IN OTHER
WORLD NEWS:
Professor emphasizes importance of Kevorkian sentencing

Poland's people march with Jews for memorial

Lecture on CRC's Chinese relations explores controversial issues

Semester in Spain: time is running out

When you first “encounter” an international student, what are the first words that come to your mind? “International student,” “different,” or “culture”? It is quite natural for anyone to categorize a foreigner as a person who is inherently different from the majority.

However, it is this very categorization that acts as a hindrance to the integration of international students with the Americans at Calvin College.

Let me begin by stating that Calvin College encourages diversity, but what is missing is the realization that an Asian shares nothing more with an African than he or she does with an American; and yet there is greater understanding among these international students.

When most of you meet a person from a different country, you first give the title of “international student” to the person -- and along with this title comes a fear of interaction.

Chris Huizinga agrees to this; when he sees foreigners at Calvin College, he first thinks of them as international students. He also thinks that they are “cool,” but the fact that there is a whole different culture behind the individual seems to act as a barrier towards easy interaction.

According to one international student, some Americans act differently once they learn that he is from a different country. This may be true in places anywhere outside of the college, too.

However, what is unique about this college is that students may have more similarities than differences.

The students here are Christians; and they could use this commonality to overcome the differences. My point is that if you could temporarily forget that the person is from a different culture, and focus on what you share with an international student, the tension could be lessened.

I’m not asking you to ignore the cultural background of an international student.

“Culture is an integral part of who you are. You cannot separate one from the other,” said John Hwang as an American and a Korean.

However, the culture should be considered only as a part of the person, not the whole person itself.

I want to emphasize that cultural differences should not act as a barrier to interaction. If the difference were really a problem, there wouldn’t be many interactions among international students themselves, since not many students come from the same countries. What seems to be the problem is categorization of students from different countries as “international students.”

“Give [international students] a chance, a chance to show that we have more in common than you may realize,” said Hilda Cira.

Marietta Palma, from Costa Rica, added that she wants you to imagine yourself in a college in her country. You would, at the least, want them to think of you as one among them. And this would be possible here if you can think of international students as just any other student rather than cultural icons.

Arindam Laha does not believe that the international students here are always viewed as being significantly different. He said, “Once they get to know you, you are just another friend.”

But according to some others, the “getting to know you” part does not seem to happen, because of the initial resistance. As president of the International Student Organization, Laha suggested that the resistance could be overcome by supporting activities that stimulate interaction.

I hope you have understood that the real problem does not lie in cultural differences, but rather in the false belief that the differences make it impossible to communicate with an international student.

Let us begin with what we share, hence paving the way for understanding our differences.