foreign students were just more students. I saw it as people coming from different places but not different thoughts. After I started classes I realized that international students think in another way. We see things with different perspectives because we come from other cultures. We have a perspective based on our experience out of the country. Which means, we get to different conclusions. We have been raised different than people here in U.S.A. They were thought in another way, so we think different. I realized that, students from other countries can contribute a lot to a country. Not only economically, international students contribute culturally, as well with making improvements in institutions and education. They help by making the international relations of the country better. Outside the classroom, international students have an impact on more than just the education sector. They help supporting the economic activity, food, transportation, communication and more.

United States which requires them to adapt to a new environment. This often results in a huge

The author of the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, Anne Fadiman exhibits a story about the collision between two cultures and the way things affected the character’s lives. The main character, Lia, is found grasped in a dilemma within her family’s culture and the American lifestyle. Since a baby, Lia suffered form epileptic seizures, which were viewed as a positive trait for the Hmong community; those people who suffered from seizures were credited to be a twix neeb, in other words, “a person with healing spirit” (Fadiman 21). Lia’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Lee, were having a difficult time comprehending the seriousness of the epilepsies that Lia was

The conditions in universities accepting international students need considerable attention. The reason students go abroad to study is very clear—through world class education, these students will turn into valuable human assets of their country. They benefit their host country financially, contributing the largest portion of the billions of dollars earned by the US each academic year (Wilson, 2011). Internationalization of students also promote global understanding by adding cultural diversity to campuses, and by facilitating better relations between the US and their home country. On the other hand, completing a four or five-year degree in an unfamiliar environment, and being exposed to an education system that is very distinct from the one they are used to, do not come about easily for the Saudi students.

The study conducted by Savage (2007) describes when international students arrive in the United States, students are challenged by the many issues: language, academics and they have to adjust to many things like living, making communication, cultures, weather, transportation because they vary from one region to another region (Savage, 2007)

Ngugi devotes himself to preserving African language and culture. He sees language and culture a whole which cannot be separated. He explains that “Language as communication and as culture are then products of each other...Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature” (15). Literature is a platform for a culture to interact with its language. A culture can be described accurately and naturally in its language. At the same time, a language shows its charm through carrying its culture. When a

Languages are one of the most significant developments of humans. Language is one of the few means of communication which enclose a large number of beliefs, values and are provided paths to see the world in different perceptive. The languages are thought to be in danger when someone talks about native languages or mother’s tongue in foreign countries. Mother’s tongue is a child’s first language and it can be learned since birth. This mother’s language cannot be used often in foreign countries. As a result, significant numbers of languages are ceasing to pass from one generation to another. Cultural diversity and languages are essential assets of any nation, representing their identity across the world. According to UNESCO, people in several countries such as the USA, UK or Australia tried to adopt English as their common language at the expense of their mother tongue. It was widely agreed that native languages are extremely rich for any cultural and communal heritage because such languages represent not the only linkage of the speakers with their past but also expresses an identity. It is because of languages by which one deal with human experience and knowledge of the world. By losing such languages, there is far more chance of losing the heritage and cultural knowledge of ancestors. Additionally, Multilingualism and Bi are believed to be assets

In America, a certain image has been created for its inhabitants. The mold we are supposed to fill is a working, middle class, English speaking, white male and everything outside of the mold has more rules and criticism around it forcing it to either succumb to the pressures of conformity or leave. Everyday people from different origins fight this to preserve their heritage and cultural beliefs, but they can only do so much and be successful in the United States. It is almost necessary to speak English to be successful. But why not speak both your native language and English?

By definition, according to Edward Tylor, culture is “A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." When a person is taken out of one culture and placed into another culture, the person may experience culture shock. While culture shock can be classified as a feeling of disorientation by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, there is more to it. Acculturation is a change in culture which results from the continued firsthand experience between two well-defined cultures (Nwadoria and McAdoo, 1996 ). Culture shock isn't just a feeling but rather a series of stages with different emotions. In total, there are four stages of culture shock; beginning with the honeymoon stage, then the rejection stages, moving onto the regression stage and then finally to the stage of acceptance.

The late 1800's into the 1900's were the most difficult years for Native American Indians, they fought difficult battles to protect their land. Many rules and laws did not support them and focused mainly on kicking them out of their own county, due to that many violent, bloody and crucial fights and wars begun. The Native American Indians were forced to leave their own land. Eventually, many of them accepted and adapted the new cultures of the European-American’s and accepted their religions as well. Assimilation is the ability to process and accept a different culture and become part of it by being loyal and faithful to this new culture. There are many factors that might help individuals in assimilation into a different culture. One is misunderstanding non-verbal signs and symbols, which means lack of understanding of a group of signs and symbols, which the society of that new culture understands, while the other factor is tending to evaluate to the new culture, which means having the ability to accept a new culture and leave their native culture in the past (P16).Knowing and understanding the culture may have a direct influence on the individual in accepting and falling in love with this new culture , whereas the lack of information about this new society may lead in not respecting this new culture. In "The School Days of an Indian Girl" was written by Zitkala-Sa who was a Native American who was forced by the European-Americans to study at a missionary school in

Language is also a means to spread out a current ideology which serves the purpose of certain social or cultural groups (Ahearn, 2011). However, the multiplicity of language should

Juliana Chan, in one of her articles published on CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE STATE IN ASIA forum says, “The primary function of languages is undoubtedly to facilitate interaction among people who may or may not come from different cultural background.”

Over the last decade there has been a significant increase in student mobility, from 2.1 million international students studying outside of their home countries in 2000 to 4.5 million in 2014 (Project Atlas, 2015). This represents a 100% increase and out of all the nations the United States of America continues to attract most students across the globe. According to the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Open Doors Report, the international student population has been on a steady increase since 2001-2002, and in 2014-2015, 974,926 international students were enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions (2015). It is clearly evident that USA became the dream world for the higher education.