The Non-Problem of the Foreign Student

Those who bother to think about the foreign student at all use an evocative phrase to describe his plight. They speak of "cultural shock" or "cultural alienation," expressions which conjure up frightening visions. One immediately pictures a bewildered, little foreigner, torn from the simple, slow-paced culture he has known, blinking in confusion at Harvard Square. Or one sees this same man, innocent of American ways, falling prey to an unscrupulous sharper.

This image has so excited some imaginations that they have postulated a foreign student "problem." Sympathetic minds, including the CRIMSON, have felt compelled to solve this problem, and have offered suggestions for easing the pain of conflicting cultures. This writer himself, in a more naive frame of mind, once even advocated the cure-all of a paternalistic "Big Brother" system.

No Great Problem

A closer look, though, shows that the foreign student problem hardly classifies as a problem at all.

A few years ago, the Student Council set up a special committee, known as HIACOM (Harvard International Activities Committee), to investigate the problem. One of its first projects was to interview a slew of foreign students to ascertain their special needs. Earnest young social workers set out, pad and pencil in hand, to offer their services. But a shock was in store for them. They found that many of the interviewees were more sophisticated and more "Americanized" than those offering to help them.

This amusing situation was brought about partially by the fact that many foreign students, at least on the undergraduate level, come from a wealthy, international background, and have spent years getting "acclimated" in American private schools.

A second, and perhaps more important, factor lies in the misleading figures released by the Foreign Student Office. All students who are not citizens of the U. S. are registered as foreign students. Included in this groups are sons of diplomats, who have lived in American much if not most of their lives, sons of American representatives of foreign firms, who have done the same, and children of naturalized parents, who for some legal twist will not be citizens until they are 21.

Similar Cultures

Also included are students from countries with cultures very similar to our own. Out of a total of 795 foreign students enrolled in the University last November, by far the largest number, 116, came from Canada, with England a distant second at 66.

In general, there tend to be three main categories of foreign student. First, there is the undergraduate, who is often adept at handling himself in international situations. He has no great problem of adjustment to Harvard. Ironically enough, whatever problems he faces probabably lie in the future, when he must readjust to his native land after spending his formative years abroad.

Second, there is the graduate student, who is enrolled as a candidate for a degree, or who is doing specific course work or research. This group accounts for by far the greatest number of foreign students (680 out of 795 last year), and faces the only considerable problems of adjustment.

Advanced Scholars

Third, there are the advanced scholars, who are here as special students to do research work. They tend to be older, middle-aged men, who have special permission to work at the University, generally for a few months. They have certain adjustment difficulties, but they tend to be more set in their ways and more self-sufficient than the younger foreign students. Because of this, and because of their relatively short stay at the University, they present no great problem.

Traditionally, those who see a "problem" have detected it in three distinct spheres: the academic, the social, and the practical sphere of everyday living.

Only Academics

Harvard's policy, insofar as it has been made explicit, has mainly concerned the academic affairs of the foreign student. Except for the rather special case of the School of Public Health, which has a 40 per cent foreign enrollment, the University has refused to take the "problem" approach to take the foreign student. It has assumed, on the contrary, that the foreign will integrate into the community better if he is not made an object of special consideration.

Thus Harvard treats the foreign student, from the time he applies for admission until he finally gets his degree, almost like an American. There are no set quotas for admitting foreign students, and the boy from Bengal competes directly with the graduate of Ohio University for admission. Nor are there special courses geared to the needs of foreigners. Instead, the foreigner competes on equal terms with the American for grades and for his degree.

Occasionally, the spirit of "laissez-faire" has disastrous results for the individual. A few foreigners get into academic difficulty just because they are "foreign" and in need of special attention, perhaps with regard to certain language or background problems. But such students are the exception rather than the rule, for they are generally squeezed out in the highly competitive admissions process.

In following the non-"problem" approach, the Foreign Student Of-five, headed by J. Carroll Miles, serves only one main function: it helps foreign students cope with red tape, notably visas and tax regulations, which American students do not face. All foreign students must register with the Office, but it prefers not to obtrude itself further upon the foreign student's life. A tea is held in the Fall, at which Miles tries to meet all foreigners and let them know he is available for help, but any further contact is up to the individual student.

Independence

Miles notes that the functions of Foreign Student Office are consistent with two of the guiding principles of Harvard: independence for all, and assistance for those who seek it. "As with the undergraduate," he says, "the foreign student's problems are decentralized. He seeks an appointment with the head of his department in case of academic problems, with the health center for health difficulties, etc. The more Harvard treats the foreign student as a special case, the more it steals from him a feeling of belonging to the University along with everyone else."

