University Daily Kansan
Thursday, June 7, 1973
3
KU's Alien Minority/
Problems Encountered by Foreign Students Include Dating, Grading and Customs
From Page One
Many said they were friends with American girls but indicated that little or no "biology"
ALTHOUGH I thought it would interest a student of psychology to know how many adult males "managed" in such a state of sexual limbo, only one person admitted that foreign males were possessed of any "urges."
The student who responded to leads in this direction was a married student who stated that when even day and night concentration on his books had failed, he had made a short trip back to his country and brought back a wife.
Only one of the students I interviewed had married an American girl. He said he was very happy and wondered why there were marriages between Americans and foreigners.
STRANGELY enough, foreign students do not seem as tough after this country in England and other countries be motivated by dreams of a comfortable life in their
"If it were not for my teachers and the useful things I am learning, I would have packed long ago."
husband's country without ever having to work, but most of such marriages are known to work out. In some cases the husband must be a passive massive supplicant, aggressive, and return.
This may not be true, but one sophomore I spoke to informed me with a glint in his eye that he was transferring to a junior college where he might find more willing girls.
Foreign student
"But in the United States people think
in student is out to have a good time
of life."
ANOTHER STUDENT he had once read a letter in Playboy, written by a foreign student desperately in need of aid. He was sent to the adviceurges. Instead of the advice generally handed out, said the student, the magazine advised the letter-writer to divert himself by cultural activities and told him to avert his mind if he thought draw his mind in the other direction.
This, admittedly, is one problem that the university authorities can do nothing about, and would probably be totally out of their depth if they attempted to do so.
It would appear that this is the first time this liberal column has urged a person to something approaching cablacy. It is strange that in the case of a foreigner, it should practically advise a letter writer to so frock himself.
BUT THE other problems remain, and it
Do foreign students find nothing here that pleases them? Are they by nature, or as the result of culture shock, given only to complaining about everything? Fortunately not . . .
would be appropriate if the university or the foreign students' office did something about
The persons chosen for my interviews were mainly picked at random from the pages of the student directory, although a few had previously been taken out a few prominent foreign students.
It was from the initial interviews, however, that I found widespread dissatisfaction among the foreign students in our institution, for office, which is meant exclusively for them.
THE PREDOMINANT thought expressed was one of fear and distrust of that office, which may be responsible for the fact that he had been sent to the office only when it was unavoidable.
—Foreign student
Comments about the staff ranged from one extreme to the other, based on each student's personal experiences. Most students also visited the office once a semester.
Students found the mimeographed newsletter put out by the office their only tangible link with it. The newsletter, put out by students in the school, often about events at KU and other information of interest to the students. Interspersed are bits of humor such as "The hula-hula is described as a wild wait show." Most students found this article each issue of the international newsletter.
Coan spread out his hands helplessly when I suggested to him that student might not be able to answer the question.
"If you had no problems and you visited a place where someone came away with a problem," said another.
Although the office is designed to provide counseling and assistance of every type, none of the students felt they could take their personal problems there, or visit the dean of foreign students for anything but a signature.
"Before we got here the University was very sweet and the catalogs said many nice things. But now we are here, they have our money—what do they care about us?"
"The dean is a watchdog for the immigration people." said one student
HE EXPLAINED that in the three hours since he had come to office that day he had already seen four students who had various problems, and that he was trying to do the best he could with the staff he had—an assistant and a secretary.
Coan said he understood why students of foreign student offices at other colleges were in trouble.
*For the size of the foreign student population here, the police in the city are the most important force.
There are 835 students from 88 cou-
tries with fewer student have as
many as 100.
THE FOREIGN students agreed that the dean would be more accessible and helpful.
if he had a larger staff, and that the office would then draw closer to the foreign
"But they won't do it," one student insisted. "Before we got here the university was very sweet and the catalogs said many courses were free." The mover, what-do they care about?"
Coan said he was not sure of the amount of revenue brought in by foreign students, but his department had assistantships. Others, he said, were financed by their governments, by personal funds, by firms, or in some cases by the U.S. government organizations.
"BUT WHEN a school accepts foreign students it also commits itself to the creation of special facilities and programs for them," he said, and expressed sympathy for the foreign students and the problems they were facing.
Coan said he was in no way connected with any branch of government that might be keeping tabs in foreign students' activities on campus. He admitted that there seemed to a fear among foreign students to the FBI, constantly being watched by the FBI or CIA.
COAID SAID that if he were directly approached for information on students, he would give only that information that was readily accessible to any person.
"I have no idea if there is day-by-day surveillance," he said. "There is, of course, reason for certain organizations to be informed about the activities they're doing they're not about to tell me."
Referring to the panic among the students last fall when Arab students alleged harassment by the FBI, Coan said that none of those deported had been KU students.
He went on to say that he was working on a code of rights for foreign students that would safeguard them, and would be put to use nationally.
ON THE SUBJECT of cultural interchange and interaction of foreign students, Ms. Warn was aware that what was being done fell about the students' expectations. An attempt at cross cultural communication was made a couple of years ago, he said, but it had not been done.
Coan said he did not think the foreign students would be able to obtain a place in the Union where they could gather and meet those Americans who went there specifically to get to know people from other lands. He said there was a student activities team assigned to the Union with a place assigned to the International Club, which no one seemed to use.
Asked to comment on the alleged non-representative character of the International Club and the lack of confidence most of my interviewees had in it, Coan said he did not wish to take sides in the controversy.
HE SAID that until 1970 the International Club had been the most active campus organization, with weekly coffee-doughnuts and dips for all foreign foreign students and Americans had enjoyed.
Comments made by students, including persons present involved with the In-
struction, are recorded.
at least a partial return to such informal congregations.
