Non-English speaking TA

[fabrizio]

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The sad truth is, hard sciences and engineering are not that attractive to many American kids. Schools need to fill their departments. It has nothing to do with diversity. There are plenty of Asian American kids for that purpose. I am sure colleges always work hard to attract more African American and Hispanic kids. They need the foreign kids and, in many cases, their paying ability. Without them, many many departments would be scaled back or shut down.

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<p>Then what is attractive to “many American kids”? As I wrote in page four of the thread, academic areas in business and economics don’t seem to be all that attractive to American kids, either. They may be more attractive relative to the natural and applied sciences, but at 50/50 domestic/international, my school is contributing to the “problem” of TAs and professors with “bad” English.</p>

<p>Edit</p>

<p>Some of the countries my international classmates hail from include the following:</p>

<p>China
Singapore
India
Russia
Bulgaria
Romania
Turkey
Spain
Brazil
Peru</p>

<p>I’ve only met two international students who natively speak English. One is Canadian, the other British. All of my classmates from the above listed countries speak English with an accent that’s pretty typical, in my opinion, of their national origin. I have no problems understanding any of them, but like I said, my school is clearly a part of the “problem” instead of the “solution.”</p>