<p>Yesterday a study was published that revealed that the vast majority of foreign students studying in the US come from Asia. In my experience, which is not recent, I have found very little integration of foreign students with their American classmates secondary to self segregation. With so many colleges touting diversity as a selling point, I am wondering if you feel that diversity exists at your school and if it does, has accomplished anything, or is merely a way for your school to bring in full pay foreign students. Since this may vary from school to school, please be specific as to which school you are talking about.</p>
<p>When assessing diversity I would think that all students, not just foreign nationals, should be taken into account.</p>
<p>I prefer diversity of students that are planning to stay in this country after they complete their education, to students that self segregate because they are planning to return to their country of origin after graduation.</p>
<p>Yes, I consider d’s school diverse, and no, not because of the international students, who really do tend to self segregate. The school is racially diverse. Many of the racial minorities are recruited athletes from the south, which also provides some geographical diversity. The percentage of PELL students is pretty high, so there’s economic diversity as well.</p>
<p>One of my kids, who had attended a very diverse high school, was disappointed by the degree of self-segregation in college.</p>
<p>But if you think about it, it’s understandable. High school kids have a chance to be with people who share their heritage at home and perhaps also in community organizations for people of that heritage. Given that comfortable home base, they may feel free to associate with others in high school.</p>
<p>But in college, students no longer have that home base. And that may motivate them to spend most of their time with people who share their heritage.</p>
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<p>Often the students post graduation plans have nothing to do with desire. If they are either from a country with few allotted slots or in a field which the US govt doesn’t give many work visas to – they are headed home.</p>
<p>How does this factor into how much self-segregation they practice? If asked, I’d bet the vast majority of Intl students would LOVE to have a work visa or a path for Perm Residence there in the US.</p>
<p>I wasnt referring to international student but to those who were from north america- why would you think I was referenceing non citizens?
I think schools in US should primarily be for US students.
As schools in other countries are primarily schools for students who are citizens of that country.</p>
<p>I guess it depends what you think you are getting out of diversity. </p>
<p>If its just a bunch of groups without much in common constantly bickering over the same set of issues, I dont see much point. </p>
<p>On the other hand, one of the best diversity experiences I’ve had was with a girl from Malaysia who was on a government sponsored plan. She was very high strung in a study session early in the semester and I told her to calm down, there was plenty of time to panic later (because I am super funny). She responded that it wasnt a good subject for her but she needed to get at least a B for her scholarship. Further she couldnt change majors without approval and it could only be a couple of practical majors. Then she had to work for the government for the next 7 years. </p>
<p>I dont know what people expect from diversity, but even as a poor college student I never had this girl’s perspective that college was so high stakes. And that you could be an indentured servant for your government as the result of all your hard work. In terms of an alternate perspective it was very valuable. More than just hearing music you dont care for coming out of an adjacent dorm.</p>
<p>I go to a school that’s about 15% international (Oxford College of Emory University) with the vast majority of students coming from either South Korea or China. For the most part, the Chinese and South Koreans tend to stick together, although there are quite a few of them who make a concerted effort to reach out to their domestic counterparts. My ex-boyfriend was one of those internationals, and through him I learned quite a bit about not only Chinese culture, but also American values and priorities. </p>
<p>I’ve found that the other internationals tend to be more willing to integrate with their American peers. The few students from India, Pakistan, South America, Malaysia, etc all have a ton of domestic friends, and are almost always included in social gatherings. It’s probably due to the fact that there are very few other students who share their same background at my institution, so they’re almost forced to talk to American students. </p>
<p>Quite a few students at my school also seem to be unwelcoming towards many internationals. I frequently hear students complaining about how “all the Koreans” or “the internationals” don’t do this or that. That also seems to contribute to the large amount of self segregation by certain populations. </p>
<p>By the way, as my ex-boyfriend noted, the internationals aren’t terribly diverse. For the most part, they’re the children of some of the wealthiest people in their home countries and as such have different expectations about money, responsibilities, etc.</p>
<p>I think that if any of us were living our lives and taking classes in a foreign language, there would be a lot of comfort spending a lot of time with speakers of our home language.</p>
<p>All that the colleges can do is to put the kids together. Hopefully the kids (all races) are brave and adventurous enough to integrate with each other. Those who are not, in my opinion, end up being a poor admittance selection by the university.</p>