A few acknowledged allegations that the club was too politically oriented, and said that although they would like to see this work, they felt it was not totally divorced from its planned activities.
I FACED Abdulla Al-Adiwani, then president of the International Club, with charges some students had made about Mr. Al-Adiwani's countries with common political ideologies.
"All lies," said Al-Adwani. "Any group can be a member of the club if it is approved by the vice-chancellor. Also, anyone can contest the elections. If they never come, how can they expect their countries to be represented?"
“WHAT'S THE USE?” said one student.
“They have control over about 60 votes and can manipulate these any way they want. No one stands a chance.”
But representatives of other countries do not appear to be even interested in making a claim for the benefits.
There were allegations, from one student, of irregularities in vote-counting, the handling of finances and other procedural matters.
Al-Adwani attributed some charges to Zomis propaganda aimed at discrediting him.
In the meantime, the main body of foreign students continues to live in a less than happy state, complaining to itself about such things as poor housing, neglect of premises by landlords, restrictions placed on them by the immigration authorities, and a general lack of response from the rest of the student community.
But regardless of where they stand, most students agree that the club may have projected too political an image, and would like to see a swing in the other direction.
ONE STUDENT said the last International Night had left him feeling ashamed he was a foreign student, particularly after an American friend told him it was a "sneaky thing to spring political elections." He had gone there for a cultural program."
Another student said that the "politics of hate made many students stay away from the International Club." One no wanted to change all of them; all they wanted was a change in its outlook.
There may be difference of opinion regarding the International Club and whether it is being exploited by a few people for political purposes, but as the officers of the club say, not many students making the charges have not made much of an effort to make it "representative."
THERE IS at least one thing almost all students seem agreed upon and that is their condensation of the Intensive English Center, an off-campus organization many foreign students have to go through before being allowed to join KU.
It is linked somewhat under uncertainty with the university, but is almost totally self-supporting--depending, as far as I am to think, on fees from about 150 students.
It was not possible to obtain an interview from E. T. Erazmus, director of the In-Forensic Center (I.E.C.) although he received me and conversed with me for some time.
"I HAVE nothing to say to the Kansan," he announced. "Last year you did a story on us that was really damaging and was inaccurate, and you have ahead and print what you like about us."
Erazmus refused to comment on the serious charges made by some students because he had been ordered to fail students and keep them here for longer periods. Other charges were that outdated teaching methods were used at the school; teachers were teaching assistants were poor teachers.
One university professor I spoke to confirmed that the teaching methods were fairly obsolete and that the teaching artifacts used might not always be the best.
"But I doubt if the center has a conscious policy of failing people just to make them believe that they are not responsible."
THE ONLY information I was able to obtain from Erazmus was that certain faults in the program might be ironed out in the program and organized organizational changes had taken place.
In the meantime, the main body of foreign students continues to live in a less than bachelor's degree community such as things as poor housing, neglect of premises by landlords, restrictions placed on them by the immigration authorities, restrictions imposed from the rest of the student community.
DO FOREIGN students find nothing here that please them? Are they by nature, or as the result of culture shock, given only to complaining about everything?
Fortunately not. A foreign student feels more strongly about many things, perhaps, and may be more emotional than his American counterpart. Criticism voiced, when he drops his guard, may sound all too bitter.
But there are many things about America and about this universality that evoke an alarm.
MANY OF the students I spoke to spoke highly of various aspects of American life, the great opportunities, the dignity of labor, the great all, the great freedom people enjoined.
Satisfaction with their courses of study, and particularly with the teachers, was almost unanimous. Students said they found them helpful, friendly and understanding.
Many had found teachers who were
encouraged to them, and encouraged
them in their work.
"If it were not for my teachers and the useful things I am learning, I would have been left behind."
OTHERS TOLD me of instances when an adviser or chairman of a department had to make a decision.
Are the complaints foreign students voice any more legitimate because of, and this, that?
That, according to one student, is for the American community at large to decide
It may be helpful, in trying to see things through a foreigner's eyes, to visualize oneself in an alien land, speaking an alien language. If you have no attempts to make new ones, homestick for known faces, food and places, living with the hopeless knowledge that none of this will
change until one has finished what one came to do, and then returned home.
For this is how the foreign student is facing up to life at KU—for the most part without audible complaint—an anonymous part of KU's alien minority.
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Take Ronald McDonald to the bathroom with you.
If you find your bathroom boring, this is the cup for you. But more than that, it's great for picnics. Kids love to drink their milk out of it. You grownups may wish to drink other things out of the cup in a plastic. It's bright yellow. It's also free with the purchase of any 16-oz soft drink.
"If I could get my hands on my first grade teacher now, I'd break her chalk."
It all began in the first grade
But don't blame your first-grade teacher, it wasn't her fault. It was the system she had to teach.
The old "run, Spot, run" method
You have to读 it but outfour Word. World and.
And that's the way it was until you became a second grader. Where your teacher asked you to read silently.
But you could also
You probably stopped reading out loud.
But you still said every word to yourself.
But you still said every word to yourself,
if you're an average reader, you'll prob-
obly reading that way now.
Which means you read only as fast as you
alkey. About 90 to 300 words a minute.
talk. About 250 to 300 words a minute.
And that's not fast enough any more.
Not when the average student has approximately 8 hours of required reading for every day of classes
And since the amount of time in a day isn't to increase, your reading speed will have to.
in order to handle it all.
The Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics course can help.
With training, you be able to see groups of words. To read between 1,000 and 3,000 words per minute. Depending on how difficult the material is
At any time, we guarantee to take your reading speed or we'll refund you entire tuition (89.4% of everyone who takes the course accompanies this).
So don't wake time thinking about what to complain. Give a free introductory speech to your class or give an hour to find out on the app. It takes about an hour to find how you can reduce your study time.
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