Other?

The story about the black mother and the complaints of some African American students in Blackman’s article reminds me of two international students I met. One of them is a Fulbright scholar from an African country. He has degree in his home country and he comes to the US as a scholar. I do not know how he is placed in a doctoral class here in BG. He came to the writing center for help. It was not difficult for me to find that he did not know what assignment sheet meant. I asked him “Does your instructor have particular rules about the online sources?” He did not know what I was talking about. I mentioned the library database and he excitedly shouted out “That is what the instructor wants.” He absolutely had no idea what an academic database was, let alone to use it. I went over the assignment with him and showed him how to use the library
resources. He told me he was so lost. I comforted him telling him I was equally lost when I first came. The blackboard was once a challenge to me. As an international student, I did not know what it was. I was just too scared to even think of using it. At that time I was supposed to use it to communicate with my students, which gave me more pressure. I know another white international student who almost quitted. Actually I just have two Chinese friends who asked for leave. Their difficulties are the same: too much academic pressure. Looks like I am digressing since I did not talk about the stereotypes at all. But I am addressing the problem of how international students are overlooked here. The culture change, fear of technology, different pedagogy even different foods can make life very difficult. If looking into this, I would consider this cultural oppression. When all my friends are so depressed, not so many people really care about them or show nay concern to them. It might be true in this culture that people will not help the others unless asked to. But I feel safe to say that the needs of the international students are not met. Everything is set up in a default way—what the native Americans might need.
Sometimes I would like to make my postings mor etheoretical but I think real life stories might examplify better.