International Students Coping With Culture

International Students Coping With Culture Shock

Spatial and Temporal Characteristics

Prior to September 11, 2001, approximately 40,000 students from Arabian countries studied in the U.S. After 911, due to assaults against Arabian students, the number of students from Middle Eastern countries dropped dramatically. (Plomin) Currently, approximately 5,000 Saudi Arabian students study in U.S. colleges and universities with 15,000 applications in process. Exact figures, however, are reportedly impossible to determine.

Akran, a Lebanese student, one of the reported international students studying in the U.S., recently reported his thoughts regarding his experience.

OK, my name is Akram. I'm from Lebanon. A little statement is that we as Arabs don't have a problem with the Americans as a people, as a nation. We admire them, respect them. We hear their songs. We eat your food. We listen to your music, everything. We people can get along with each other. We are in the U.S.A., have been for three weeks, and we have no problems with anybody. But there exists a gap between the U.S. people and the U.S. government, and this gap leads to the gap between the West as a whole and the Middle East and the Arabs.

Let's speak about Iraq, for example. There's a great debate here inside the U.S.A. And outside USA and in the Middle East and the whole world whether the war on Iraq was meant against terrorism and weapons of massive destruction or whether to, let me say it, take control over Iraq's oil. This is a debate. I don't think it's a resolved issue up to now, neither in the Middle East nor here in the U.S.A. That's it." (Profile)

The cultural adjustment of international students, like Akram, this researcher purports, affects virtually everything in their lives. If an international student experiences difficulty adjusting to his/her new culture, he/she may lose his/her energy and motivation for learning. One of an international student's first efforts in building tolerance and adjusting to his/her new environment will most likely include understanding he/she will encounter periods of time when he/she will grow tired of people misunderstanding his/her pronunciations of words.

Sometimes, he/she will more than likely become irritated by the way some Americans behave. At times, he/she will savor moments being alone, or with people who speak the same language, even if he/she would not normally be attracted to the company of these individuals. This constitutes the entree of the phenomenon known as culture shock. (Martin, Nakayama, Flores)

During the 2006-2007 academic year, approximately 583,000 international students, who attended classes at U.S. schools, more than likely experienced culture shock. This number totals only 3,000 fewer than the record enrollment established prior to the immigration crackdown initiated by 911, a recent report from the U.S. State Department and the nonprofit Institute of International Education notes. ("Number")

When any international student, like Akram, arrives in the United States to embark upon his/her studies, he/she will likely be faced with a myriad of obstacles and barriers, which include, but are not limited to:

Challenges Regarding Proficiency in English

Nonverbal Communication Misunderstandings

Health and Energy Concerns Evolving from Cultural Adjustment

How well an international student confronts and overcomes these and other challenges will consequently affect his/her ability to succeed in school.

Middle Eastern students, however, this researcher contends, more than likely experience more than the usual challenges of other cultures, due to 911.

In response to this and other current contentions related to Middle Eastern students, this researcher proposes to explore the following research questions.

Research Questions and/or Considerations

1. What challenges/scrutinizes currently confront Middle Eastern Students attending George Mason University, located in the heart of Northern

Virginia?

2. How did 911 impact policies related to Arabian students?

3. Do Arabian students and/or the U.S. gain any intrinsic value(s) from time invested to study in the U.S.

George Mason University, located near Washington, D.C., in the heart of Northern Virginia's technology corridor, "is an innovative, entrepreneurial institution with national distinction in a range of academic fields." This university offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering, information technology, biotechnology and health care. Students worldwide attend this university as it purports to prepare "its alumni to succeed in the workforce and meet the needs of the region and the world." George Mason University's School of Law is recognized by "U.S. News and World Report" as one of the top 50 law schools in the United States. Professors at this university also "conduct groundbreaking research in areas such as cancer, climate change, information technology and the biosciences." World-renowned artists, musicians and actors "perform" regularly on Mason's Center for the Arts' stage.

Table 1: George Mason University Statistics (George Mason)

Degree Programs Offered

Undergraduate

Graduate (Master's - 69; Doctoral - 25)

Professional (Law)

Students (Fall 2006 Enrollment)

Undergraduate Degree Seeking

Graduate Degree Seeking Master's

Graduate Degree Seeking Doctoral

Professional (Law)

Nondegree Seeking Undergraduate

Nondegree Seeking Graduate

Total Enrollment

Full-Time Enrollment

Part-Time Enrollment

In-State Students-(83%)

Out-of-State Students-(17%)

Minority Enrollment

Native American

Asian-American

African-American

Hispanic

Nonresident International

George Mason)

1.2: Study Area

The following figure (1) portrays an overview of areas international students may live.