Policy Sound

Over the years Harvard's policy has proven basically sound. Inevitably, some foreign students have felt lost in a gigantic modern university, but no more so than the farm boy from East Overshoe. No study has been made comparing the grades of foreign and American students, but if there is any disparity, it is not enough to be readily apparent. A brief study was made of the Freshman class of 1950, which showed that of the foreign students who entered that year, 35 went on to get degrees, while the great majority of the rest left the University for nonacademic reasons.

"Laissez-faire" has chiefly been attacked with regard to the foreign student's social needs. As noted above, this problem chiefly concerns the graduate student. The needs vary from student to student and from school to school, but there are certain common characteristics.

Older Women?

Most foreign students are in their twenties, an age when men are especially eager for the company of women. Yet there is no appreciable number of older women available. Radcliffe has a small group of advanced students, but otherwise the graduate student does not have a supply of females conveniently organized in colleges.

All graduate students face this problem, but for the foreigner there are even greater difficulties. Because of his accent, he is not likely to get a date by telephone. Nor is he apt to have any previous contacts, since relatively few foreign girls study in America. Moreover, because of different customs, he finds communicating with American girls and winning their trust the hardest task he has to face.

The situation is complicated by the fact that sexual mores vary from culture to culture. As a result, unfortunate misunderstandings inevitably occur. A smile may mean anything from "I would like to be friendly" to "I would like to be very friendly," depending on who is doing the interpreting. Not a few Radcliffe girls have found themselves in embarassing positions because of this ambiguity.

A related emotional problem concerns the lack of male companionship felt by many foreign students. In certain other cultures, the men tend to have a few intense friends, rather than many superficial ones. In this country, however, they find it hard to develop such a relationship with Americans, and hence are often forced to seek out other foreigners.

1984?

It is to make up for this lack of close friendship with Americans that such ideas as the "Big Brother" system have been proposer. In theory, the Big Brother will be an American male to whom the foreign student can confide his problems, and who will help the foreigner to make other masculine and feminine contacts. But it would seem that there is not much fundamental that can, or should, be done in these two areas.

If American men do not develop the kind of deep friendships certain foreigners do, then it seems unlikely that the University or anyone else can do much to alter this cultural trait. And similarly, it seems impossible to do much about male-female relationships. American girls tend to prefer mates from their own cultural background, even from their own class within the culture. From the standpoint of sound marriages, this is probably a good thing, and it is probably best if male-female relations across cultures do not proceed too seriously.

Congenial Mingling

Social contact on a more superficial level, however, is certainly desirable. Some schools, such as M.I.T., take an official interest in this, and sponsor various teas and dances. At Harvard, the Foreign Student Office has generally left this aspect up to other organizations. Chief of these is the International Student Center on Garden Street. Sponsored by a private organization in Boston, it recruits its members from all the colleges in the area. It provides group activities and a congenial atmosphere where foreign and American students can meet, mingle, and work together.

The Center has adopted the Red Cross "donut girl" theory of providing superficial feminine companionship in healthy surroundings. A majority of the American girls who belong to the Center are either young wives, or girls who work at the local colleges. The former have an obvious protection against over-intimacy, and the latter generally handle themselves with more poise in awkward social situations than a college girl might.

Foreign Club

Criticism has often been levele against the Center as being mainly a "Foreign Students' Club," where foreigners can come and meet only foreigners, or where, at best, the foreign student can meet Americans who are not college students and probably do not have interests similar to his. To a limited extent this is true, but the Center does have a 35-40 per cent American membership, and already this year it has succeeded in attracting more than 100 Radcliffe members.

Several other organizations also help the foreign student make superficial social contacts. In Boston, groups such as the English-speaking Union and the Pan-American Society sponsor social functions for the foreigner. And at Harvard, HIACOM last spring started inviting small groups of foreign students to eat dinner in Eliot House with interested Americans. Though the program is much too young to be thoroughly evaluated, it seems to have been successful at least to the extent that all concerned had an interesting evening. Whether the program will foster enduring friendships between the older foreign graduate students and the younger American undergraduates remains to be seen.

Date Bureau?

But a definite problem remains. Dating is still something most foreign students can do little more than think about. Many, it is true, are not much concerned with getting dates, but a certain minority is. This can be attested to by several Radcliffe girls, who have found that after once being friendly with foreign students they are endlessly besieged with calls. Whether any Harvard-sponsored social program would help the situation seems doubtful. Matters such as these are not readily legislated, and the impetus will probably have to come from individual students who discover how rewarding contacts with foreigners can be.

It is important, however, not to exaggerate the social plight of the