Blog Post #4

The two students who regularly attend our meetings both represent a somewhat atypical international student experience; their English language ability is very advanced, and they possess high levels of cultural competency. As such, the topics we discuss almost never develop like the emblematic "foreign confusion in the American context" conversations to which I've become accustomed; instead we talk about midterms, professors, Halloween plans. This colloquial pattern mimics my unstructured, so called "normal" hang-outs with American friends very closely.

I'm always struck by how quickly we choose to stereotype international students into a homogenous group -- even I have grown to automatically expect certain personality traits from students based on their nationality, though I should know better than to anticipate total congruity among the international student population. Facilitating these conversation circles has re-taught me a lesson, it seems, in comparison. The international students at my conversation circles are indeed very similar to their American born and bred counterparts; their interests and concerns are often identical, but, like the non-international students here, the qualities of their character are never attributable to country of origin. Though their backgrounds and perspective can be (and often are) conditioned by the cultural circumstances of their upbringing, I have yet to meet two international students who can be considered to possess carbon copy personalities. It seems an obvious inference to make, but it does not always come easily, especially on a campus where the assumption is that students of a certain type behave in a certain way.

This kind of reminds me of the article we read on why Asian students don't talk in class; the rationale for their absence from discussion is that they are culturally programmed to be quiet, submissive, and docile. This kind of explanation falls into line with common campus-wide opinion, but its application of a few traits to thousands of students is overly simplistic and dangerously alienating. It makes much more sense that the reason behind the supposed "untalkativeness" of international students is due to nervousness -- just like any other student at Michigan!