Figure 1: Overview of International Students' World (Fairfax, Virginia)

Figure 2: View of Another "World" (Fairfax, Virginia)

Figure 3: Map of Fairfax Area (Fairfax, Virginia)

Figure 4: George Mason University Fairfax VA Campus (George Mason)

Figures 5: George Mason University Arlington Campus (George Mason)

Figures 6: George Mason University Prince William Campus (George Mason)

Table 2: George Mason University Campuses (George Mason)

http://www.gmu.edu/fairfax" Fairfax Campus, 677 acres

4400 University Drive

Arlington Campus, 5.2 acres

3401 Fairfax Drive

Arlington, VA 22201 Prince William Campus, 124 acres

10900 University Blvd.

George Mason)

Figure 7: International Students (www.oc.edu, cited by George Mason)

Figure 8: Arab Student at Yellowstone Geyser (Profile)

1.3: Aim and Objectives

Study Aim

This researcher proposes this study to aim to explore challenges, e.g. culture shock, international students, particularly Arabian students, counter during their studies in the United States and identify potential solutions to counter the entree of the phenomenon known as culture shock.

Study Objectives

Objective One: To thoroughly research and investigate components contributing to culture shock experienced by Arabian and other international students.

Objective Two: Identify and analyze how 911 impacted government policies affecting international students studying in the U.S.

Objective Three: Determine and identify any intrinsic value(s) gained from time international students invest to study in the U.S.

Global Environment, Not Macro

Although the proposed study plans to focus on Arabian students and culture shock they experience while attending George Mason University, this researcher also plans to examine whether the current challenges Middle Eastern students experience reflect a sign of the times, or rather an unfortunate association to a date of infamy in the annals of U.S. history. Whatever the rationale, this researcher predicts foreign students from the Middle East will likely suffer an embarrassing scrutiny for the time being - if not forever; due to 911.

More than Middle Easterners' admission into U.S. colleges and universities appear to be adversely affected by 911, however. Most countries currently process students more slowly. This researcher personally knows of students, who could not go home, even for a funeral, and even travel to the Caribbean, a location not known for terrorists, because the U.S. would not permit them to reenter the country promptly, if/when they left.

As the proposed study examines the ongoing impact from 911 and answers relevant research questions, several more pertinent considerations will be explored during the proposed literature and assessed during the proposed study's analyses. Has America lost count of international students who currently attend its colleges and universities? Does America know the number of international students, who like Akran, eat American food; listen to American music; who today live in the U.S.A. Do these students count?

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

America has lost count of international students attending its colleges and universities."

Number")

2.1: Introduction

In the U.S.A.

What would you do if you were CEO of this company?" Gangemi reports that when Mengjia "Victoria" Zhuang, a 29-year-old MBA student from Shanghai, China struggling to keep up in class, was asked this question her first day in strategy class at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, she was shocked. She simply sat silent and futilely tried to figure out the answer. The practice of randomly calling on a student to participate in class discussion is foreign to anything Zhuang had ever experienced in China, she said.

International business students like Zhuang constitute substantial group, as business and management programs attract approximately 20% of the 600,000 international students in the U.S. According to "Open Doors," a study published by the Institute for International Education, a Washington, D.C.-based independent nonprofit group promoting international education, almost 30% to 40% of students who attend top U.S. B-schools are international students. (Gangemi)

Students like Zhuang and Akran, the Middle Eastern student introduced in the first chapter, contend with a myriad of cultural, linguistic, and academic challenges. Though it would not be possible to eradicate all obstacles, international students encounter, along with identifying some of them, e.g. culture shock, potential solutions and/or considerations to better overcome potential negative consequences are examined during the proposed literature review.

Research Questions to Guide Exploration

The research questions proposed for this study, presented in the previous chapter will help ensure sources remain in tune with proposed aims and objectives.

1. What challenges/scrutinizes currently confront Middle Eastern Students attending George Mason University, located in the heart of Northern

Virginia?

2. How did 911 impact policies related to Arabian students?

3. Do Arabian students and/or the U.S. gain any intrinsic value(s) from time invested to study in the U.S.

Along with answering these research questions, additional consideration will be invested in culture shock, George Mason University; U.S. government policies following the 911 disaster; positive counters to culture shock and other relevant current concerns.

2.2: In the U.S.A.

U.S. Government Policies Following the 911 Disaster

George Mason University actively promotes positive cultural interactions. Recently, it "was chosen as the only university in the world to be an official host site for the 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture International Exhibition."